Proteine in Zellen präzise zu beobachten ist für viele Forschungszweige extrem wichtig, war bisher jedoch eine große technische Hürde – vor allem in lebenden Zellen, denn die dafür nötige fluoreszente Markierung musste an jedes Protein einzeln angebracht werden. Der Forschungsgruppe um Stefan Kubicek am CeMM ist es nun gelungen, diese Hürde aus dem Weg zu räumen: Mit einem Verfahren, dass sie „vpCells“ getauft haben, lassen sich viele Proteine gleichzeitig mit fünf verschiedenen Fluoreszenzfarben markieren. Die Studie wurde im Fachjournal Nature Cell Biology (DOI: 10.1038/s41556-024-01407-w) veröfffentlicht, und die Bilder sind öffentlich zugänglich auf vpcells.cemm.at.

DKMS emphasizes its commitment to blood cancer research, supports young scientists, and recognizes outstanding research achievements in the field of stem cell transplantation.

Anhaltender Stress zieht den Darm in Mitleidenschaft. Insbesondere bei chronisch-entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen ist bekannt, dass psychische Belastungen zu akuten Krankheitsschüben führen können. Die molekularen Mechanismen dahinter sind bisher unzureichend erforscht. Ein Team um den Gastroenterologen Professor Dr. med. Dr. rer. nat. Kai Markus Schneider konnte wichtige Erkenntnisse darüber beitragen, welche zellulären und biochemischen Vorgänge der Verbindung zwischen Psyche und Darm zugrundeliegen. Für die in „Cell“ publizierte Arbeit erhält Schneider, der an der Uniklinik der RWTH Aachen tätig ist, den diesjährigen Theodor-Frerichs-Preis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin e.V..

The rise of RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2 highlights the need for new ways to fight them. RNA-targeting tools like CRISPR/Cas13 are powerful but inefficient in the cytoplasm of cells, where many RNA viruses replicate. Scientists from Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University Munich (TUM) have devised a solution: Cas13d-NCS. This new molecular tool allows CRISPR RNA molecules that are located within the nucleus of a cell to move to the cytoplasm, making it highly effective at neutralizing RNA viruses. This advancement opens doors for precision medicine and proactive viral defense strategies. The findings were published in Cell Discovery.

Imagine switching on a light and being able to understand and control the inner dynamics of a cell. This is what the Dimova group has achieved: by shining lights of different colors on replicates of cells, they altered the interactions between cellular elements. Controlling these complex interactions enables us to deliver specific drugs directly into the cells. And with the flick of a switch, we could adjust or even reverse this delivery, potentially revolutionizing the treatment of cells in a smart, accurate and non-invasive way.

New finding from scientists at the University of Cologne discloses how mitochondria control tissue rejuvenation and synaptic plasticity in the adult mouse brain / publication in ‘Neuron’

Plants are very robust and survive harsh environments, owing in part to their remarkably efficient wound-healing capacity. For over a century, scientists aimed to understand it in more detail. A new collaborative study at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) now shows that the process is quite straightforward, revolving around pressure and forces. The results, published in Developmental Cell, hold promise for advancing agriculture.

Forschungsteam des Exzellenzclusters Physics of Life der TU Dresden, der Universität Kalifornien und des Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s Los Angeles veröffentlicht in Nature Cell Biology bisher ungeklärte Mechanismen darüber, wie ein Embryo seine Zellen während des Zahnwachstums organisiert.

At its meeting on 19 March 2024, the Senate of the Leibniz Association made major decisions in various cross-institute funding formats: the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH in Braunschweig, Germany, is leading one of seven new ScienceCampi. „The Leibniz Association and the state of Lower Saxony are funding the establishment of the Leibniz ScienceCampus EcoPath (Evolutionary Ecology of Zoonotic Pathogens during Agricultural Transformations), which has a total volume of 3.8 million euros, under the leadership of the Leibniz Institute DSMZ.“, announced the Scientific Director of the Institute, Professor Dr Jörg Overmann, today.

Short-term cultivated, individualised immune cells (CAR T cells) are currently being developed as a therapeutic option for patients with blood cancer. A research team from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut has shown with mouse and cell models that these cells carry a higher risk for cytokine release syndrome than conventional CAR T cells. The cytokine release is caused by residual components of vector particles on the CAR T cells and is independent of tumour cells. Careful consideration of the safety of this innovative treatment is required to minimise risks to patients. EMBO Molecular Medicine reports on the results in its issue dated 21 March 2024.

Biology: Publication in Cell Host & Microbe

Animals and plants form complex symbiotic communities with microorganisms, the so-called microbiome. A research team from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) in Cologne has now investigated the three-dimensional microbiota structure around plant roots. In the scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe, they report that microbial community composition varies along the root and that this is influenced by the root spatial metabolism.

Biologie: Veröffentlichung in Cell Host & Microbe

Tiere und Pflanzen bilden komplexe Lebensgemeinschaften mit Mikroorganismen, das sogenannte Mikrobiom. Ein Forschungsteam der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (HHU) und des Max-Planck-Instituts für Pflanzenzüchtungsforschung (MPIPZ) in Köln hat nun die dreidimensionale Struktur bei Pflanzenwurzeln untersucht. In der Fachzeitschrift Cell Host & Microbe berichten sie von unterschiedlichen räumlichen Zusammensetzungen, die sich auch auf den Stoffwechsel auswirken.

Adhesion GPCRs are a group of G protein-coupled receptors associated with many bodily functions and diseases in humans. Scientists at Leipzig University have discovered a new receptor – which they have named “mayo” – and found that it influences the development of the small intestine and heart function in fruit flies, and that these phenomena may also be relevant in humans. Their findings have now been published in the journal Cell Reports.

