news from the lab 2016

Several peptides have an antibacterial effect - but they are broken down in the human body too quickly to exert this effect. Empa researchers have now succeeded in encasing peptides in a protective coat, which could prolong their life in the human body. This is an important breakthrough because peptides are considered to be a possible solution in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

An EPFL team is developing soft, flexible and reconfigurable robots. Air-actuated, they behave like human muscles and may be used in physical rehabilitation.

Researchers have developed an image-reconstruction algorithm that improves the performance of ultrasound equipment. This breakthrough could have important implications in the fields of cardiology and neurosurgery. Over the past 30 years, ultrasound has become one of the most widely used imaging technologies in medicine.

ETH researchers have discovered that certain cells in the immune system suppress the development of lymphedema. Anti-inflammatory therapies could therefore be the key to treating this previously incurable condition. When the tissue fluid in our arms or legs can no longer drain properly, it begins to accumulate.

Sleep is vital for humans. If adults remain awake for longer than usual, the brain responds with an increased need for deep sleep. This is measured in the form of "slow wave activity" using electroencephalography (EEG). In adults, these deep-sleep waves are most pronounced in the prefrontal cortex - the brain region which plans and controls actions, solves problems and is involved in the working memory.

We know from HIV research that around one percent of people infected with HIV form antibodies that combat different virus strains.

For example, lay people think that the sickest patients and those on waiting lists should be treated first, while ethicists - and to some degree medical professionals - tend to have a different set of priorities.

From never seen before X-ray images of honey bee combs, a research team from Agroscope and the Institute of Bee Health at the University of Bern (both Switzerland) could study how honey is produced. The team used computer tomography to measure sugar concentration in the wax cells, without disturbing the sensitive mechanisms of the colony.

05. A tool developed at EPFL can stretch and compress cells, mimicking what happens in the body. The aim: to study the role played by these mechanical forces in cases of cancer or lymphatic diseases.

Although the causes of Alzheimer's disease are still unknown, it is clear that the disease commences with progressive amyloid deposition in the brains of affected persons between ten and fifteen years before the emergence of initial clinical symptoms such as memory loss. Researchers have now been able to show that Aducanumab, a human monoclonal antibody, selectively binds brain amyloid plaques, thus enabling microglial cells to remove the plaques.

Researchers at the universities of Basel and Oxford have for the first time identified all genes regulated by the protein Foxn1. The results show that Foxn1 not only plays a crucial role in development of the thymus in the embryo, but it also regulates vital functions in the developed, postnatal organ.

Sick wild house mice spend time away from their social groups, leading to a decrease in their potential for disease transmission according to a new study by evolutionary biologists from the University of Zurich in collaboration with the ETH Zurich. The results can improve models focused on predicting the spread of infectious diseases like influenza or Ebola in humans.

To date, it has been assumed that the differentiation of stem cells depends on the environment they are embedded in.

The genetic code is believed to be strongly conserved through evolution - from the earliest bacteria until today. But researchers from the Institute of Cell Biology of the University of Bern have now found two ciliate species where nature probably can be seen experimenting with the meaning of a codon, the building blocks of genetic communication.

EPFL researchers have used a nanowire to detect prostate cancer with greater accuracy than ever before. Their device is ten times more sensitive than any other biosensor available. Researchers at EPFL's Integrated Systems Laboratory (LSI/STI) have developed a new type of sensor that can detect tiny quantities of these markers and thus improve diagnostic accuracy.

Acute diarrhoea entails annual health care costs of EUR 29 to 45 million in Switzerland. Thereof, around a quarter is due to infections of the diarrhoea-causing pathogen Campylobacter. This was revealed in a new study by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). In Switzerland, between 300,000 and 700,000 patients per year visit a doctor due to acute diarrhoea.

The use of a newly-developed mosquito trap incorporating human odour has resulted in a 70% decline in the population of the most significant malaria mosquito on the Kenyan island of Rusinga. In the following, the number of malaria infections declined by 30% according to a «Lancet»-study published today.

Ever since the prion gene was discovered in 1985, its role and biological impact on the neurons has remained a mystery. "Finally, we can ascribe a clear-cut function to prion proteins and reveal that, combined with particular receptor, they are responsible for the long-term integrity of the nerves," says Professor Adriano Aguzzi from the Neuropathological Institute at the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich.

In psychiatric clinics with an exclusively open-door policy, the risk of patients committing suicide or absconding from treatment is no higher than in clinics with locked wards.

Scientists at EPFL and ETHZ have developed a new method for building microrobots that could be used in the body to deliver drugs and perform other medical operations. For the past few years, scientists around the world have been studying ways to use miniature robots to better treat a variety of diseases.