The research was carried out in Dr. Johannes Karges’ Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry group in collaboration with doctoral student Nicolás Montesdeoca and two Bachelor students, Lukas Johannknecht and Elizaveta Efanova, and with the support of Dr. Jaqueline Heinen-Weiler from the Medical Imaging Center at Ruhr University Bochum. Two types of programmed cell death In programmed cell death, certain signaling molecules initiate a kind of suicide program to cause cells to die in a controlled manner. This is an essential step to…

An innovative combination of tissue simulation, an authoring tool for creating custom learning content, and special haptic arms will make this possible. The long and complex training of surgeons is intended to prepare them as best as possible for the successful performance of complex procedures such as bone operations. With the help of virtual reality (VR), it is possible to realistically depict surgical situations and test training with virtual patients free of risk. However, current methods still have their limits…

Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have established a new optogenetic approach in which the bacterial production of proteins can be controlled at the mRNA level with blue light. The new system gates the activation of the genetic substance particularly effectively and thus surpasses previous approaches. It provides new tools for basic research and biotechnology. What for? Optogenetics refers to the regulation of biological processes by light, for example gene expression, i.e. the activation of specific genes. Optogenetics therefore offers…

The ability to turn experiences into memories allows us to learn from the past and use what we learned as a model to respond appropriately to new situations. For this reason, as the world around us changes, this memory model cannot simply be a fixed archive of the good old days. Rather, it must be dynamic, changing over time and adapting to new circumstances to better help us predict the future and select the best course of action. How the…

A team led by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, German Rheumatology Research Center and the Max Delbrück Center have defined key cells behind severe kidney damage in lupus. The research, published in “Nature,” can inform future antibody therapies. A Berlin-led research team has uncovered critical regulators of severe kidney damage in patients with lupus, an autoimmune disorder affecting an estimated five million people worldwide, most of which are young women. A small, specialized population of immune cells – called innate lymphoid…

The remarkable affinity of the microbial enzyme iron nitrogenase for the greenhouse gas CO2 makes it useful for future biotechnologie. Nitrogenases are among the most geochemically important enzymes on Earth, providing all forms of life with bioavailable nitrogen in the form of ammonia (NH3). Some nitrogenases can also directly convert CO2 into hydrocarbon chains, making them an exciting target for the development of biotechnological processes. A team of researchers in Marburg, Germany, led by Max Planck scientist Johannes Rebelein, has…

Researchers publish a new study on the adaptability of plants in arid regions in the scientific journal “Nature”. In a major international study, scientists, including Dr Pierre Liancourt, plant ecologist at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, have investigated how plants in arid regions have adapted to these extreme habitats. For eight years, over 120 researchers from 27 countries collected samples from numerous selected drylands on six continents. This made it possible to analyse over 1300 observation series and…

How can diseases of the cardiovascular system be detected before symptoms appear? Researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have found a way to track them down at an early stage. Sascha Ranftl (l.) from the Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics at TU Graz and Vahid Badeli from the Institute of Fundamentals and Theory in Electrical Engineering at TU Graz. Foto: Christine Rechling Cardiovascular diseases are among the most common causes of death worldwide. They are often only…

MRC1 An international research collaboration reveals that the fork protection complex component Mrc1 is a central coordinator of symmetrical parental histone inheritance to both leading and lagging DNA strands during replication, which is essential to the long-term maintenance of cell identity. A groundbreaking discovery regarding Mrc1 (Mediator of Replication Checkpoint 1) – a fission yeast protein involved in DNA replication – has been published in Cell. The discovery is the result of an international research collaboration, led by Professors Genevieve Thon…

Chemists and pharmaceutical scientists at Heidelberg University develop an innovative process for producing these biologically active compounds. A cutting-edge chemical process is the first to make it possible to quickly and easily produce modified peptides with boronic acids. It was developed by scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology at Heidelberg University. As part of this work, scientists managed to synthesize a large number of different biologically active peptide boronic acids and…

Methane-oxidizing bacteria could play a greater role than previously thought in preventing the release of climate-damaging methane from lakes, researchers from Bremen report. They also show who is behind the process and how it works. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas frequently produced in the sea and in fresh water. Lakes in particular release large quantities of this climate-killer. Fortunately, however, there are microorganisms that counteract this: They are able to utilize methane to grow and generate energy, thus preventing…

Lowering healthcare costs by relying less on electronics. A new, air-powered computer sets off alarms when certain medical devices fail. The invention is a more reliable and lower-cost way to help prevent blood clots and strokes — all without electronic sensors. Described in a paper in the journal Device, the computer not only runs on air, but also uses air to issue warnings. It immediately blows a whistle when it detects a problem with the lifesaving compression machine it is…

Inside each cell, individual structures known as organelles perform key functions, but how these organelles contribute to the formation of tissues and organs is unknown. Groundbreaking research from the Campàs group at the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life of TU Dresden now reveals that the cell’s nucleus controls the stiffness of eye and brain tissues, and even the ordered arrangements of cells in them. These results add a new role for the cell’s nucleus in tissue organization, well beyond…

New reactor system could decarbonize ammonia production, treat nitrate-contaminated water. Ammonia plays a critical role in sustaining food production for the world’s growing population, but making it accounts for about 2% of global energy consumption and 1.4% of carbon dioxide emissions. Rice University engineers have developed a revolutionary reactor design that could decarbonize ammonia production while also mitigating water pollution. In a study published in Nature Catalysis, a team of Rice engineers led by Haotian Wang described the development of a new…

Thousands of athletes are currently competing for medals at the Olympic Games in Paris. And in some cases, questions will be asked about whether medals were won fairly or whether doping was involved. Software developed by a team led by Wolfgang Maaß, professor of business informatics at Saarland University, could help to answer these questions in future competitions. The software, which is currently being presented at the International Joint Conference on AI (3–9 August in South Korea), needs only a…

ISTA researchers uncover how ‘mortal filaments’ self-assemble and maintain order. A previously unknown mechanism of active matter self-organization essential for bacterial cell division follows the motto ‘dying to align’: Misaligned filaments ‘die’ spontaneously to form a ring structure at the center of the dividing cell. The study, led by the Šarić group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), was published in Nature Physics. The work could find applications in developing synthetic self-healing materials. How does matter, lifeless…