news 2022

In a study, 70 researchers from 19 countries around the world call for measures to better understand and reduce the impact of climate change on insects. Otherwise, they say, the chance of a sustainable future with healthy ecosystems will be drastically reduced. The researchers also outline ways to help insects in a warming world.

How much of the proteins present in foods can the human body absorb and how high is the quality of these proteins? These are the key questions in discussions about a healthy and sustainable diet. Agroscope has developed a method that can reliably measure the protein digestibility of different foods in the laboratory.

A team from the University of Geneva reveals that a drug used against herpes can fight a bacterium that is resistant to most antibiotics by weakening its defence mechanisms. The unreasonable use of antibiotics has pushed bacteria to develop resistance mechanisms to this type of treatment. This phenomenon, known as antibiotic resistance, is now considered by the WHO as one of the greatest threats to health.

Bacteria in the small intestine adapt dynamically to our nutritional state, with individual species disappearing and reappearing. Researchers at the University of Bern and University Hospital Bern have now been able to comprehensively study the bacteria of the small intestine and their unique adaptability for the first time.

The heart disease arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy can lead to sudden death, particularly affecting young athletes. Researchers at the University of Basel have now genetically modified mice, which develop a similar disease to that found in humans. This allowed the team to identify previously unknown mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets.

A team from the UNIGE and the HUG has developed a promising method for treating people whose negative dreams are pathological. Oppressive, frightening, nerve-wracking: nightmares are particularly disturbing dreams. They are considered pathological when they occur frequently (>1 episode per week) and cause daytime fatigue, mood alteration and anxiety.

Researchers at ETH Zurich are planning to use magnetic bacteria to fight cancerous tumours. They have now found a way for these microorganisms to effectively cross blood vessel walls and subsequently colonise a tumour. Scientists around the world are researching how anti-cancer drugs can most efficiently reach the tumours they target.

A team from the University of Geneva has identified the structure of a protein complex controlling the activity of the major regulator of cell growth. The mTOR protein plays a central role in cell growth, proliferation and survival. Its activity varies according to the availability of nutrients and some growth factors, including hormones.

Acoustic communication is not only widespread in land vertebrates like birds and mammals, but also in reptiles, amphibians and fishes. Many of them are usually considered mute, but in fact show broad and complex acoustic repertoires. According to researchers at the University of Zurich, the evolutionary origin of vocal communication dates back more than 400 million years.

Scientists at EPFL have determined how a protein that is critical in our first line of immune defense is regulated in the cell to prevent autoinflammatory diseases. How does a cell "know" that it's infected? This is a key question for innate immunity, our first line of defense to any infection or injury, made up of cells that quickly identify pathogens, like viral DNA.

A team from the University of Geneva, in collaboration with the UZH, has developed an innovative strategy for studying membrane proteins, the targets of many drugs. Membrane proteins are key targets for many drugs. They are located between the outside and inside of our cells. Some of them, called ''transporters'', move certain substances in and out of the cellular environment.

Do people who can read and write understand spoken language better than those who are illiterate? Research carried out by researchers from Zurich with collaborators in India has found that handwriting, specifically the type of writing system used for a language, influences how our brains process speech.

Laughter is a form of vocal communication that can interfere with speech: who hasn't had a fit of laughter that prevented them from speaking? Thanks to functional imaging, a research team from the University of Fribourg was able to locate the areas of the brain in which these two systems interact. The results highlight the importance of brain stem circuits for the control of laughter .

Exploring the mechanics of anthrax infection, scientists at EPFL have discovered two proteins that are involved in controlling the levels of cholesterol in the membrane of our cells. "What our work shows is how a complex in the center of the cell, the ER-Golgi interaction region, controls plasma membrane cholesterol, which is essential for many cellular functions, if not essential for multicellular life," says Professor Gisou van der Goot at EPFL's School of Life Sciences.

They can live for more than 100 years and weigh up to 250 kilograms - Aldabra giant tortoises. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now decoded the genome of Aldabrachelys gigantea, one of only two remaining giant tortoise species worldwide. The findings will help to ensure the long-term survival of the threatened species.

Scientists led by groups at EPFL and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) explore the elaborate interplay between genes, sex, growth, and age and how they influence variation in longevity. Their results point at fundamental processes of aging that help in improving human healthspan.

For a long time, antibiotics were considered a silver bullet against bacterial infections. Over time, many pathogens have adapted to resist antibiotics, so the search for new drugs is becoming increasingly important. An international team of researchers including scientists at the University of Basel, has now discovered a new antibiotic by computational analysis and deciphered its mode of action.

In order to secure a place in the sun and to guarantee their growth, plants have developed different strategies. But what happens when plant density is so high that resources, especially light, run out? Plants go into survival mode and activate a recycling mechanism: autophagy. This process is at the heart of a study published on October 10, 2022 in "Nature Communications" by the team of Prof. Christian Fankhauser at the Integrative Genomics Center of UNIL .

A high fraction of the endemic biodiversity of the Alps is very old. The endemics - species found only in a confined area - have developed over the past millions of years during the cycles of glacial and interglacial periods or even before these cycles began. Fish, however, are an exception: most endemic fish species emerged only after the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago.

By deciphering mutations in the GNAO1 gene, which cause severe mental and motor disabilities, a team from the University of Geneva is showing how zinc could improve the brain defects at stake. Paediatric encephalopathies of genetic origin cause severe motor and intellectual disabilities from birth. One of these diseases, first identified in 2013, is caused by mutations in the GNAO1 gene.