Things aren’t always as they seem. Take pancreatic cancer, for example. In up to one in 10 cases, researchers have documented a peculiar characteristic. Some of the pancreatic cells appear to have lost their identity. It’s as if they forget what they are. “This is very bizarre. You see pancreatic cancer, which usually somewhat resembles the original organ, losing those features and basically becoming akin to skin or esophagus—these other very unrelated tissues, ” explains former Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory…

A new approach enables dressings that adhere firmly to the skin at body temperature, but can be removed easily and painlessly in combination with a cold pack. The dressing adheres firmly to the skin or wound site without restricting the patient’s freedom of movement. It can be removed easily and painlessly by cooling, e.g. with a cold pack. In addition, no adhesive residue sticks to the healing tissue. TLB has been commissioned to exploit this pioneering technology and offers wound…

– without animal experiments. For someone suffering from brittle bone disease, life is fraught with complications. The slightest misstep, a seemingly harmless fall or even one false move can be all it takes to leave them with a broken arm or leg. And chances are this will happen repeatedly, because they were born with an inherited genetic defect that makes their bones extremely brittle and is often associated with physical deformity. Notable sufferers of brittle bone disease include German author…

Filamentous cyanobacteria buckle at a certain length when they encounter an obstacle. This was discovered by the research group of Stefan Karpitschka, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and professor at the University of Konstanz. The results provide an important basis for the use of cyanobacteria in modern biotechnology. Cyanobacteria are one of the oldest and most important life forms in the world – for example as they took an essential part in producing the…

More than “on” and “off”: German Research Foundation funds new Emmy Noether Group at Philipps-Universität. How do numerous signals pass through a few channels? A new Emmy Noether junior research group at the University of Marburg is investigating how a limited number of G proteins can trigger a multitude of cellular reactions. Pharmacologist Dr. Hannes Schihada has received 1.9 million euros from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for two three-year funding periods to set up his research group. Cells have…

Fatty liver disease, SLD for short, is increasingly causing failure of the liver as a vital organ. A team led by researchers from the Institute of Metabolic Physiology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) in collaboration with the German Diabetes Centre (DDZ) and other partners has now discovered that a saturated fatty acid in blood vessels leads to the production of the signalling molecule SEMA3A, which closes the ‘windows’ in the blood vessels. This hinders the transport of fat from…

To avoid exposure to the harsh Mediterranean summer conditions, some seeds delay germination until after the hot and dry days. Using the plant model Aethionema arabicum, Zsuzsanna Mérai in the group of Liam Dolan at the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) has for the first time described a light-induced mechanism that establishes secondary seed dormancy in summer. The findings were published in Current Biology. Plants are highly versatile organisms that…

Invasive infections such as sepsis require immediate and targeted treatment. Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and group partners have succeeded in establishing a reconceptualized detection principle that can make a crucial contribution to saving lives through fast, ultra-accurate pathogen identification. They have been chosen to receive the 2024 Stifterverband Science Prize for their efforts. According to a recent study, sepsis — also known as blood poisoning — claims a human life in Germany every…

LIKAT Chemists Demonstrate Heterogeneous Catalysis for Synthesis of Complex Molecule. A catalyst developed at LIKAT in Rostock opens up new avenues in the synthesis of fine chemicals for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and household chemicals, for example. Its effect is based on isolated copper atoms applied to a solid carrier material around which the reaction solution flows. This heterogeneous catalysis, so called because the aggregate states of the catalyst (solid) and the starting materials (liquid) differ, is highly unusual in the production…

— innovative plastic film material made from PLA. Flexible, disposable plastic films used in shopping or garbage bags are made mainly from petroleum-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE). These films, however, come with a large carbon footprint and contribute to environmental pollution. A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP has now developed a flexible and recyclable plastic film material based on polylactide (PLA) bioplastic and paved the way for its commercialization. For their efforts, they received the Joseph…

Precision measurement of intestinal microbiome taking steps toward human clinical trials. Significant progress has been made at Tufts University School of Engineering in the development of a small device, about the size of a vitamin pill, that can be swallowed and passed through the gastrointestinal tract to sample the full inventory of microorganisms in an individual’s gastro-intestinal tract. This device has the potential to advance research on the relationship between resident bacteria and a wide range of health conditions. It…

USC Engineering researchers create GPS-like smart pills with AI. Utilizing wearable electronics and AI, new ingestible sensors provide real-time 3D monitoring of gastrointestinal health. Imagine finding your location without GPS. Now apply this to tracking an item in the body. This has been the challenge with tracking “smart” pills – pills equipped with smart sensors–once swallowed. At the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, innovations in wearable electronics and AI have led to the development of ingestible sensors that not only…

…to metastatic lung tumors in mice. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, known as microrobots, capable of swimming through the lungs to deliver cancer-fighting medication directly to metastatic tumors. This approach has shown promise in mice, where it inhibited the growth and spread of tumors that had metastasized to the lungs, thereby boosting survival rates compared to control treatments. The findings are detailed in a paper published on June 12 in Science Advances. The…

… and change shape, a vital biological function. In a feat aimed at understanding how cells move and creating new ways to shuttle drugs through the body, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have built a minimal synthetic cell that follows an external chemical cue and demonstrates a governing principle of biology called “symmetry breaking.” The findings are published June 12 in Science Advances. A step that precedes the movement of a cell, symmetry breaking, happens when a cell’s molecules,…

Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have changed the sensitivity of bacterial systems for controlling gene activity to red light and reprogrammed their molecular response to the light stimulus. The results open up exciting possibilities in the biotechnological application of bacteria. What for? It has long been known that bacteria not only cause diseases, but are also widely used in biotechnology. In addition to long-established applications, e.g. for the bacterial production of proteins, appropriately configured bacteria have recently become increasingly…

The ocean floor tells us stories from times long past which are most relevant for the future – those about global warming and changes in environmental conditions. With the help of specific biomarker molecules, Professor Dr. Kai-Uwe Hinrichs’ research group decodes material cycles from epochs of the highest climate dynamics as part of “The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface” Cluster of Excellence – and at the same time researches how the carbon cycle has changed and could develop in…