news from the lab 2017

The Darwin's frog ( Rhinoderma darwinii ) is the latest amphibian species to face extinction due to the global chytridiomycosis pandemic, according to an international study published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. The study has found that Darwin's frogs are infected with the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ), and despite an absence of obvious mortality researchers have noted population declines, leading them to believe that these infected populations are at a serious risk of extinction within 15 years of contracting the disease.

In order to get rid of unpleasant competitors, some bacteria use a sophisticated weapon - a nanosized speargun.

Looking at cell metabolism instead of histology, EPFL scientists have identified new biomarkers that could help more accurately classify the two main subtypes of hepatoblastoma, a liver cancer in children. Hepatoblastoma is a rare pediatric liver cancer, usually diagnosed in the first three years of life.

Six months after the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition ended, the teams that ran the 22 scientific projects are hard at work sorting through the many samples they collected. Some preliminary findings were announced during a conference in Crans Montana organized by the Swiss Polar Institute, who just appointed Konrad Steffen as new academic director.

Liver cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death and represents the fastest rising cancer worldwide. In most cases, the tumor develops in patients with chronic liver disease. Such diseases include chronic infections with hepatitis viruses or a so-called fatty liver due to nutritional or genetically caused lipometabolic disorders or an excessive consumption of alcohol.

In Switzerland, about every tenth adult suffers from morbid obesity. Such corpulence can not only lead to diabetes or cardiovascular disease, but also to fat accumulation in the liver. Worldwide, about 25 to 30 percent of all adults and increasingly children are affected by such steatosis - becoming the most frequent liver disease in recent years.

EPFL scientists show that the STING signaling pathway, which helps coordinate the innate immune system, causes cell death in T cells of the adaptive immune system. This "killing" effect includes cancerous T cells, and has implications for treating T cell-derived cancers. The cells of the innate immune system use a signaling pathway comprising STING (Stimulator of interferon genes) to detect DNA from invading viruses and fight them.

Finger millet has two important properties: The grain is rich in important minerals and resistant towards drought and heat.

Media releases, information for representatives of the media Media Relations (E) Is it better to produce locally or to import? That can be a crucial question for simple lifeforms as well. Mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, have their own protein factories although the cell apparatus could easily do the job for them.

By studying a worm infection, EPFL scientists have discovered how lymphatic vessels grow within lymph nodes, with major implications for cancer and inflammation. Lymph nodes are small, kidney-shaped organs found throughout the body. Full of immune cells, their function is to clear out foreign objects and support the immune system.

Young adults have a natural sleep requirement of about 9 hours a day on average, older adults 7.5 hours.

Oligosaccharides - chains of sugar building blocks - are essential for biological cells. Scientists had thought that these molecules were freely mobile, but an international research team has now shown that such sugar molecules can form rigid structures, previously found only in DNA and proteins. Oligosaccharides - chains of sugar building blocks - are some of the most important molecules in living creatures.

ETH Zurich researchers have identified all the genes required by a bacterium to use methanol as a food source. The results will help scientists advance the use of this resource in the field of biotechnology. Many chemists are currently researching how small carbon molecules, such as methane and methanol, can be used to generate larger molecules.

According to an EPFL study, butterflies living in urban areas face the threat of consanguinity and potential extinction.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Vienna have discovered a type of bacteria that uses tiny daggers to prevent itself from being eaten by amoebae. The scientists also resolved the three-dimensional structure of the mechanism that allows the micro-daggers to be shot quickly. Bacteria have to watch out for amoeba.

ETH researchers have developed a new rice variety that not only has increased levels of the micronutrients iron and zinc in the grains, but also produces beta-carotene as a precursor of vitamin A&per

EPFL scientists have made new insights into the control of cell senescence, which is intimately linked to the development of cancer and ageing. Cells in the body or in cultures eventually stop replicating. This phenomenon is called "senescence" and is triggered by shortening of telomeres, oxidative stress or genetic damage to the cells, either acute or simply due to the cell growing "old".

Researchers from EPFL, together with other institutes, have developed a robotic eel that swims through contaminated water to find the source of the pollution.

ETH microbiologists led by Markus Künzler have discovered a remarkable enzyme in a fungus. They now want to use it to develop new drugs.

The frequency of inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis has been on the rise in many Western countries for decades.