A small-molecule degrades a cancer-promoting protein by gluing it into filaments. “Molecular glue degraders” are a new class of cancer drugs, which “glue” cancer growth-promoting proteins directly to the molecular machinery of a cell’s disposal system, leading to the subsequent degradation of the cancer-driving proteins and anti-tumor activity. Scientists from Heidelberg and USA have now deciphered another mechanism whereby a small molecule can degrade a cancer protein. This drug binds to the lymphoma-driving protein BCL6, and induces BCL6 self-polymerization, which…

For the first time ever, expansion microscopy allows the imaging of even the finest details of cell membranes. This offers new insights into bacterial and viral infection processes. Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables the imaging of cells and their components with a spatial resolution far below 200 nanometres. For this purpose, the proteins of the sample under investigation are cross-linked into a swellable polymer. Once the interactions between the molecules have been destroyed, the samples can be expanded many times over…

Researchers at IST Austria gain deeper knowledge of plant growth by treating seedlings with painkillers like Aspirin and the like. New study published in Cell Reports. For centuries humans were using willow barks to treat a headache or an inflamed tooth. Later, the active ingredient, the plant hormone salicylic acid, was used to develop painkillers like Aspirin. But what happens, if plants are treated with these painkillers? By doing so, Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria…

Method measures naturally occurring electron transfers. Bacterial infections have become one of the biggest health problems worldwide, and a recent study shows that COVID-19 patients have a much greater chance of acquiring secondary bacterial infections, which significantly increases the mortality rate. Combatting the infections is no easy task, though. When antibiotics are carelessly and excessively prescribed, that leads to the rapid emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant genes in bacteria — creating an even larger problem. According to the Centers for…

Magnetic resonance imaging has become an indispensable tool for medical diagnostics. Using metamaterials – printed circuit boards whose properties can be systematically adjusted – can increase measurement sensitivity by a factor of five. Metamaterials can also make scans faster and quieter. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Digital Medicine MEVIS and for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR are working together to make examinations more pleasant for patients. Magnetic resonance imaging – MRI for short – lets doctors image…

The air we exhale contains information that can assist with the diagnosis of disease. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Project Hub for Microelectronic and Optical Systems for Biomedicine MEOS are now developing solutions designed to enable the analysis of breath gas for this purpose. Although their research focuses on the early detection of cancer, the same principle could also be applied to distinguish between COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. Some diseases have a distinct odor. A faintly sweet and fruity acetone…

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) have the potential to convert into a wide variety of cell types and tissues. However, the “recipes” for this conversion are often complicated and difficult to implement. Researchers at the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at TU Dresden, Harvard University (USA) and the University of Bonn have found a way to systematically extract hundreds of different cells quickly and easily from iPS using transcription factors. Researchers can use this transcription factor source through the…

A team led by cell biologist Prof. Erez Raz from the University of Münster has investigated the role of the cell-cell adhesion protein E-cadherin in the targeted migration of germ cells in zebrafish embryos and found out that the protein mediates the interaction of the cells with their environment. It supports the localisation of certain proteins in a specific region of the cells by indirectly coupling these proteins to the surrounding cells. The study has been published in the journal…

Antibiotics have revolutionized medicine by providing effective treatments for infectious diseases such as cholera. But the pathogens that cause disease are increasingly developing resistance to the antibiotics that are most commonly used. Scientists at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany have discovered a molecule that influences the antibiotic-resistance of cholera bacteria. They have published their results in the scientific journal “Nature Communications”. Antibiotics work in different ways. Some, including penicillin, attack the cell wall of the bacteria by inhibiting their…

Scaffold of sub-cellular structures identified after a hundred years. Nuclear speckles are tiny agglomerations of proteins in the nucleus of the cell that are involved in the processing of genetic information. Berlin researchers have now discovered how nuclear speckles are constructed and were able to close a long-standing gap in research. When the famous Spanish physician Santiago Ramón y Cajal looked through his microscope in 1910, he discovered irregular and “transparent lumps” that appeared throughout the nucleus of a neuron….

A ‘game changing’ study deciphering the genetic material of the desert locust by researchers at the University of Leicester, could help combat the crop-ravaging behaviour of the notorious insect pest which currently exacerbates a hunger crisis across many developing countries. It is hoped that the study will provide the basis for developing ‘intelligent pesticides’, that act with surgical precision by tapping into locust-specific signals in the nervous system, to either kill or disable their swarming behaviour, without harming other organisms….

Enzymatic photocaging for the study of gene regulation through DNA methylation. The addition and removal of methyl groups on DNA plays an important role in gene regulation. In order to study these mechanisms more precisely, a German team has developed a new method by which specific methylation sites can be blocked and then unblocked at a precise time through irradiation with light (photocaging). As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the required regent is produced enzymatically, in situ. Although they…

With new insights into how the genetic tool CRISPR – which allows direct editing of our genes – evolved and adapted, we are now one step closer to understanding the basis of the constant struggle for survival that takes place in nature. The results can be used in future biotechnologies. In 2020, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their discoveries of the molecular mechanism behind CRISPR-Cas and the use of the technology…

The researchers proposed a new approach by analysing the interaction of calcium acetylide with water and dimethyl sulfoxide on the atomic scale. Calcium acetylide was discovered more than 150 years ago. It is a yellowish-white, beige, or grey solid, a compound of calcium and carbon. Calcium acetylide is currently used to produce gaseous acetylene. In industry, it is widely used in the production of acetic acid and ethyl alcohol, as well as it can be used in the production of…

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a new gene therapy approach that offers promise for one day treating an eye disease that leads to a progressive loss of vision and affects thousands of people across the globe. The study, which involved a collaboration with clinical teams in the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital and the Mater Hospital, also has implications for a much wider suite of neurological disorders associated with ageing. The scientists publish their results today [Thursday…

Bread wheat can grow in highly diverse regional environments. An important reason for its great genetic variety is the cross-hybridization with many chromosome fragments from wild grasses. This is shown by the genome sequences of 10 wheat varieties from four continents, which an international consortium including researchers from the University of Zurich has now decoded. A variety of bread wheat that flourishes across Switzerland would remain just a poorly growing grass in India. This ability to adapt to regional climate…