Researchers study historical developments of the periodic system of chemical elements. In the 1860s, the chemists, Lothar Meyer and Dmitri Mendeleev, independently presented the first periodic system. Since then, the well-known tabular arrangement of the elements has been the guiding principle of chemistry. A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences and the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioinformatics at the University of Leipzig provides computational approaches based on extensive data sets from the Reaxys chemistry…

Innovative medical technology can save lives. Outdated approval processes delay rapid market introduction. To shorten the time from development to certification, the KIMEDS joint project aims to develop an AI-supported safety solution across the entire lifecycle of medical software. The BMBF is funding this three-year project with 1.46 million euros. Cybermedical systems and programmable electronic medical systems (PEMS) are shaping medicine. This development will continue to intensify with increasing digitization up to semi-autonomous or robotic-assisting systems. These medical devices enable…

Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) in Jena, Germany have identified an enzyme that is a promising new therapeutic target to combat the dangerous bacterial disease melioidosis. It helps the pathogenic bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei construct a toxic molecule that is critical in the infection process. The results were published in Nature Chemistry. Melioidosis is a life-threatening disease caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. “Without treatment, the disease is usually…

Scientists develop a simple, fast, and energy-efficient synthesis method for producing exceptional carbon nano-onions from fish scales. Thanks to their low toxicity, chemical stability, and remarkable electrical and optical properties, carbon-based nanomaterials are finding more and more applications across electronics, energy conversion and storage, catalysis, and biomedicine. Carbon nano-onions (CNOs) are certainly no exception. First reported in 1980, CNOs are nanostructures composed of concentric shells of fullerenes, resembling cages within cages. They offer multiple attractive qualities such as a high…

Scientists uncover mechanism that shapes centromere distribution. Since the 1800s, scientists have noted configuration of centromeres, a special chromosomal region that is vital for cell division, in the nucleus. Up until this point, however, the determining mechanisms and the biological significance of centromere distribution were poorly understood. A team led by researchers from the University of Tokyo and their collaborators recently proposed a two-step regulatory mechanism that shapes centromere distribution. Their findings also suggest that centromere configuration in the nucleus…

Genetically modified mouse studies reveal pathways for organ-damaging autoimmune response. A new study shows how mutation of the ADAR1 gene sets off biochemical pathways that produce an autoimmune response that harms the developing brain and other areas of the body. The ADAR gene contains instructions for making proteins used by the immune system. Normally, the body’s immune system fights off pathogens, foreign bodies, and cancers. An RNA-editing enzyme produced by the ADAR1 gene steps in to stop abnormal immune activation…

Applied neuroscience … How does work affect our daily lives and how does it affect our mental and physical health? How do technical solutions change people and how can devices be made more human-centric? A five-person team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO is investigating these issues. In the NeuroLab, a laboratory for neuroergonomics, scientists are researching concepts and methods for developing intelligent interfaces between technology and humans. The NeuroLab is a test environment for neuroergonomic questions that…

Fatty acids and their derivatives are promising raw materials for manufacturing advanced biofuels, detergents, lubricants, surfactants and so on. Current supply of fatty acids is mainly through extraction from plants, which requires large amounts of arable land. Methanol is an ideal and renewable feedstock for bio-manufacturing. Methanol biotransformation might provide a sustainable route for fatty acid production with independence of arable land and fresh water. Recently, a research group led by Prof. ZHOU Yongjin from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the…

… in patient-derived cells. New technology that can rewrite the genetic code raises hopes for gene therapy. Genetic mutations which cause a debilitating hereditary kidney disease affecting children and young adults have been fixed in patient-derived kidney cells using a potentially game-changing DNA repair-kit. The advance, developed by University of Bristol scientists, is published in Nucleic Acids Research. In this new study, the international team describe how they created a DNA repair vehicle to genetically fix faulty podocin, a common…

A fascinating new look at what drives T cells to guard the intestines. Cells in the gut send secret messages to the immune system. Thanks to new research from La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) scientists, we can finally get a look at what they’re saying. A new study in Science Immunology reveals how the barrier cells that line the intestines send messages to the patrolling T cells that reside there. These cells communicate by expressing a protein called HVEM,…

Odorant Analysis 2.0. A research team from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (LSB) has succeeded in automating an established method for the gentle, artifact-avoiding isolation of volatile food ingredients. As the team’s current comparative study now shows, automated solvent-assisted flavor evaporation (aSAFE) offers significant advantages over the manual process. It achieves higher yields on average and reduces the risk of contamination by nonvolatile substances. The optimized method is particularly important for odorant…

Fraunhofer technology for respiratory patients. Patients with severe respiratory or lung diseases require intensive treatment and their lung function needs to be monitored on a continuous basis. As part of the Pneumo.Vest project, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a technology whereby noises in the lungs are recorded using a textile vest with integrated acoustic sensors. The signals are then converted and displayed visually using software. In this way, patients outside of intensive care units can still be monitored continuously. The technology…

A multi-institutional effort led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania is taking steps to develop an effective technique to regenerate photoreceptors cells and restore sight in people with vision disorders. What if, in people with blinding retinal disorders, one could simply introduce into the retina healthy photoreceptor cells derived in a dish from stem cells, and restore sight? It’s a tantalizingly straightforward strategy to curing blindness, yet the approach has been met with a number of scientific roadblocks, including…

In severe Covid-19 patients, the metabolism produces insufficient amounts of certain energy-rich compounds called ketone bodies. However, these energy carriers are needed by two important cell types in the immune system in order to fight the virus effectively. Perhaps this finding explains why some people fall ill so much more severely than others. A study led by the University of Bonn at least points in this direction. The results have now been published in the journal Nature. They also give…

More and more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. Bacteriophages are one alternative in the fight against bacteria: These viruses attack very particular bacteria in a highly specific way. Now a Munich research team has developed a new way to produce bacteriophages efficiently and without risk. The World Health Organization (WHO) regards multi-resistant germs as among the largest threats to health. In the European Union alone, 33,000 people die each year as the result of bacterial infections which cannot be…

A new class of vaccines developed. A vaccination as tumor therapy – with a vaccine individually created from a patient’s tissue sample that ” attaches” the body’s own immune system to cancer cells: the basis for this long-term vision has now been achieved by a team of researchers from the MPI for Polymer Research and the University Medical Center Mainz, in particular from the Departments of Immunology and Dermatology. Their results were recently published in the journal ACS Nano. “We…