news from the lab 2014

Chemists have developed a one-pot synthesis process to encapsulate nanoparticles. This type of particle could improve the antimicrobial coating of implants.

In March 1926, four young men failed to return from their ski tour on Aletschgletscher. Working on the basis of where their remains were found, a mathematician and a glaciologist are now attempting to reconstruct what happened. At midday on a March day in 1926, four men, three of whom were brothers, met at Hollandiahütte above Aletschgletscher.

A research team developed a computer programme to identify mutations causing certain genetic diseases by analysing the genome sequencing data. The software can also detect the mutations leading to the appearance of tumours in patients with cancer. It is available to researchers all over the world.

An international research team led by scientists at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich has succeeded in improving a class of early-generation antibiotics: they have been able to suppress their once serious side effects. Antibiotic is more selective "We have now modified the mode of action of antibiotics of this group so that they can distinguish between human and pathogenic ribosomes far better," explains Böttger.

A new, unknown strain of bacteria produces most of the bioactive substances that the stony sponge Theonella swinhoei exudes. An international research team led by ETH professor Jörn Piel describes these natural products, the associated genes and strain of bacteria in a publication in Nature. Sponges are unique beings: they are invertebrates that live in symbiosis with sometimes hundreds of different types of bacteria; similar to lichens which are a biocoenosis of algae and fungi.

Commuters know only too well: the congested rail network is causing more and more incidents and delays. ETH doctoral candidate Steffen Schranil has developed a method that allows the duration of disruptions to be predicted early and reliably. Last year, the trains of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) were frequently late.

Development of the nematode C. elegans is directed by rhythmic patterns of protein production. As researchers have shown, oscillations with an 8-hour period occur across a wide variety of tissues, structures, cells and genes. The extent of the phenomenon suggests that the process involved could be a fundamental mechanism in the development of many organisms .