Genomes are made up of thousands of individual pieces – genes – which are expressed at different levels. Researchers at EMBL have shed light on how the placement of a gene affects its expression, as well as that of its neighbours. The celebrated physicist Richard Feynman is credited with the quote, “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” As well as informing Feynman’s approach to theoretical physics, it’s a good way of describing the motivations of synthetic biologists, with…

NIH study in ground squirrels suggests dual function for mitochondria in photoreceptor cells. Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have discovered that power-producing organelles in the eye’s photoreceptor cells, called mitochondria, function as microlenses that help channel light to these cells’ outer segments where it’s converted into nerve signals. The discovery in ground squirrels provides a more precise picture of the retina’s optical properties and could help detect eye disease earlier. The findings, published today in Science Advances, also…

Noah rode out his flood in an ark. Winnie-the-Pooh had an upside-down umbrella. Fire ants (Solenopsis invicta), meanwhile, form floating rafts made up of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of individual insects. A new study by engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder lays out the simple physics-based rules that govern how these ant rafts morph over time: shrinking, expanding or growing long protrusions like an elephant’s trunk. The team’s findings could one day help researchers design robots that…

In humans, only nerves and muscle cells are electrically excitable, whereas in plants almost all cells are. This is due to a sophisticated mechanism in an ion channel of the vacuole. Plant cells use electrical signals to process and transmit information. In 1987, as a postdoc of Erwin Neher in Göttingen, biophysicist Rainer Hedrich discovered an ion channel in the central vacuole of the plant cell, which is activated by calcium and electrical voltage, using the patch-clamp technique (Nobel Prize…

Special shell protects Antarctic scallop from ice build-up. Airplane wings that don’t ice up or solar cells that generate electricity even in winter – ice-free surfaces are important for many applications. A team of scientists led by Konrad Meister, professor at the University of Alaska Southeast and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, has now studied an Antarctic scallop species that opposes the icing process with the help of its shell surface. Due to their special…

Record-breaking and readily available… Chemists at the University of Jena, Germany have set a new record, having discovered a fluorescent aluminium complex with the highest quantum yield known to date. For virtually every photon absorbed by the substance, a photon is emitted. This could be of benefit in applications such as LED technology. “This discovery was literally a case of serendipity,” explains Robert Kretschmer, Junior Professor for Inorganic Chemistry of Catalysis at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. “We actually wanted to…

In cooperation with the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), the Universität Hamburg, the University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and the University of Aachen (RWTH), researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon Institute for Coastal Environmental Chemistry investigated changes in pollutant levels in the North Sea over an interval time. The results showed that a diverse cocktail of chemicals has been polluting the environment, especially during the last 100 years. They also found out that a decrease in pollution only became apparent…

Novel technology could prevent repeat operations to replace a faulty bioprosthetic heart valve. Many patients implanted with a bioprosthetic heart valve are forced to undergo complicated valve replacement surgery ten years later due to valve calcification. Novel technology offers more durable valves based on genetic engineering preventing expression of foreign sugars, thereby minimizing structural valve deterioration due to calcification. An international study led by a researcher from Tel Aviv University offers a novel technology that can assist many patients implanted…

Bayreuth biologists explain protein exchange during vertebrate evolution. The electrical synapses in vertebrates are made of different, but by no means more powerful proteins than the electrical synapses in far older invertebrates. Animal physiologists at the University of Bayreuth have now found an explanation for this evolutionary puzzle. In the early phase of vertebrate evolution, there was a loss of diversity in precisely those proteins that had been used for signal transmission in older invertebrates. The scientists have published their…

A clearer ‘picture’ of blood vessels in health and disease thanks to new imaging approach. Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have developed and tested a new imaging approach they say will accelerate imaging-based research in the lab by allowing investigators to capture images of blood vessels at different spatial scales. Tested in mouse tissues, the method, dubbed “VascuViz,” includes a quick-setting polymer mixture to fill blood vessels and make them visible in multiple imaging techniques. The approach enables researchers to visualize…

To address climbing economic losses from swine that contract the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, Virginia Tech researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine are developing a vaccine to combat the disease that has a near 100 percent mortality rate in newborn piglets. The disease emerged in the United States in 2013 and has since caused around $600 million in annual losses to swine producers. When combined with increased food prices for consumers and decreased exports of…

UC researchers develop new probe, imaging technique that can aid future studies. In the field of scientific research, details matter. The minutia of processes and structures are explained with specificity, data points are reported to the most precise decimal and seeing is believing. Now, University of Cincinnati cancer biologists have developed a new piece of technology and a new imaging technique that will help researchers glean more detailed data points and see cells in more precise detail when studying the…

A new non-invasive technique provides a near-real-time view of the human brain’s waste-clearance vessels. A joint research team at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the University of Florida describes the first non-invasive and near real-time visualization of the human brain’s waste-clearance system in Nature Communications. The brain is densely organized, and visualizing the structures dedicated to waste removal, also known as lymphatic structures, had been a limitation in the field. “This is the first report to show…

Ultrasound scans, best known for monitoring pregnancies or imaging organs, can also be used to stimulate cells and direct cell function. A team of Penn State researchers has developed an easier, more effective way to harness the technology for biomedical applications. The team created a transparent, biocompatible ultrasound transducer chip that resembles a microscope glass slide and can be inserted into any optical microscope for easy viewing. Cells can be cultured and stimulated directly on top of the transducer chip and…

Spectacular structure of chain-mail may explain the success of C.diff at defending itself against antibiotics and immune system molecules. The spectacular structure of the protective armour of superbug C.difficile has been revealed for the first time showing the close-knit yet flexible outer layer – like chain mail. This assembly prevents molecules getting in and provides a new target for future treatments, according to the scientists who have uncovered it. Publishing in Nature Communications, the team of scientists from Newcastle, Sheffield…

Divide, differentiate or die? Making decisions at the right time and place is what defines a cell’s behavior and is particularly critical for stem cells of an developing organisms. Decision making relies on how information is processed by networks of signaling proteins. The teams around Christian Schröter from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund and Luis Morelli from IBioBa have now revealed for the first time, that ERK, a key player in stem cell signaling processes information…