Adhäsions-GPCRs sind eine Gruppe von G-Protein-gekoppelten Rezeptoren, die mit vielen Körperfunktionen und Krankheiten des Menschen in Verbindung gebracht werden. Wissenschaftler:innen der Universität Leipzig haben einen neuen Rezeptor namens Mayo entdeckt und herausgefunden, dass dieser die Entwicklung des Dünndarms sowie die Herzfunktion bei Fruchtfliegen beeinflusst und diese Phänomene auch beim Menschen relevant sein könnten. Die Ergebnisse sind in der Fachzeitschrift „Cell Reports“ veröffentlicht worden.

In a first-of-its-kind commentary published March 14, 2024, in the journal Cell, 24 transgender scientists and their family members openly share their experiences in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) fields. The landmark commentary is featured in a sex- and gender-focused issue of Cell that covers a range of topics, including gender equity, the history of sex and gender research, and ways to improve the quality of research by incorporating more rigorous sex-related variables.

Contrary to common belief, not all viruses are harmful to their hosts. Sometimes viruses can even protect their hosts from infection by other viruses. Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and their collaborators have now demonstrated that this is the case for so-called endogenous virophages: small DNA viruses that are mostly found inserted into the genomes of single-cell eukaryotes – organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus. Moreover, the scientists show that virophages are highly specific towards giant viruses, focusing on the CroV type in the present study.

More than seven million people in Germany suffer from diabetes. Drug research is still difficult. Scientists led by Peter Loskill from the NMI and the University of Tübingen have developed a technique that significantly improves the view on the molecular and cell biological level in the pancreas.

Tests on living cell cultures are becoming increasingly important for personalized medicine, drug development and clinical research. The Aachen-based Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology ILT and for Production Technology IPT have developed an AI-assisted high-throughput process that now makes it possible to automatically isolate specific cell types. Using a so-called LIFTOSCOPE, laboratories can localize, identify and analyze dozens of living cells per second in order to transfer them to microtiter plates with laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT).

A globally distributed single-celled organism that occurs in harmful algal blooms has been found to exhibit an unusual organisation of photosynthesis. Researchers at the University of Oldenburg (Germany) have taken a closer look at the unusual cell biology of the species Prorocentrum cordatum from the group of dinoflagellates. The results of their study, published in the journal Plant Physiology, could help to better understand the role of the species in the environment and the increased occurrence of algal blooms at higher water temperatures.

Research targeting the insulin-inhibitory receptor, called inceptor, unveils promising avenues for beta cell protection, offering hope for causal diabetes therapy. A novel study in mice with diet-induced obesity demonstrates that the knock-out of inceptor enhances glucose regulation, prompting its further exploration as a drug target for type 2 diabetes treatment. These findings, led by Helmholtz Munich in collaboration with the German Center for Diabetes Research, the Technical University of Munich, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, drive advancements in diabetes research.

HCMV reprograms cellular defence mechanisms

The human cytomegalovirus, HCMV for short, lies dormant unnoticed in the body of most people for their entire lives. In immunocompromised individuals, however, the virus can cause life-threatening infections. It infects dendritic cells, a specific type of cell in the immune system. Although the majority of them are infected, only a few of them immediately execute the virus’s genetic programme. Researchers at TWINCORE, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, have now been able to show which signalling pathways of the innate immune system the virus is targeting in order to have itself produced by the host cells.

Botany: Publication in the Journal of Cell Biology

Iron is a micronutrient for plants. Biologists from the Institute of Botany at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) describe in a study, which has now been published in the Journal of Cell Biology, that regulatory proteins for iron uptake behave particularly dynamically in the cell nucleus when the cells are exposed to blue light – an important signal for plant growth. They found that the initially homogeneously distributed proteins relocated together into “biomolecular condensates” in the cell nucleus shortly after this exposure.

Botanik: Veröffentlichung im Journal of Cell Biology

Eisen ist ein Mikronährstoff für Pflanzen. Biologinnen und Biologen vom Institut für Botanik der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (HHU) beschreiben in einer Studie, die nun im Journal of Cell Biology erschien, dass sich regulatorische Proteine für die Eisenaufnahme im Zellkern besonders dynamisch verhalten, wenn die Zellen mit blauem Licht, einem wichtigen Signal für das Pflanzenwachstum, bestrahlt werden. Sie fanden, dass sich die zunächst homogen verteilten Proteine kurze Zeit nach der Bestrahlung eng aneinanderlegten und sich im Zellkern zu „biomolekularen Kondensaten“ vereinten.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the most common and most dangerous bacterial pathogens impacting humans, causing infections of the gastrointestinal tract, pneumonia, wound infections and even blood poisoning. With the aim of discovering therapeutically exploitable weaknesses in Klebsiella, a research team from the Balance of the Microverse Cluster of Excellence at the University of Jena, Germany has taken a close look at the molecular biology of the bacteria and was able to uncover the importance of a small, non-coding ribonucleic acid (sRNA for short) for the gene regulation of K. pneumoniae. They report their findings in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.

Brightly coloured beetles that feed on a wide range of plants possess robust metabolic capabilities, thanks to bacteria residing in specialised organs in their digestive tract. The bacterium Stammera provides essential enzymes enabling Cassidinae beetles to digest plant cell wall components efficiently. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen discovered the ancient origin of this specialised relationship. They found symbiotic leaf beetles exhibit greater species diversity than their non-symbiotic relatives. These findings, exposing the timing of symbiosis dating back sixty-two million years and its pivotal role in adaptation, are published in Current Biology.