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Results 161 - 180 of 182.


Life Sciences - Health - 16.02.2024
Protein modifications key influencers in neurodegenerative diseases
Protein modifications key influencers in neurodegenerative diseases
Exploring the post-translational modifications of a key protein in Parkinson's disease, researchers at EPFL and USC uncover potential pathways for future therapies in neurodegenerative diseases in general. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, present a significant health challenge, affecting over 50 million people globally.

Agronomy / Food Science - Life Sciences - 15.02.2024
First Swiss Field Trial with CRISPR/Cas9-Modified Barley
First Swiss Field Trial with CRISPR/Cas9-Modified Barley
Agroscope has been granted approval by the Federal Office for the Environment for a field trial with spring barley. The focus is on a barley gene that has been disabled by new breeding techniques. The trial, which will be launched in spring 2024 on the Protected Site in Zurich-Reckenholz and will run for three years, aims to determine whether yields can be increased in this manner.

Life Sciences - 15.02.2024
Asexual Propagation of Crop Plants Gets Closer
Asexual Propagation of Crop Plants Gets Closer
When the female gametes in plants become fertilized, a signal from the sperm activates cell division, leading to the formation of new plant seeds. This activation can also be deliberately triggered without fertilization, as researchers have shown. Their findings open up new avenues for the asexual propagation of crop plants.

Health - Life Sciences - 12.02.2024
Rare retinal diseases: detective work for the eyesight
Rare retinal diseases: detective work for the eyesight
A team at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) and the University of Basel is hunting for the causes of hereditary retinal diseases.

Life Sciences - 09.02.2024
Mechanism for reducing age-related neuroinflammation
As we age, our cells lose the ability to effectively eliminate the waste products they produce. This degeneration has serious consequences as it can cause inflammation and dysfunction throughout the body. A team of scientists at the University of Freiburg has now discovered that a specific drug treatment can alleviate this condition by stimulating a mechanism called mitophagy .

Health - Life Sciences - 07.02.2024
Stress Influences Brain and Psyche Via Immune System
Stress Influences Brain and Psyche Via Immune System
Chronic stress affects the immune system and the brain. researchers now show that a particular enzyme found in cells of the immune system enters the brain under stress. In mice, it causes them to withdraw and avoid social contact. This newly discovered connection between body and mind in stress-related mental illnesses could lead to new treatments for depression.

Health - Life Sciences - 06.02.2024
A machine learning framework that encodes images like a retina
A machine learning framework that encodes images like a retina
Researchers have developed a machine learning approach to compressing image data with greater accuracy than learning-free computation methods, with applications for retinal implants and other sensory prostheses. A major challenge to developing better neural prostheses is sensory encoding: transforming information captured from the environment by sensors into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system.

Life Sciences - 06.02.2024
Spiky insight: How red blood cells deform
Spiky insight: How red blood cells deform
Researchers have observed living red blood cells transforming into spiky "echinocytes" in real time when treated with high concentrations of ibuprofen using holotomographic microscopy and displayed them in 3D renderings. Blood is indeed "a juice of rarest quality." What the poet and natural scientist Goethe already suspected can now actually be visualized using innovative imaging techniques.

Life Sciences - Pharmacology - 02.02.2024
Scientists successfully simulate protein complex that initiates fertilisation
Scientists successfully simulate protein complex that initiates fertilisation
Researchers at ETH Zurich recently developed highly realistic simulations of the proteins on sperm and egg cells coupling together before they fuse. These findings enabled the research team to solve several mysteries of fertilisation at once, which could help to accelerate development of more targeted infertility treatments.

Health - Life Sciences - 01.02.2024
Resistant bacteria can remain in the body for years
Resistant bacteria can remain in the body for years
Fighting disease-causing bacteria becomes more difficult when antibiotics stop working. People with pre-existing conditions in particular can carry resistant germs and suffer from repeated infections for years, according to a study by the University and University Hospital of Basel. Pneumonia, urinary tract infections, sepsis: diseases like these can become fatal without antibiotics.

