news 2021

Thanks to the high-power electron microscopes at the Dubochet Center for Imaging (DCI), scientists were able to observe the configuration of the Omicron variant's spike protein at a near-atomic scale. This should provide fresh insight into the mechanisms the variant uses to evade vaccines and antibodies.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have tested various methods to check how effective they are in combatting certain types of cancer. They found a combination of two preparations to be much more effective than treatment with just one of the two active substances. They have published their findings today in the medical journal Pharmaceutics .

Scientists have found that stiffening the membranes of cancer cells can lead to improved immunotherapy outcomes. Preclinical tests show that it can increase long-term survival rates to nearly 50%. Immunotherapy is a promising form of cancer treatment that boosts patients' own T cells so that they can proliferate and destroy cancer cells.

In a Phase III clinical trial, researchers at Swiss TPH have successfully gathered encouraging data to demonstrate higher efficacy of co-administration of ivermectin-albendazole in combating soil-transmitted helminthiasis. The findings were published yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal.

These days, the cause of death in cancer patients often isn't the primary tumour, but metastases. With his research, biochemist Nicola Aceto has found a new way to prevent the formation of such secondary tumours. To achieve this, the Latsis laureate had to repeatedly fight against the prevailing wisdom.

Interleukin-12 - a messenger molecule of immune cells - was long considered to trigger the development of psoriasis. Now, researchers at the University of Zurich have shown that interleukin-12 does not actually cause the skin disease but protects against it. This also explains why common psoriasis drugs that block the messenger show insufficient treatment efficacy.

A common gene variant for the protein Aquaporin-1 lowers the amount of water channels in the cell membranes. This reduces water transport and leads to a higher risk of death in patients with kidney failure treated with peritoneal dialysis. In such cases, specific osmotic solutions should be used, as an international research team led by the University of Zurich has shown.

Scientists have developed new controlled proteins and used to switch cellular activities on and off like a light bulb. Sailan Shui, a doctoral assistant at EPFL's Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering, enjoys playing with proteins, activating and deactivating them as she wishes, as if light switches that can be turned on and off.

Scientists at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and EPFL have discovered a highly potent monoclonal antibody that targets the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and is effective at neutralizing all variants of concern identified to date, including the delta variant. Their findings are published in the prestigious journal Cell Reports.

Modest financial rewards can help increase COVID-19 vaccination rates. This is the conclusion of an international study co-lead by Swiss universities, based on data from Sweden. Despite countless appeals from politicians and scientists, stagnating vaccination rates hamper the containment of coronavirus.

Reactive electrophilic drugs like Tecfidera, approved for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis, show a lot of potential but are also mystery. Their effects are notoriously difficult to study, which hampers progress testing and approving them. scientists have now used an innovative chemical method to uncover the biological mechanisms of Tecfidera, providing a powerful tool for exploring other reactive electrophilic drugs.

Researchers at the University of Geneva and the Clinique romande de réadaptation in Sion have mapped the biomarkers of different types of pain to categorise and better treat them in the future. Many people are confronted with chronic pain that can last for months or even years. How to best treat chronic pain? First, pain must be categorized for the right treatment to be prescribed.

Classic antidepressants could help improve modern cancer treatments. They slowed the growth of pancreatic and colon cancers in mice, and when combined with immunotherapy, they even stopped the cancer growth long-term. In some cases the tumors disappeared completely, researchers at UZH and USZ have found.

A new assay developed by EPFL spin-off Nanolive opens up promising avenues of research for immuno-oncology treatments. It allows scientists to directly see and quantify how T cells find, bind, stress and kill cancer cells. Immuno-oncology is a promising new field of research that involves boosting the capacity of a patient's own immune system to attack cancer cells.

A large-scale international study co-led by Inselspital and the University of Bern investigated the very rare adverse cerebral venous occlusion (sinus venous thrombosis) after administration of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Janssen/Johnson&Johnson vaccines. Neither vaccine has been used in Switzerland to date.

Researchers from the University of Basel have developed an augmented reality app for smartphones in order to help people reduce their fear of spiders. The app has already shown itself to be effective in a clinical trial, with subjects experiencing less fear of real spiders after completing just a few training units with the app at home.

In chronic leukemias, blocking the overactive kinase JAK2 by a targeted therapy approach is only mitigating the patients' symptoms, but cannot truly change the course of the disease. A study by the University of Basel has shown that it may be possible to improve the therapeutic effects by additionally inhibiting a specific signaling pathway.

Scientists have developed a chemical method for targeting the effects of cancer-fighting immunotherapy drugs only to the tumor tissue, making the drugs less toxic to the rest of the human body. Immunotherapy drugs are promising new weapons in the fight against cancer, but they are so strong that they can be toxic to the rest of the human body.

Cartilage cells from the nasal septum can not only help repair cartilage injuries in the knee - according to researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel, they can also withstand the chronic inflammatory tissue environment in osteoarthritis and even counteract the inflammation.

A "paradox and setback" forced scientists to dig deeper when seeking a means to boost the power of immunotherapy in lung cancer. Understanding the problem - and finding the solution - has led to a promising potential therapy for some patients. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death.