news 2019

The organization of chromatin in the three-dimensional space is complex and requires the help of many proteins, including CTFC. Researchers from the group of Marc Bühler have identified a new player in the process: the transcription factor ADNP. In a recent study, they show that ADNP competes with CTFC, acting as a local modulator of chromatin looping.

Two volunteers are the first above-knee amputees in the world to feel their prosthetic foot and knee in real time. Their bionic prosthesis, which was developed by an international team of researchers, features sensors that connect to residual nerves in the thigh. The resulting neurofeedback greatly reduces physical and mental strain for users of the prosthesis.

By decoding the genetic mechanisms that control the neurons of the visual system, researchers at UNIGE are unveiling the first steps in the construction of vision, paving the way for regenerative eye medicine.

Researchers at UNIGE have demonstrated that the brain adjusts the attention it gives to identical sounds as soon as they are perceived in the brainstem, a capacity that is lacking in schizophrenics. Our sound environment is extremely dense, which is why the brain has to adapt and implement filtering mechanisms that allow it to hold its attention on the most important elements and save energy.

Antibiotic resistance does not spread only where and when antibiotics are used in large quantities, ETH researchers conclude from laboratory experiments. Reducing antibiotic use alone is therefore not sufficient to curtail resistance, and should be done in conjunction with measures to prevent infection with resistant germs.

Although predisposing processes occur earlier, schizophrenia breaks out at young adulthood, suggesting it might involve a pathological transition during late brain development in predisposed individuals. Using a genetic mouse model of schizophrenia, researchers from the Caroni group at the FMI showed that, like in patients, characteristic network and cognitive deficits only emerge in adult mice.

By successfully rejuvenating brain progenitor cells, researchers at UNIGE reveal an unsuspected role of the environment in setting  cellular properties. The cerebral cortex acts as the control centre of our cognitive processes. During embryogenesis, dozens of types of neurons with distinct functions come together to form the circuits that drive our thoughts and actions.

How does the brain find order amidst a sea of noise and chaos' Researchers at the EPFL Blue Brain Project have found the answer to this long-standing question by using advanced simulation techniques to investigate the way neurons talk to each other while submerged in a sea of noise and chaos. In a paper published , they found that by working as a team, cortical neurons can respond even to weak input against the backdrop of noise and chaos, allowing the brain to find order.

EPFL scientists are investigating new ways to provide visual signals to the blind by directly stimulating the optic nerve. Their preliminary study on animals uses a new type of neural electrode and provides distinct signals. Scientists from EPFL in Switzerland and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy are developing technology for the blind that bypasses the eyeball entirely and sends messages to the brain.

Scientists have demonstrated how chronic liver diseases cause molecular changes in the brain. They carried out their research using the 9. Tesla high-magnetic-field MRI machine at the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM) at EPFL. The liver plays a vital role as a filter in the human body.

Researchers from UNIGE, CHUV, EPFL, CIBM, HUG and UNIL have demonstrated how chronic liver diseases cause molecular changes in the brain. The liver plays a vital role as a filter in the human body.

Very little was known till now about DNA repair by homologous recombination, which is fundamental for human health. Now an ETH research group has for the first time isolated and studied all the key proteins involved in this process, laying the foundation for investigating many diseases. Within our body, the process of cell division is constantly creating new cells to replace old or damaged ones.

Deubiquitinases (DUBs) play a general role removing protein-degrading ubiquitins throughout the cell and are not typically known for specificity. Analyzing the two protein complexes BRISC and BRCA1-A, which have the same DUB core but play different roles in human biology, the Thomä group - in a collaboration with the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) - showed that DUBs can have diversified targeting and regulatory functions.

Humans may have played a substantial role in the extinction of the European cave bear at the end of the last ice age. These findings of a study with the involvement of the University of Zurich suggest a drastic cave bear population decline starting around 40,000 years ago. Where in Europe did different populations of cave bears live and how they did they migrate during the Late Pleistocene? This is the topic that Verena Schünemann from the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich and a team of researchers investigated.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have refined the famous CRISPR-Cas method. Now, for the very first time, it is possible to modify dozens, if not hundreds, of genes in a cell simultaneously. Everyone's talking about CRISPR-Cas. This biotechnological method offers a relatively quick and easy way to manipulate single genes in cells, meaning they can be precisely deleted, replaced or modified.

Scientists from EPFL's Institute of Bioengineering have discovered that our circadian clock and our cell-cycle are in fact, synchronized. Nothing in biology is static; everything is fluid, dynamic and ever-moving. Often, this movement occurs in repeating patterns - regular, measurable cycles that tick just like "clocks".

The protein TRIM71 is an important regulator of animal development and plays a role in various diseases. In close collaboration, scientists from the groups of Helge Grosshans and Marc Bühler at the FMI elucidated the mechanism by which TRIM71 binds and turns off its RNA targets. They also identified several core targets of TRIM71, including proteins involved in genetic disorders.

A new method developed by biophysicists at ETH Zurich has made it possible for the first time to detect and analyse signals between individual cells. For the cells in our bodies to function as a unit, they must communicate with one another constantly. They secrete signalling molecules ' ions, proteins and nucleic acids ' that are picked up by adjacent cells, which in turn pass on the signal to other cells.

Laboratory populations that quietly amass "cryptic" genetic variants are capable of surprising evolutionary leaps, according to a paper in the July 26 issue of Science. A better understanding of cryptic variation may improve directed evolution techniques for developing new biomolecules for medical and other applications.

After nerve injury, the protein complex mTORC1 takes over an important function in skeletal muscle to maintain the neuromuscular junction, the synapse between the nerve and muscle fiber. Reserchers at the University of Basel's Biozentrum have now shown that the activation of mTORC1 must be tightly balanced for a proper response of the muscle to nerve injury.