Life Sciences - Health - 01.02.2024
'Genomic time machine' reveals secrets of our DNA
’Genomic time machine’ reveals secrets of our DNA
Researchers reveal a novel method to uncover bits of our genetic blueprint that come from ancient genetic parasites, offering fresh insights into human evolution and health. The human genome, an intricate tapestry of genetic information for life, has proven to be a treasure trove of strange features.

Life Sciences - Health - 31.01.2024
Firing Nerve Fibers in the Brain Are Supplied with Energy on Demand
Firing Nerve Fibers in the Brain Are Supplied with Energy on Demand
To rapidly transmit electrical signals in the brain, the long nerve fibers are insulated by specialized cells called oligodendrocytes. These cells also respond to the electrical signals of active nerve fibers and provide them with energy on demand, as researchers have discovered. If this process, regulated by potassium, is disabled in mice, the nerve fibers are severely damaged as the animals age - resembling the defects of neurodegenerative diseases.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 25.01.2024
'Mini-placentas' shed light on early events that are key for a successful pregnancy
’Mini-placentas’ shed light on early events that are key for a successful pregnancy
The placenta provides oxygen and nutrients to a growing baby, but its early interactions with a mother's uterus remain an enigma.

Health - Life Sciences - 19.01.2024
A virus that kills sleeping bacteria
A virus that kills sleeping bacteria
Researchers have found a virus that kills dormant bacteria. This rare discovery could help to combat germs that can't be treated with antibiotics alone. In nature, most bacteria live on the bare minimum. If they experience nutrient deficiency or stress, they shut down their metabolism in a controlled manner and go into a resting state.

Health - Life Sciences - 18.01.2024
The role of altered blood vessels in brain tumors
The role of altered blood vessels in brain tumors
In a recent research, scientists have revealed new insights into the complex network of blood vessels in brain metastases, which were not well understood before. They've emphasized a significant increase in a molecule called CD276, known for its role in immune regulation. What's promising is that experimental antibodies targeting CD276 have shown positive results in early trials, suggesting a potential breakthrough in treatment approaches.

Life Sciences - Health - 18.01.2024
Nanopores and deep learning change disease diagnostics
Nanopores and deep learning change disease diagnostics
Scientists unveil a groundbreaking method using biological nanopores and deep learning to detect protein modifications, offering new avenues in disease diagnostics. Proteins, the workhorses of the cell, undergo various modifications after their synthesis. Because they can profoundly affect how a protein operates in the cell, these "post-translational modifications", or PTMs, are key in numerous biological processes.

Environment - Life Sciences - 15.01.2024
Monitoring of genetic diversity is insufficient
Monitoring of genetic diversity is insufficient
Genetic diversity plays a critical role in enabling species to adapt to climate change. An international study, jointly conducted with the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), indicates that ongoing endeavors to monitor genetic diversity in Europe are inadequate and incomplete.

Health - Life Sciences - 08.01.2024
Linking rare and common diseases
Linking rare and common diseases
A study conducted at the University of Lausanne and the SIB has demonstrated that a little-studied category of genetic variants, generally associated with serious rare diseases, also influences the risk of more common diseases in the general population. Their results, published in the January 8, 2024 issue of the journal "Genome Medicine", are promising for the development of personalized medicine.

Health - Life Sciences - 08.01.2024
More than thirty new species of bacteria discovered in patient samples
More than thirty new species of bacteria discovered in patient samples
Unknown germs are a common occurrence in hospitals. Researchers at the University of Basel have spent many years collecting and analyzing them. They have identified many new species of bacteria, some of which are significant for clinical practice. Bacterial infections can be treated more efficiently if the cause of the disease is known.

Life Sciences - 03.01.2024
Early Primates Likely Lived in Pairs
Primate social organization is more flexible than previously assumed. According to a new study led by UZH, the first primates probably lived in pairs, while only around 15 percent of individuals were solitary. Primates - and this includes humans - are thought of as highly social animals. Many species of monkeys and apes live in groups.