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Researchers at the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and the University of Bern have developed an AI-based tool that detects and classifies abnormalities of the coronary arteries in CT images with high precision. This could significantly improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare heart diseases.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia worldwide. While exist-ing interventional treatment methods, such as catheter ablation, work better than medication, they still have their limitations and risks.

LSD is a well-known hallucinogenic drug, but medical research has also discovered its potential for treating psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. Now, researchers from the University of Basel have explored whether the substance could also relieve symptoms of ADHD. The history of LSD began in Basel in 1943, when Albert Hofman first identified the substance's psychoactive effects.

Almost half of women of reproductive age experience complaints in the days leading up to menstruation. A lot of treatments come with side effects, only provide limited relief, or don't work for everyone. Researchers from the University of Basel have shown that open-label placebos can help, particularly when combined with an explanation of the treatment.

New active ingredients such as antibodies are usually tested individually in laboratory animals. Researchers at UZH have now developed a technology that can be used to test around 25 antibodies simultaneously in a single mouse. This should not only speed up the research and development pipeline for new drugs, but also hugely reduce the number of laboratory animals required.

Injuries to the articular cartilage in different joints, including the knee, are painful and limit mobility. Therefore, researchers at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel are developing cartilage implants using cells from the patient's nasal septum. A recent study shows that giving these cartilage implants more time to mature significantly improved clinical efficacy, even in patients with complex cartilage injuries.

A new study from the IOR Bioinformatics Unit, published in  Nature Communications , has identified the Ectodysplasin-A2 Receptor (EDA2R) as a tissue-independent biomarker of aging and a key mediator of chronic inflammatory responses linked to age-related diseases. Led by Marco Bolis, PhD, the research provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms that drive aging and suggests new potential therapeutic strategies.

A team from the University of Geneva has identified lipid signatures associated with chemotherapy-resistant cells, paving the way for new treatment strategies. Colorectal cancer, the second most common cause of cancer-related death, affects almost 2 million people worldwide every year. It is mainly treated with chemotherapy, but its effectiveness decreases over time due to the progressive resistance of tumor cells.

Scientists have developed a tool that uses light to control the activity and localisation of a molecule, making it possible to control drug's site of action. Acting in the right place at the right time is the key to effective medical treatment with minimal side effects. However, this feat remains difficult to achieve.

Scientists have developed a groundbreaking technology that creates synthetic molecules mimicking antibodies, potentially revolutionizing disease treatments. For decades, lab-made antibodies have been used to support patients in fighting specific diseases. These treatments have become a cornerstone of cancer therapy and were among the first medical solutions developed to combat COVID-19.

Antibiotics are indispensable for treating bacterial infections. But why are they sometimes ineffective, even when the bacteria are not resistant? In their latest study published in the journal "Nature", researchers from the University of Basel challenge the conventional view that a small subset of particularly resilient bacteria are responsible for the failure of antibiotic therapies.

Body weight and body mass index alone are not enough to predict whether someone will develop a metabolic disease. A new atlas of cells in fat tissue could help to explain why some overweight people stay healthy, while others do not. Researchers have created a detailed atlas of cellular changes in obese people.

Women are less likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit after a cardiac arrest, receive less intensive care treatment and have a higher risk of dying than men. These are the findings of a new Swiss-wide study by researchers from the University Hospital Basel and the University of Basel. Cardiac arrest is one of the most common causes of death worldwide, despite advances in modern medicine.

Researchers have investigated how microbubbles tiny gas bubbles can deliver drugs into cells in a targeted manner using ultrasound. For the first time, they have visualised how tiny cyclic microjets liquid jets generated by microbubbles penetrate the cell membrane enabling the drug uptake. The targeted treatment of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or brain tumours is challenging because the brain is a particularly sensitive organ that is well protected.

Researchers have developed a computational method to explicitly consider the impact of water while designing membrane receptors with enhanced stability and signaling, paving the way for novel drug discovery and protein engineering. Proteins are life's engines, powering processes like muscle movement, vision, and chemical reactions.

Researchers at the University of Basel are able to test the effects of more than 1,500 compounds on cell metabolism in parallel. Their analysis also led to the discovery of previously unknown mechanisms for known drugs. This approach could help scientists better predict side effects and find additional uses for commercially available medications.

Researchers have combined injections of a novel hydrogel with systemic osteoporosis drugs in rats, achieving rapid local increases in bone density. The results offer hope for future fracture prevention therapies in osteoporosis patients. Osteoporosis is a disease in which bone resorbs faster than it is formed, gradually weakening its structure over time and leading to fractures.

Researchers aim to use vibrations to stimulate bone growth. Now, a new study paves the way for developing new therapies that may one day benefit patients suffering from bone fractures and age-related bone loss. Bone does not just grow in any which way - rather, the bone cells respond to external forces.

Successful test in breast cancer patients: the active agent digoxin, a cardiac medication, dissolves clusters of circulating breast cancer cells in the blood, thus reducing the risk of metastases formation. Certain tumour types do not remain at their point of origin but spread throughout the body and form metastases.

Scientists have used deep learning to design new proteins that bind to complexes involving other small molecules like hormones or drugs, opening up a world of possibilities in the computational design of molecular interactions for biomedicine. In 2023, scientists in the joint School of Engineering and School of Life Sciences Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering ( LPDI ), led by Bruno Correia, published in Nature a deep-learning pipeline for designing new proteins to interact with therapeutic targets.