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Health - Physics - 22.01.2020 
Portable device helps doctors diagnose sepsis faster
EPFL researchers have developed a highly sensitive and portable optical biosensor that stands to accelerate the diagnosis of fatal conditions like sepsis. It could be used by ambulances and hospitals to improve the triage process and save lives. Sepsis claims one life every four seconds. It is the primary cause of death in hospitals, and one of the ten leading causes of death worldwide.
Health - Life Sciences - 21.01.2020 
Cardiac and visual degeneration arrested by a food supplement
UNIGE researchers have discovered a new gene that causes blindness and cardiomyopathy. They have also managed to halt the progression of eye disease and treat cardiac disease by administering a food supplement. Our genome consists of 20,000 genes, all of which may be capable of triggering disease. It is estimated that there are 7,000 unknown genes that cause recessive genetic diseases resulting from mutations in two copies of a gene that have been inherited from each parent.
Health - Pharmacology - 20.01.2020 
Refining Breast Cancer Classification by Multiplexed Imaging
An imaging approach developed at UZH enables the study of breast cancer tissue in greater detail. It uses 35 biomarkers to identify the different cell types in breast tumors and its surrounding area compared to the current standard of testing single markers. This increases the precision of tumor analysis and classification - and improves personalized diagnostics for breast cancer patients.
Life Sciences - Health - 17.01.2020 
Why we differ in our ability to fight off gut infections
Scientists at EPFL have published two papers showing how genetics affects the ability of different individuals to fight off gut infections. ?he ability of the immune system to fight off bacterial, viral and other invading agents in the gut differs between individuals. However, the biological mechanism by which this happens is not well understood, but at least part of this difference may be explained by genetic factors.
Health - Life Sciences - 14.01.2020 
Toxoplasmosis rids its host of all fear
Researchers at UNIGE show how the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis colonizes the mouse brain in the form of cysts to such an extent that it drastically modifies the rodent's behaviour. The parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects animals, including humans. Its objective is to reach the intestines of felids, the definitive host in which it reproduces sexually.
Health - Life Sciences - 13.01.2020 
Machine keeps human livers alive for one week outside of the body
A team of researchers has developed a machine that repairs injured human livers and keeps them alive outside the body for one week. This breakthrough may increase the number of available organs for transplantation saving many lives of patients with severe liver diseases or cancer. Until now, livers could be stored safely outside the body for only a few hours.
Health - Pharmacology - 13.01.2020 
Reducing the risk of blood clots in artificial heart valves
People with mechanical heart valves need blood thinners on a daily basis, because they have a higher risk of blood clots and stroke. Researchers at the ARTORG Center of the University of Bern, Switzerland, now identified the root cause of blood turbulence leading to clotting. Design optimization could greatly reduce the risk of clotting and enable these patients to live without life-long medication.
Materials Science - Health - 09.01.2020 
Bandage material helps stop bleeding without adhering to the wound
Researchers from ETH Zurich and the National University of Singapore have developed a new kind of bandage that helps blood to clot and doesn't stick to the wound. This marks the first time that scientists have combined both properties in one material. "We did not actually plan this, but that is just how science works sometimes: you start researching one thing and end up somewhere else," says ETH Professor Dimos Poulikakos.
Health - Life Sciences - 20.12.2019 
Bark Beetles Control Pathogenic Fungi
Pathogens can drive the evolution of social behaviour in insects. This is shown by researchers from Bern and Würzburg for ambrosia beetles. Ants and honeybees share nests of hundreds or thousands of individuals in a very small space. Hence the risk is high that infectious diseases may spread rapidly.
Health - Materials Science - 19.12.2019 
Skin and Mucous Membrane Lesions as Complication of Pneumonia
Painful inflammatory lesions of the skin and mucous membranes may occur in children who develop bacterial pneumonia. A research group at the University Children's Hospital Zurich has recently developed a new diagnostic blood test, which reliably diagnoses bacteria as the causative pathogen at an early stage, allowing more specific treatment and prediction about prognosis.
Pharmacology - Health - 14.12.2019 
Excessive Rates of Antibiotic Prescriptions for Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Between 2007 and 2017, children in eight lowand middle-income countries received, on average, 25 antibiotic prescriptions from birth through age five - up to five times higher than the already high levels observed in high-income settings. Many of the prescriptions are unnecessary and might exacerbate resistance.
Life Sciences - Health - 10.12.2019 
Increasing food intake by swapping mitochondrial genomes
To uncover the relationship between variation in genes and phenotypic diversity, geneticists use a set of fully sequenced fruit-fly genomes. But little is known about the variation in the mitochondrial genome, for which mutations are linked to an array of diseases. Now, EPFL scientists have created a high-resolution map of mitochondrial DNA variants in the fruit fly, connecting mitochondrial genes to metabolic traits and diseases.
