New study reveals how human astroviruses bind to humans cells and paves the way for new therapies and vaccines Human astroviruses are a leading viral cause of the stomach bug—think vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. It often impacts young children and older adults, leading to vicious cycles of sickness and malnutrition, particularly for those in low and middle income countries. It’s very commonly found in wastewater studies, meaning it’s frequently circulating in communities. As of now, there are no vaccines for…
There are up to a hundred different receptors on the surface of each cell in the human body. The cell uses these receptors to receive extracellular signals, which it then transmits to its interior. Such signals arrive at the cell in various forms, including as sensory perceptions, neurotransmitters like dopamine, or hormones like insulin. One of the most important signaling molecules the cell uses to transmit such stimuli to its interior, which then triggers the corresponding signaling pathways, is a…
Researchers in Siegen have developed the world’s first afterglow-magnetic nanoparticles. The patented invention is designed for various applications including cancer detection in medicine and the detection of fine particulates in living organisms. Researchers at the University of Siegen have developed the world’s first nanoparticles that feature both magnetic and afterglow properties. The potential for applications is enormous: For example, the novel particles could be used to discover cancer cells in patients or detect the concrete distribution of fine particulates in…
In cooperation with colleagues from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, researchers at Leipzig University have investigated the structure of tumour tissue and the behaviour of tumour cells in detail, gaining important insights that could improve cancer diagnosis and therapy in the future. They found out that during tumour development the way cells move can change from coordinated and collective to individual and chaotic behaviour. They have just published their research findings in the journal “Nature Cell Biology”. The paper was…
A team of researchers at University of Toronto Engineering and University of Michigan have modified an enzyme from bacteria to promote regrowth of nerve tissue. A team of researchers from University of Toronto Engineering and the University of Michigan has redesigned and enhanced a natural enzyme that shows promise in promoting the regrowth of nerve tissue following injury. Their new version is more stable than the protein that occurs in nature, and could lead to new treatments for reversing nerve…
Rice, UTHealth study adds details to mechanisms responsible for memory. A chameleonlike protein in neurons can change its mind, and in the process change our brains. Scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) uncovered new clues in the protein CPEB3 as part of their dogged pursuit of the mechanism that allows humans to have long-term memories. The study by Rice theoretical biophysicist Peter Wolynes and Neal Waxham, a neurobiologist at UTHealth’s McGovern…
Model systems based on virus capsids have shown how large biomolecules are able to penetrate a cell nucleus / The larger the molecule, the more nuclear localization signals are needed A new study in the field of biophysics has revealed how large molecules are able to enter the nucleus of a cell. A team led by Professor Edward Lemke of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has thus provided important insights into how some viruses, for example, can penetrate into the…
An international research team led by the University of Bern has succeeded in developing an electrocatalyst for hydrogen fuel cells which, in contrast to the catalysts commonly used today, does not require a carbon carrier and is therefore much more stable. The new process is industrially applicable and can be used to further optimize fuel cell powered vehicles without CO2 emissions. Fuel cells are gaining in importance as an alternative to battery-operated electromobility in heavy traffic, especially since hydrogen is…
Researchers at Osaka University identify vicious cycle involving RNA exosome that accelerates disease progression in FTLD/ALS. Researchers at Osaka University have identified a fault in the RNA quality control system of cells that leads to the haywire production of toxic proteins in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTLD/ALS). Their new study, published in The EMBO Journal, shows that an abnormality of the C9orf72 gene produces toxic proteins that hinder the cells’ ability to destroy defective C9orf72 RNA, which…
A congenital disorder of the fat metabolism can apparently cause chronic hyperreaction of the immune system. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the University of Bonn in a recent study. The results are published in the journal Autophagy. Some individuals suffer from a genetic defect that causes their cells to form an unusual kind of fat. The consequences of this very rare disorder are grave. In some patients, the nerve cells responsible for transmitting pain die over time;…
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology discovered that strigolactones, a class of novel plant hormones, mediate the fine-tuning of the production plant defensive substances in the stem of plants of the wild tobacco species Nicotiana attenuata. In a cooperation with partners in China and Korea, they found that strigolactones and their crosstalk with other hormones involved in plant defense were crucial for tobacco plants’ ability to tolerate insects that live inside the stem. Plants that are no…
Intestinal stem cells keep a fine balance between two potential forms: remaining as stem cells, or developing into intestinal epithelial cells. In a new study, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) discovered a novel molecular mechanism that regulates this balance and preserves the stemness of intestinal stem cells–that is, their ability to develop into any intestinal epithelial cell type. The inner lining of intestines, the intestinal epithelium, ensures adequate digestion and adsorption of nutrients. It is made up…
Scientists report a detailed model of aerosol transport through air, considering several environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity and ambient flow The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is thought to spread through natural respiratory activities, such as breathing, talking and coughing, but little is known about how the virus is transported through the air. University of Missouri scientists report, in Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, on a study of how airflow and fluid flow affect exhaled droplets that can…
Researchers led by Göttingen University develop new three-dimensional imaging technique to visualize tissue damage in severe Covid-19 Physicists at the University of Göttingen, together with pathologists and lung specialists at the Medical University of Hannover, have developed a three-dimensional imaging technique that enables high resolution and three-dimensional representation of damaged lung tissue following severe Covid-19. Using a special X-ray microscopy technique, they were able to image changes caused by the coronavirus in the structure of alveoli (the tiny air sacs…
Personalized cancer treatments are no longer just options of the future. In the past few years, researchers have made significant progress in ‘teaching’ the body’s immune T cells to recognize and kill specific cancer cells, and human clinical trials have shown that this approach can successfully eliminate tumors. Cancer patients today can be a part of the following clinical scenario: a patient comes to the hospital where physicians and scientists analyze his or her tumor to identify cancer-specific markers that…
Electrons are able to move within molecules, for example when they are excited from outside or in the course of a chemical reaction. For the first time, scientists have now succeeded in studying the first few dozen attoseconds of this electron movement in a liquid. To understand how chemical reactions begin, chemists have been using super-slow motion experiments for years to study the very first moments of a reaction. These days, measurements with a resolution of a few dozen attoseconds…
Heart Center of the University Hospital of Bonn investigates how the communication between cells can be regulated Through their basic research, physicians at the Heart Center of the University Hospital Bonn have discovered how the communication between individual cells can be influenced with the help of a specific protein. These findings are an important approach to improving the treatment of diseases such as arteriosclerosis (calcified blood vessels), which causes heart attacks. The study was published online in advance in the…
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