A hair-like protein hidden inside bacteria serves as a sort of on-off switch for nature’s “electric grid,” a global web of bacteria-generated nanowires that permeates all oxygen-less soil and deep ocean beds, Yale researchers report in the journal Nature. “The ground beneath our feet, the entire globe, is electrically wired,” said Nikhil Malvankar, assistant professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at the Microbial Sciences Institute at Yale’s West Campus and senior author of the paper. “These previously hidden bacterial hairs are the…

Genomic sequencing, rare in low-income countries, identifies and tracks variants of the virus that cause COVID-19. Variant tracking enables local governments and hospitals to make better-informed decisions to lower infections and deaths. Philippine Genome Center Mindanao (PGC Mindanao) has partnered with Accessible Genomics, a group of volunteering scientists from all around the world to implement a low start-up cost genomic sequencing platform for laboratories in developing countries. Ineke Knot from the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) in Amsterdam…

Large difference in role of iron between oceans near Greenland and Antarctica. Though a lack of iron is a factor limiting algal growth in the oceans, more dissolved iron in the ocean East of Greenland due to the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet does not lead to more algae there. Off the coast of Antarctica, on the other hand, algae do profit from more dissolved iron in the water as a consequence of melting ice. The cause of this…

New insights for sepsis therapeutics. Lab studies reveal protein HSP27’s role in blood vessel leakage, opening the possibility that therapeutically dialing its activity up or down might stabilize patients with sepsis. Sepsis occurs when the body works so hard to fight an infection that the over-activated immune system harms a patient’s own tissues as collateral damage. As a result, blood vessels can become leaky and major organs can’t get the oxygen and nutrients they require to sustain life. Sepsis is…

Research team from Kiel University investigates how to maintain the efficacy of available antibiotics by sequentially administering closely related agents. Public health is coming under increasing pressure worldwide due to the antibiotic crisis: the rapid increase in resistance of bacterial pathogens could mean that in the near future bacterial infections that are usually harmless will be difficult or impossible to treat. The spread of antibiotic resistance is based on the ability of pathogens to adapt quickly to the drugs. In…

Meta-analysis shows contribution of placebo in exercise for muscle and joint pain. Prof. Daniel Belavy from the Hochschule für Gesundheit (University of Applied Sciences) in Bochum, Germany, in collaboration with an Australian research group (Dr. Clint Miller, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia) examined how effective exercise is for musculoskeletal pain syndromes. Their findings: in a meta-analysis of 79 studies including 4719 patients, they found exercise training improves chronic pain, but that the effect is similar…

The entrainment of fluid near schooling, self-propelled particles can be utilized for directed transport. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Twente created a new model for a new transport mechanism on the microscale in a combined experimental and theoretical approach. They investigated small self-propelling objects, so-called micro-swimmers, and monitored a directed transport of particles in the surrounding fluid. Using this observation, they computed how a multitude of…

How the unity of physical and biochemical cues creates healthy organisms. New TU Dresden research group aims to uncover how stem cells respond to mechanical forces and electrical cues during the development and maintenance of the nervous and cardiovascular system. Dr. Adele Doyle, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, joined the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (PoL) in July, 2021, to lead the research group Mechanobiology of Stem Cells at TU Dresden. Using approaches from…

Against infections, tumours and inflammations, immune cells are locally positioned as rapid reaction forces in the organs of the body. On site, they specialise and take on various tasks. When pathogens invade the human body, a rapid response is required. At the forefront of the immune response are special immune cells. They reside in various tissues such as the lungs, liver, skin and intestines, where they take up the fight against invaders at an early stage. Their name: innate lymphoid…

The Human Cell Atlas is the world’s largest, growing single-cell reference atlas. It contains references of millions of cells across tissues, organs and developmental stages. These references help physicians to understand the influences of aging, environment and disease on a cell – and ultimately diagnose and treat patients better. Yet, reference atlases do not come without challenges. Single-cell datasets may contain measurement errors (batch effect), the global availability of computational resources is limited and the sharing of raw data is…

Computational platform allows non-experts to create patient-specific, 3D models of nerves being electrically stimulated. Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed an open-source software platform that automates 3D electrical nerve stimulation modeling. This may allow  researchers to predict how specific nerves will respond to different patterns of stimulation from custom electrodes. The researchers hope the platform will help researchers create accurate models of new therapies for a variety of diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease. Like a pacemaker…

International cooperation between materials science and medicine develops gel patches from a 3D printer that can be activated individually. Circulatory disorders, diabetes or lying in the same position for extended periods can all lead to chronic wounds that do not heal. There are hardly any effective treatment options. A materials science research team from Kiel University (CAU), together with colleagues from the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Harvard Medical School, USA, and Dankook University in South Korea, has developed a…

International research team isolates DNA from modern human buried 7,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The oldest genome of a modern human from the Wallacea region – the islands between western Indonesia and Papua New Guinea – indicates a previously undescribed ancient human relationship. Researchers were able to isolate sufficient genetic material from the skull of an individual buried more than 7,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It belonged to a hunter-gatherer society and…

Study points to mechanism of post-viral lung damage; suggests targets of intervention. The deadliest time in a viral respiratory illness sometimes is actually after the virus is cleared from the body. Destructive processes that are set in motion during an infection crest in the weeks after the virus is defeated, leading to organ damage that can cause chronic illness or even death. After an initial bout of COVID-19, for example, some people struggle with persistent cough, difficulty breathing and shortness…

Neurons phosphorylate their proteins in order to sense and respond to changes in network activity. Homeostatic scaling is a form of synaptic plasticity that allows neurons to stabilize network activity in response to large perturbations. To sense such changes in overall activity levels, neurons must have molecular mechanisms to sense and implement the scaling response on timescales ranging from minutes to days. Scientists at the Max Planck Institutes for Brain Research and Biophysics in Frankfurt now studied a form of…

Soap molecules reversibly open specific channel proteins in bacteria. These channels are also interesting from a medical point of view, as they are part of the defense mechanisms of bacteria. A Würzburg research group published these results in the renowned journal PNAS. Bacteria use special channel proteins through which they can channel fluid and ions out of the cell in case they need to protect themselves from bursting. The research group led by Prof. Dr. Bettina Böttcher of the Rudolf…