Life Sciences - Health - 05.12.2019 
NeuroRestore Center: aimed at restoring lost neurological function
The Defitech Foundation has teamed up with EPFL, CHUV and UNIL to widen access to the groundbreaking neurotechnology developed under the 2018 STIMO study, which allowed paraplegic patients to walk again. Their aim is also to develop new neurosurgical treatments for people suffering from Parkinson's disease or from neurological disorders following a head injury or stroke.
Life Sciences - Health - 04.12.2019 
Failure of the molecular bodyguard in Parkinson’s disease
Scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Basel's Biozentrum have shown that chaperone proteins dynamically bind to the Parkinson protein -synuclein. If this interaction is disturbed, it leads to cell damage and the formation of aggregates typical for the disease. Parkinson's disease is characterised by the progressive death of nerve cells in the brain.
Life Sciences - Health - 04.12.2019 
Big data toolkit to mine the dark genome for precision medicine
EPFL researchers have developed Big Data tools for identifying new gene functions. The work identifies millions of connections between genes and their functions, and can facilitate the development of precision medicine. Genes are the functional units of heredity, and the understanding of gene function is the major focus of biomedical research, serving as the basis of precision medicine.
Materials Science - Health - 03.12.2019 
Paradoxical replacement tissue for medicine
A material that thickens when you pull on it seems to contradict the laws of physics. However, the so-called auxetic effect, which also occurs in nature, is interesting for a number of applications. A new Empa study recently published in "Nature Communications" shows how this amazing behavior can be improved - and even used to treat injuries and tissue damage.
Health - Pharmacology - 02.12.2019 
Big Data makes intensive care better
Patient safety in intensive care units could be significantly improved if false alarms could be greatly reduced and critical complications such as epileptic seizures could be predicted. This is where the "ICU Cockpit" project of the National Research Programme "Big Data" (NRP 75) comes in: The large amounts of data from intensive care medicine will be used to develop procedures for early warning systems and therapeutic recommendations.
Life Sciences - Health - 27.11.2019
Life Sciences - Health - 25.11.2019 
How our dreams prepare us to face our fears
Researchers from UNIGE and HUG demonstrate how the fears we experience in our dreams prepare us to tackle anxiety-provoking situations once we're awake. Do bad dreams serve a real purpose? To answer this question, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, - working in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin (USA) - analysed the dreams of a number of people and identified which areas of the brain were activated when they experienced fear in their dreams.
Life Sciences - Health - 25.11.2019 
New Approach to Treating Incurable Leukemia in Children Discovered
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common form of cancer affecting children in Switzerland and, unfortunately, is often incurable. Researchers from the University of Zurich and the University Children's Hospital Zurich have now found a way to stop the driving force behind this type of leukemia at a molecular level and develop a targeted therapy.
Health
Results 1 - 20 of 613.
EPFL researchers have developed a highly sensitive and portable optical biosensor that stands to accelerate the diagnosis of fatal conditions like sepsis. It could be used by ambulances and hospitals to improve the triage process and save lives. Sepsis claims one life every four seconds. It is the primary cause of death in hospitals, and one of the ten leading causes of death worldwide.
UNIGE researchers have discovered a new gene that causes blindness and cardiomyopathy. They have also managed to halt the progression of eye disease and treat cardiac disease by administering a food supplement. Our genome consists of 20,000 genes, all of which may be capable of triggering disease. It is estimated that there are 7,000 unknown genes that cause recessive genetic diseases resulting from mutations in two copies of a gene that have been inherited from each parent.
An imaging approach developed at UZH enables the study of breast cancer tissue in greater detail. It uses 35 biomarkers to identify the different cell types in breast tumors and its surrounding area compared to the current standard of testing single markers. This increases the precision of tumor analysis and classification - and improves personalized diagnostics for breast cancer patients.
Scientists at EPFL have published two papers showing how genetics affects the ability of different individuals to fight off gut infections. ?he ability of the immune system to fight off bacterial, viral and other invading agents in the gut differs between individuals. However, the biological mechanism by which this happens is not well understood, but at least part of this difference may be explained by genetic factors.
Researchers at UNIGE show how the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis colonizes the mouse brain in the form of cysts to such an extent that it drastically modifies the rodent's behaviour. The parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects animals, including humans. Its objective is to reach the intestines of felids, the definitive host in which it reproduces sexually.
A team of researchers has developed a machine that repairs injured human livers and keeps them alive outside the body for one week. This breakthrough may increase the number of available organs for transplantation saving many lives of patients with severe liver diseases or cancer. Until now, livers could be stored safely outside the body for only a few hours.
People with mechanical heart valves need blood thinners on a daily basis, because they have a higher risk of blood clots and stroke. Researchers at the ARTORG Center of the University of Bern, Switzerland, now identified the root cause of blood turbulence leading to clotting. Design optimization could greatly reduce the risk of clotting and enable these patients to live without life-long medication.
