news 2021

The results could help clinicians understand addiction and enable people to better manage substance withdrawal Geneva & Lausanne, Switzerland - Cocaine is a highly addictive substance that, in the long term, can have adverse effects on health and wellbeing. There are around 18 million cocaine users globally, according to a UN report.

Ecotoxicological tests need to be extremely accurate - which often poses challenges in research and practice. Eawag has now developed a computer model that enables even more accurate testing at high throughput; the model is simple, widely applicable and saves resources. How dangerous are chemicals that enter water bodies for aquatic life' To answer this question, tests are needed on organisms - or as is increasingly the case - on isolated cells, which can replace tests on organisms.

Researchers from the University of Geneva identified a new function for a protein that helps cells to sense their environment and dock at their proper place in the body. Each human being is made of billions of cells. In order to ensure his survival, cells must coordinate with each other and attach in the right place to perform their tasks.

Results demonstrate MRI compatibility, good surgical handling and reliable recording in bioelectronic interfaces that conform to the nervous system Geneva, Switzerland - A new study published in Advanced Science by researchers from the Laboratory of Soft BioElectronics Interfaces (LSBI) at EPFL, led by Prof. Stéphanie P. Lacour , has demonstrated MRI compatibility in their soft electrode arrays - a crucial step in translation to the clinic.

Lung tumors are home to immune cells that affect their growth and resistance to treatment. Looking at neutrophils, scientists led by EPFL have discovered that the key might lie in the cells' ability to metabolize glucose, opening an entirely new target for improving radiotherapy. Cancers are not only made of tumor cells.

Combining structural biology, molecular simulations, mutagenesis, and in vivo assays, EPFL scientists have made the first extensive study of the mode of action of the enzyme acyl thioesterase, which regulates deacylation, one of the most critical functions of the cell. S'acylation is the process of chemically linking a lipid to protein via a thioester bond.

Researchers at the UNIGE have traced the family tree of ray-finned fish in order to reconstruct the evolution of the protective structures of their skin. Usually scaled, the skin of fish can also be naked or made up of bony plates that form an armour, sometimes even covered with teeth. But how has this skin evolved over the ages? To answer this question, researchers at the University of Geneva , Switzerland, have reconstructed the evolution of the protective skin structures in fish, going back to the common ancestor of ray-finned fish, more than 420 million years ago.

Streetlights alter the number of flower visits by insects not just at night, but also during the daytime. Artificial light at night thus indirectly affects the entire plant-pollinator community, with unknown consequences for functioning of the ecosystem, as researchers from the University of Zurich and Agroscope have proven for the first time.

Could a ray of light stop rogue proteins in their tracks and slow the spread of neurodegenerative disease in the brain? EPFL and the Wyss Center are set to find out. GENEVA AND LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - The Wyss Center and the Lashuel lab at EPFL announced today a collaboration to explore the potential of using light as a therapy for Parkinson's disease and dementia.

Scientists at ETH Zurich are working to develop information-processing switching systems in biological cells. Now, for the first time, they have developed an OR switch in human cells that reacts to different signals. Biological cells might one day be equipped with artificial genetic programs that work in much the same way as electronic systems.

For the first time, a team from the University of Geneva has been able to follow precisely the path taken by a protein within the cell, paving the way for the study of the transport and distribution network of vital elements necessary for its survival. In order to stay alive, the cell must provide its various organelles with all the energy elements they need, which are formed in the Golgi apparatus, its centre of maturation and redistribution of lipids and proteins.

Phylogenetic trees map the evolution and ancestral relationships of organisms. At least that is the theory. Researchers at the University of Basel have now revealed that for many bacteria this theory is based on mistaken assumptions. These phylogenies are not a reliable indicator of common ancestry but rather reflect how extensively different bacteria have exchanged genes with each other.

In Lake Constance, sticklebacks are occupying increasingly varied habitat types - in recent years even including the open and deep waters of the lake. In an Eawag review undertaken as part of the "SeeWandel" project, these uniquely diverse ecological adaptations are explained in terms of renewed contact between three stickleback lineages - including one originating from the Baltic region, whose genetic material is as yet rarely observed in other Swiss lakes.

An international research group led by the University of Basel has developed a promising strategy for therapeutic cancer vaccines. Using two different viruses as vehicles, they administered specific tumor components in experiments on mice with cancer in order to stimulate their immune system to attack the tumor.

The brain's emotion-processing center — the amygdala — is one of several brain regions involved in social behavior. But the exact role that this almond-shaped structure plays in the so-called 'social brain' remains mysterious. Now, the Lüthi group has found that the activity of different populations of neurons in the amygdala reflects whether mice interact with their peers, or whether they focus on self-centered behaviors such as grooming.

A team from SCCL has discovered that CD4 T lymphocytes, which usually play a supporting role in fighting cancer cells, also have the power to destroy them. Treatments for beating tumours are mainly based on CD8 T lymphocytes, which specialise in detecting and eliminating intracellular infections and in killing cancer cells.

How dangerous are new mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus? An international team involving researchers from the Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI) of the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office BLV and the University of Bern (Switzerland), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USA), and the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute (Germany), has developed an approach that can accurately assess the transmissibility of new virus mutants.

As people get older, their neural stem cells lose the ability to proliferate and produce new neurons, leading to a decline in memory function. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now discovered a mechanism linked to stem cell aging - and how the production of neurons can be reactivated. The stem cells in our brain generate new neurons throughout life, for example in the hippocampus.

During development, scores of molecular signals prod cells to take on specialized identities and functions. In response to some of these signals, the cellular machinery awakens specific genes called 'immediate early genes' within minutes. The Rijli group has now identified a unique molecular signature that keeps immediate early genes quiet yet poised for rapid activation.

Cancer research has discovered a further mechanism to combat leukemia: a research team has succeeded in identifying an important signaling pathway for regulating leukemic stem cells. With this discovery, the researchers are expanding the arsenal of potentially highly effective drugs against leukemias ("blood cancers").