At Fraunhofer MEVIS, a new device update accelerates development of control software. Reliable and feasible early detection of Alzheimer’s disease is the goal of DEBBIE, an international joint project under the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). It is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS in Bremen, which has received national funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for its work. In this project, MRI images shall uncover the extent to which…

Room divider based on UV-C light inactivates SARS-CoV-2 aerosols. Despite myriad precautionary measures, virus-contaminated aerosols still pose a serious problem indoors. An invisible protective wall of UV-C light developed by researchers at the Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the LMU University Hospital Munich and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) could provide a solution and reliably curb the spread of viruses and other pathogens in rooms in the future while allowing total freedom of movement. A research…

When cells are exposed to ionising radiation, more destructive chain reactions may occur than previously thought. An international team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics has for the first time observed intermolecular Coulombic decay in organic molecules, which is triggered by ionising radiation such as from radioactivity or from outer space. The effect damages two neighbouring molecules and ultimately leads to the breaking of bonds, as they also exist in DNA and proteins. The finding…

Johns Hopkins-led imaging research helps quantify antibiotic levels, improve antibiotic action and prevent bacterial resistance. Treating bacterial infections associated with orthopaedic implants has often been a case of too little, too late. The traditional therapy has been a combination of prolonged antibiotics, including rifampin, a 50-year-old drug that has been a staple in the global fight against tuberculosis and other bacterial diseases. However, the inability to determine how much rifampin reaches the target site can be disastrous. If not enough…

A UCSC team obtained an x-ray ‘snapshot’ of a novel protein structure with potential applications in biomedicine and materials science. By mixing a small peptide with equal amounts of its mirror image, a team of scientists at UC Santa Cruz has created an unusual protein structure known as a “rippled beta sheet” and obtained images of it using x-ray crystallography. They reported their findings in a paper published December 8 in Chemical Science. The rippled sheet is a distinctive variation…

Up to 20 percent of children and three percent of adults worldwide suffer from the chronic inflammatory skin disease eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis. Typical symptoms are dry, inflamed and very itchy patches of skin on the inside of the elbows or on the back of the knees – but eczema can occur all over the body. The condition is often triggered by exposure to allergens, which leads to an overactive immune response and an inflammatory reaction in the…

… help prepare for future coronaviruses. Small, unique antibody-like proteins known as VNARs — derived from the immune systems of sharks — can prevent the virus that causes COVID-19, its variants, and related coronaviruses from infecting human cells, according to a new study published Dec. 16. The new VNARs will not be immediately available as a treatment in people, but they can help prepare for future coronavirus outbreaks. The shark VNARs were able to neutralize WIV1-CoV, a coronavirus that is…

New method enables simple tritium labeling and could provide added value to the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals. The new tritiation reaction is practical and robust to execute and could have an immediate impact in the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals. Tritium 3H, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is commonly used in medicinal chemistry as a label to follow the course of a drug in the human body. Chemists like to use the technique to evaluate drug candidates and their…

The respiratory chain plays a central role in energy metabolism of the cell. It is localized in mitochondria, the cell´s own power plants. In a new study, researchers from Goethe University, the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics and the University of Helsinki have determined the high-resolution structure of a central component of the respiratory chain, mitochondrial complex I, and simulated its dynamics on the computer. These findings both support basic research and enhance our understanding of certain neuromuscular and neurodegenerative…

With their altered metabolism, cancer cells grow faster than normal cells. Scientists at Leipzig University’s Faculty of Medicine have now discovered that cancer cells need the succinate receptor to control their metabolic rate. This knowledge should in future help doctors to develop treatments. Cancer cells show unchecked rapid growth beyond tissue boundaries that is no longer stopped by normal control mechanisms. Due to this rapid growth, the metabolism of cancer cells is altered compared to that of cells that grow…

Our brains can distinguish highly similar patterns, thanks to a process called pattern separation. How exactly our brains separate patterns is, however, not fully understood yet. Using a full-scale computer model of the dentate gyrus, a brain region involved in pattern separation, Peter Jonas, Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria, found that inhibitory neurons activated by one pattern suppress all their neighboring neurons, thereby switching off “competing” similar patterns. This is the result of a study…

Model replicates features of complex disease, provides platform for screening existing drugs. Using a stem-cell-derived model, researchers have identified two drug candidates that may slow dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness for which no treatment exists. The scientists, from the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, published their findings today in Nature Communications. “This stem-cell-derived model of dry AMD is a game-changer. Scientists have struggled to unravel this incredibly complex disease,…

A nanocomposite that absorbs X-rays and then, with nearly perfect efficiency, re-emits the captured energy as light, could help to improve high-resolution medical imaging and security screening. The material’s near-100 percent energy transfer could bring efficiency gains in devices ranging from light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and X-ray imaging scintillators, all the way to solar cells1. During a medical imaging procedure, X-rays passing through the body are absorbed by a scintillator material, which converts X-rays into light for a digital camera type…

Scientists have discovered an enzyme that is key to why exercise improves our health. Importantly this discovery has opened up the possibility of drugs to promote this enzyme’s activity, protecting against the consequences of aging. Monash University, Australia scientists have discovered an enzyme that is key to why exercise improves our health. Importantly this discovery has opened up the possibility of drugs to promote this enzyme’s activity, protecting against the consequences of ageing on metabolic health, including type 2 diabetes….

New strategy promises protection also against future SARS-CoV-2 variants. Fusion protein successfully blocks replication of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses. Vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been made possible by an unprecedented worldwide partnership. But medications against Covid-19 have as yet seen only partial success. With the support of the Bavarian Research Foundation, a Munich research team has developed a protein which has reliably prevented infection by the virus and its variants in cell culture tests. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses a…

Space-bound research ‘large step’ toward feeding Earth’s rapidly growing population. Clemson researcher Chris Saski admits sending the University’s iconic Tiger Paw to space aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is, quite literally, “an out-of-this-world experience.” But it’s the potential for the experiments in the flight hardware to which the Paw is attached that truly excites him. Saski’s cotton regeneration research, adorned with Clemson stickers, intends to take off Dec. 21 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida bound for the International…