Researchers from ETH Zurich and the National University of Singapore have developed a new kind of bandage that helps blood to clot and doesn't stick to the wound. This marks the first time that scientists have combined both properties in one material. "We did not actually plan this, but that is just how science works sometimes: you start researching one thing and end up somewhere else," says ETH Professor Dimos Poulikakos.
Pathogens can drive the evolution of social behaviour in insects. This is shown by researchers from Bern and Würzburg for ambrosia beetles. Ants and honeybees share nests of hundreds or thousands of individuals in a very small space. Hence the risk is high that infectious diseases may spread rapidly.
Painful inflammatory lesions of the skin and mucous membranes may occur in children who develop bacterial pneumonia. A research group at the University Children's Hospital Zurich has recently developed a new diagnostic blood test, which reliably diagnoses bacteria as the causative pathogen at an early stage, allowing more specific treatment and prediction about prognosis.
Between 2007 and 2017, children in eight lowand middle-income countries received, on average, 25 antibiotic prescriptions from birth through age five - up to five times higher than the already high levels observed in high-income settings. Many of the prescriptions are unnecessary and might exacerbate resistance.
To uncover the relationship between variation in genes and phenotypic diversity, geneticists use a set of fully sequenced fruit-fly genomes. But little is known about the variation in the mitochondrial genome, for which mutations are linked to an array of diseases. Now, EPFL scientists have created a high-resolution map of mitochondrial DNA variants in the fruit fly, connecting mitochondrial genes to metabolic traits and diseases.
The Defitech Foundation has teamed up with EPFL, CHUV and UNIL to widen access to the groundbreaking neurotechnology developed under the 2018 STIMO study, which allowed paraplegic patients to walk again. Their aim is also to develop new neurosurgical treatments for people suffering from Parkinson's disease or from neurological disorders following a head injury or stroke.
Scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Basel's Biozentrum have shown that chaperone proteins dynamically bind to the Parkinson protein -synuclein. If this interaction is disturbed, it leads to cell damage and the formation of aggregates typical for the disease. Parkinson's disease is characterised by the progressive death of nerve cells in the brain.
EPFL researchers have developed Big Data tools for identifying new gene functions. The work identifies millions of connections between genes and their functions, and can facilitate the development of precision medicine. Genes are the functional units of heredity, and the understanding of gene function is the major focus of biomedical research, serving as the basis of precision medicine.
A material that thickens when you pull on it seems to contradict the laws of physics. However, the so-called auxetic effect, which also occurs in nature, is interesting for a number of applications. A new Empa study recently published in "Nature Communications" shows how this amazing behavior can be improved - and even used to treat injuries and tissue damage.
Patient safety in intensive care units could be significantly improved if false alarms could be greatly reduced and critical complications such as epileptic seizures could be predicted. This is where the "ICU Cockpit" project of the National Research Programme "Big Data" (NRP 75) comes in: The large amounts of data from intensive care medicine will be used to develop procedures for early warning systems and therapeutic recommendations.
IRB investigates the disposal mechanisms of damaged proteins
Causal Effects of Brevity on Style and Success in Social Media Faculty of Informatics Open lecture of the course Argumentation in Conflict Resolution Visiting Alumni: Loredana Padurean, Associate Dean, Asia School of Business «Quel ramo del lago di Como...». Lettura dei «Promessi Sposi» Faculty of Communication Sciences Visiting Alumni: Elia Frapolli, Freelance Consultant Course schedules Academic calendar Humans cells select, through the endoplasmic reticulum, the damaged proteins that must be destroyed quickly to avoid their accumulation, which is toxic to our organism.
Causal Effects of Brevity on Style and Success in Social Media Faculty of Informatics Open lecture of the course Argumentation in Conflict Resolution Visiting Alumni: Loredana Padurean, Associate Dean, Asia School of Business «Quel ramo del lago di Como...». Lettura dei «Promessi Sposi» Faculty of Communication Sciences Visiting Alumni: Elia Frapolli, Freelance Consultant Course schedules Academic calendar Humans cells select, through the endoplasmic reticulum, the damaged proteins that must be destroyed quickly to avoid their accumulation, which is toxic to our organism.
Researchers from UNIGE and HUG demonstrate how the fears we experience in our dreams prepare us to tackle anxiety-provoking situations once we're awake. Do bad dreams serve a real purpose? To answer this question, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, - working in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin (USA) - analysed the dreams of a number of people and identified which areas of the brain were activated when they experienced fear in their dreams.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common form of cancer affecting children in Switzerland and, unfortunately, is often incurable. Researchers from the University of Zurich and the University Children's Hospital Zurich have now found a way to stop the driving force behind this type of leukemia at a molecular level and develop a targeted therapy.
