There is fresh momentum in our protein supply — and it’s moving along on six legs. Insects are a source of protein with a smaller resource footprint than conventional alternatives in every possible way. To ensure the safety of insect farms and their products, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a system that reliably detects pathogens right away, at low cost and with the possibility of automation. Little creepy-crawlies, big potential: From grasshoppers to beetles and migratory locusts, insects are a sustainable…

Safe, efficient healthcare… How can surgery be made more cost-effective, safer and more efficient in the future? An interdisciplinary French-German team has developed high-tech hybrid operating rooms that harness the power of 5G and AI to unlock whole new applications. A medical emergency requires complicated surgery. But the closest specialist is hundreds of kilometers away. These days, this kind of situation could be a life-or-death issue, but just a few short years from now, surgeons might be able to operate…

A research team led by Prof. JIANG Hailong, Prof. LUO Yi, and Prof. JIANG Jun from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) discovered a metal-organic framework (MOF) that suppress charge recombination, which is a major challenge in photocatalytic overall water splitting. Their study was published in Nature Chemistry. Photocatalytic overall water splitting for hydrogen production is considered the “Holy Grail” reaction of chemistry. However, a major challenge in this reaction is preventing the recombination of electrons and…

Research led by the University of Michigan has provided compelling  evidence that could solve a fundamental mystery in the makeup of fibrils that play a role in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. “We’ve seen that patients have these fibril structures in their brains for a long time now,” said Ursula Jakob, senior author of the new study. “But the questions are what do these fibrils do? What is their role in disease? And, most importantly, can we do something…

The beta cells of the pancreas are responsible for releasing the hormone insulin, which is vital for the absorption of glucose from the bloodstream. Various factors can impair the ability of these cells to produce insulin. This can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Current studies indicate that dysfunctions of the primary cilia of the beta cells may also be a cause of T2D. Most cells in our body have immobile primary cilia. These small projections are…

Single-cell technology… Bright prospects for personalized medicine: Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM harness their know-how in microfluidics and single-cell technologies to print organ structures. They will be presenting their developments at the joint Fraunhofer booth (Hall 3, Booth E74) at the MEDICA 2024 trade show from November 11 to 14. Single-cell technologies play a key role in studying and characterizing cells. Dr. Christian Freese, Head of Infection and Cancer Diagnostics at Fraunhofer IMM, and his…

The AI tool AlphaFold has been improved so that it can now predict the shape of very large and complex protein structures. Linköping University researchers have also succeeded in integrating experimental data into the tool. The results, published in Nature Communications, are a step toward more efficient development of new proteins for, among other things, medical drugs. In all living organisms, there is a huge variety of proteins that regulate cell functions. Basically, everything that happens in the body, from…

Positioning cobalt and copper in close proximity on an electrode facilitates selective conversion of the greenhouse gas CO₂ to ethanol / Prime example of sustainable chemical research. The continuing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is a major driver of global warming and climate change with increased extreme weather events. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now presented a method for effectively converting carbon dioxide into ethanol, which is then available as a sustainable raw material for…

Hardly any other chemical substance can compete with PFAS, due to their unique properties. That explains why it is so hard to find a replacement for these toxic “forever chemicals”, which accumulate in the environment and do not break down over time. A team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM has succeeded in developing solutions that hold great promise of targeted substitution for PFAS in fields including medical engineering. The planned ban on the use…

Why tumors shrink but don’t disappear. “As tumors grow very quickly, consume a lot of oxygen and their vascular growth can’t necessarily keep pace, they often contain areas that are poorly supplied with oxygen,” explains Johannes Karges. These areas, often in the center of the tumor, frequently survive treatment with conventional drugs, so that the tumor initially shrinks but doesn’t disappear completely. This is because the therapeutic agents require oxygen to be effective. The mechanism of action developed by Karges’…

Researchers detail the inner workings of the most complex and intricate molecular machine in human biology. Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona have created the first blueprint of the human spliceosome, the most complex and intricate molecular machine inside every cell. The scientific feat, which took more than a decade to complete, is published today in the journal Science. The spliceosome edits genetic messages transcribed from DNA, allowing cells to create different versions of a protein…

The hepatitis E virus affects the liver. But infected liver cells secrete a viral protein that reacts with antibodies in the blood and may form complexes that can damage the filter structure of the kidneys, as researchers from the University of Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich have proven for the first time. The hepatitis E virus infects some 70 million people every year. “This infection is the most common form of acute hepatitis and a major global health problem,”…

To test complex brain functions during neurosurgical procedures, surgeons must operate on awake, locally anesthetized patients. This allows surgeons to interact with them and test how their intervention affects brain function. However, opening the skull while the patient is awake is extremely stressful for them psychologically. A new robot-assisted and optically precisely monitored laser procedure developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen is set to enable gentle, vibration-free and virtually silent craniotomies while the patient is…

By applying an electric field, the movement of microswimmers can be manipulated. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS), the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad and the University of Twente, Netherlands, describe the underlying physical principles by comparing experiments and theoretical modeling predictions. They are able to tune the direction and mode of motion through a microchannel between oscillation, wall adherence and centerline orientation, enabling different interactions with the environment. Microswimmers often need to independently…

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, the University Medical Center Freiburg, and Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG have been awarded the Research Prize for Digitalization in Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery 2024 for their publication entitled “Validation of a Finite Element Simulation for Predicting Individual Knee Joint Kinematics.” The award ceremony took place on October 25, 2024, during the German Congress for Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery (DKOU 2024) in Berlin. Knee injuries are among the most common…

Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory have developed a new combination of imaging and computational methods to study connections between immune cells in breast cancer and melanoma. A growing cancer is shaped by more than just the tumor cells it contains; the tissue around a tumor also alters its biology. Now, researchers at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) have combined advanced imaging techniques with a new computational method to probe how immune cells interact with each other in never-before-seen detail, revealing that…