Wastewater plants employ a variety of effective and established processes to treat sewage and wastewater. As yet, however, there is no ideal, uniformly recognized method for removing trace substances. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT are seeking to change this. In a project known as ZeroTrace, they are pursuing an integrated approach that combines their very own activated carbon composite with a newly developed electrical regeneration process. The result is a method that promises…

Scientists made use of new scientific technology to investigate the so-called stress axis that runs from the brain down to the adrenal glands. In particular, they uncovered numerous changes that occur in single cells along this axis as chronic stress continually prompts the adrenals to secrete the stress hormone, cortisol, and they found a new subpopulation of cells that aids and abets the stress response in these glands. Their findings may be relevant to a number of stress-related diseases from…

MHH research team uses telomerase for oxygen detoxification in heart muscle cells. According to an estimate by the Robert Koch Institute, around 510,000 people in Germany were newly diagnosed with cancer last year. Thanks to improved therapies, cancer diseases can be treated more and more successfully – but what causes lasting damage to the tumours often also has severe side effects. The highly effective therapeutics from the group of anthracyclines, for example, prevent cancer cells from dividing. At the same…

Researchers identify an essential factor involved in the ordered recycling of phycobilisome light-harvesting structures The biological process of photosynthesis is found at the beginning of nearly all food chains. It produces oxygen to breathe and provides the energetic foundation for using biotechnological processes to synthesize biofuels and chemical feedstock. Therefore, researchers are particularly interested in rapidly growing cyanobacteria. These organisms use light as an energy source and can carry out photosynthesis, similar to plants. However, the required photosynthetic protein complexes…

New techniques allow live-observation of forming cell walls The height growth of plants is made possible by a specialized vascular system, the so called xylem, also known as wood. This network of hollow cells is a network of hollow cells with extremely strong cell walls, that wind around the cell in filigree patterns. So far, it is only partly known, how these patterns are created. Dr. René Schneider from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, Dr. Kris van’t…

Researchers have discovered a novel and druggable insulin inhibitory receptor, named inceptor. The latest study from Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, the Technical University of Munich and the German Center for Diabetes Research is a significant milestone for diabetes research as the scientific community celebrates 100 years of insulin and 50 years of insulin receptor discovery. The blocking of inceptor function leads to an increased sensitisation of the insulin signaling pathway in pancreatic beta cells. This might allow protection and regeneration of…

To start the process of unpacking tightly bundled genetic material, plants depend on the LEAFY pioneer protein, according to work led by biologist Doris Wagner. Cells don’t express all the genes they contain all the time. The portion of our genome that encodes eye color, for example, doesn’t need to be turned on in liver cells. In plants, genes encoding the structure of a flower can be turned off in cells that will form a leaf. These unneeded genes are…

The hormone acts as a barrier against SARS-CoV-2, blocking the expression of genes that encode proteins in cells serving as viral entry points, according to a study by researchers at the University of São Paulo. By Elton Alisson  |  Agência FAPESP – Melatonin synthesized in the lungs acts as a barrier against SARS-CoV-2, preventing expression of genes that encode proteins in cells such as resident macrophages in the nose and pulmonary alveoli, and epithelial cells lining the alveoli, all of which…

Climate change may challenge organismal responses through not only extreme cues. An uncommon combination of benign cues – warm and short days – can also trigger reactions such as misregulations of leaves. Plants and other organisms can adapt their phenotypes to fluctuating environmental conditions within certain limits. The leaves of the dandelion, for example, are much more small in sunny locations than in shady places. In the sun, less leaf area is adequate to drive sufficient photosynthesis. This makes sense…

Corn hasn’t always been the sweet, juicy delight that we know today. And, without adapting to a rapidly changing climate, it is at risk of losing its place as a food staple. Putting together a plant is a genetic puzzle, with hundreds of genes working together as it grows. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor David Jackson worked with Associate Professor Jesse Gillis to study genes involved in corn development. Their teams analyzed thousands of individual cells that make up…

Longitudinal and functional study of 700 aging mice provides a treasure trove of data for those studying aging and age-related diseases. A compound that extends lifespan in a tiny nematode worm slows bone loss in aging mice. That surprising result comes from a longitudinal and functional study of 700 aging mice at the Buck Institute, a project that provides a treasure trove of data for researchers aiming to develop therapeutics to slow aging and age-related diseases. The study is currently…

Mosses and flowering plants took different genetic routes to evolve a similar defense mechanism A team led by plant biologists at the Universities of Freiburg and Göttingen in Germany has shown for the first time that mosses have a mechanism to protect them against cold that was previously known only in flowering plants. Professor Ralf Reski at the Cluster of Excellence Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS) at the University of Freiburg and Professor Ivo Feussner at the Center…

Harvard-led researchers have produced the most comprehensive genome of one of the world’s largest flowers. On January 22 in Current Biology, a team of Harvard-led researchers presented the most complete genome yet assembled of one of the major Rafflesiaceae lineages, Sapria himalayana. The species is found in Southeast Asia and its mottled red and white flower is about the size of a dinner plate. (It’s more famous cousin, Rafflesia arnoldii, produces blossoms nearly three feet in diameter, the largest in…

Nearly pain-free microneedle patch can test for antibodies and more in the fluid between cells. Blood draws are no fun. They hurt. Veins can burst, or even roll — like they’re trying to avoid the needle, too. Oftentimes, doctors use blood samples to check for biomarkers of disease: antibodies that signal a viral or bacterial infection, such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19; or cytokines indicative of inflammation seen in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and sepsis. These biomarkers…

Cryo-electron microscopy study allows researchers to visualize structural changes in an E. coli enzyme synthesizing ribosomal RNA that shift it between turbo- and slow-modes depending on the bacteria’s growth rate. The enzyme that makes RNA from a DNA template is altered to slow the production of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), the most abundant type of RNA within cells, when resources are scarce and the bacteria Escherichia coli needs to slow its growth. Researchers used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to capture the structures…

New insights to an icon of evolutionary biology Analysis of digitized collection specimens supports an old hypothesis. For a long time, the long neck of giraffes has fascinated evolutionary biologists and anatomists. Despite its enormous length of approximately 2 meters it is made up of only 7 vertebrae, just like in us humans, in tiny shrews and almost all other mammals. New methods help researchers of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) in Germany to find…