The effectiveness of cancer treatment is often hampered by cancer cells being heterogeneous. This is the case for EGFR-mutated lung cancer: drugs based on biomolecules of a type known as tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) have been used to treat the disease, but with various levels of efficacy. (EGFR stands for “epidermal growth factor receptor”, a protein playing an important role in signaling processes from the extracellular environment to a cell.) Sometimes, tumor cells are simply resistant to the drug. Now,…

The carnivorous Venus flytrap snaps shut when a prey touches it twice within 30 seconds. In the journal Nature Plants researchers report on how this plant’s short-term memory and counting system works. The carnivorous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) can count to five: A team led by biophysicist Rainer Hedrich, professor at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, proved this in 2016. This finding received worldwide attention in science and the media. In 2019, the JMU plant scientist was awarded the…

To achieve food security, to promote peace, to ensure access to quality education and clean water and sanitation, to improve health, to take action to combat climate change, to restore ecosystems and to reduce inequalities: these are some of the 17 SDG identified by the UN to address the global challenges faced by societies. Research can be used to achieve these interrelated goals, by not only producing reliable knowledge and data, offering innovative solutions and assessing progress but also in…

Dual-energy CT adds value to routine interpretation of emergency department imaging studies by increasing radiologists’ diagnostic confidence, leading to a reduction in downstream imaging and associated costs. According to an open-access article in ARRS’ American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), dual-energy CT (DECT) added value to routine interpretation of emergency department (ED) imaging studies by increasing radiologists’ diagnostic confidence, leading to a reduction in downstream imaging and associated costs. William D. Wong of Vancouver General Hospital and colleagues queried his institution’s…

Researchers from TU Graz and Ruhr University Bochum show in the journal ACS Catalysis how the catalytic activity of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, can be significantly increased. This brings biotechnological and thus eco-friendly application a big step closer. Cyanobacteria, despite staining water green through their special pigments, are colloquially known as “blue-green algae”, and convert light energy into chemical energy particularly effectively thanks to their highly active photosynthetic cells. This makes them attractive for biotechnological application, where they…

Researchers at the University of Freiburg established the world’s largest collection of moss species for the peat industry and science. Peatlands with their huge diversity of peat moss species store about 30 percent of the earth’s soil carbon. This means they store roughly twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined. However, peat harvesting and climate change are threatening these long-term carbon stores because there is not enough founder material for cultivating peat mosses on a large scale….

Professor Andreas Reiner and Stefan Pollok from the junior research group Cellular Neurobiology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) report on this unexpected finding and the underlying mechanisms in the journal PNAS from 30 September 2020. Wanted: more precise drugs Glutamate is the messenger substance, which the brain uses to pass on excitatory signals. Receptors for this neurotransmitter are a promising target for drug development, as they are involved in many pathological processes. For example, they play a role in epilepsy, mental…

One feature of the COVID-19 virus that makes it so difficult to contain is that it can be easily spread to others by a person who has yet to show any signs of infection. The carrier of the virus might feel perfectly well and go about their daily business–taking the virus with them to work, to the home of a family member, or to public gatherings. A crucial part of the global effort to stem the spread of the pandemic,…

Industrial Relevance Proven In catalysts, more surface area usually equals more activity. And hardly anything offers more surface than structures made of nanoparticles. Scientists from the Center for Nanointegration (CENIDE) at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) have shown that it makes sense in economic terms to produce catalytically highly active particles by laser. Not only are they extremely pure, but even at low temperatures they are more efficient than their conventionally produced counterparts. This has been demonstrated in tests conducted…

In unraveling how a single cell develops into a complex organism, one vexing question has remained for developmental biology: How do robust patterns form in the body? An answer has now been found for the zebrafish neural tube. In this paradigm of patterned tissues, the varying stickiness of cells combined with gradients of signaling molecules is responsible for generating a robust pattern. This is the result of a study published in Science, carried out jointly by the lab of Carl-Philipp…

Limited access to iron at high temperatures impairs growth and function of microalgae that live within coral cells. How well corals respond to climate change could depend in part on the already scarce amount of iron available in their environment, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. The study reveals that the combination of hot water temperatures and low iron levels compromises the algae that live within coral cells, suggesting that limited iron levels–which could decline with…

Freiberg researchers use bioleaching to recycle electronic waste Biohydrometallurgists at TU Bergakademie Freiberg have demonstrated for the first time that leaching with the help of bacteria can also be used to separate components when recycling electronic waste. The team around Professor Michael Schlömann has now published their research results in the current issue of the journal MDPI / Recycling. An old electronic board was placed in a flask filled with a bacterial solution. In the beginning, not much happens in…

The number of alien (non-native) species, particularly insects, arthropods and birds, is expected to increase globally by 36% by the middle of this century, compared to 2005, finds new research by an international team involving UCL. Published in Global Change Biology, the study also predicts the arrival of around 2,500 new alien species in Europe, which translates to an increase of 64% for the continent over the 45-year period. The research team led by the German Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate…

Specialized immune cells settle permanently in tissues of the body and build “local task forces”. Wuerzburger scientists have recently discovered, how these cells can regenerate themselves and can adapt to the new environment. When a pathogen invades the human body there has to be a rapid reaction in order to keep the damage to a minimum. Special immune cells act as a first line of defence. So-called innate lymphoid cells – in short ILCs- are located in mucosal tissue sites…

The case of the cluster anemones If you dive in the Mediterranean Sea, the cluster anemone is among the most fascinating and magnificent corals you could see. You can find it on rocks or sponges, in scarcely lit areas such as sea caves and gorges, where it clusters in dense agglomerations resembling yellow and orange carpets. In a study published in Scientific Reports, a research group of the University of Bologna found evidence that some corals commonly labelled as “cluster…

Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK and biopharma company UCB have found a way to produce miniaturised antibodies, opening the way for a potential new class of treatments for diseases. Until now, the smallest manmade antibodies (known as monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs) were derived from llamas, alpacas and sharks, but the breakthrough molecules isolated from the immune cells of cows are up to five times smaller. This is thanks to an unusual feature of a bovine antibody known as…