Hijacking in the immune system

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.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

New growth factor for the liver

A healthy liver is capable of completely regenerating itself. Researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) and the German Diabetes Center (DDZ) have now identified the growth factor MYDGF (Myeloid-Derived Growth Factor), which is important for this regenerative capacity. In cooperation with the Hannover Medical School and the University Medical Center Mainz, they also showed that higher levels of MYDGF can be detected in the blood of patients following partial removal of the liver. In the scientific journal Nature Communications, they also report that this growth factor stimulates the proliferation of human hepatocytes in a tissue culture.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

What defines a human and healthy microbiome?

Comparative genome study of the CRC 1182 using humans and great apes provides new insights into the development and adaptation of the gut microbiome under different lifestyles

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Use of habitat for agricultural purposes puts primate infants at risk

Frequent visits to oil palm plantations are leading to a sharp increase in mortality rates among infant southern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) in the wild, according to a new study published in Current Biology. In addition to increased risk from predators and human encounters, exposure to harmful agricultural chemicals in this environment may negatively affect infant development.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Looking into the future of the ocean: METEOR Expedition uses the Eastern Mediterranean as a laboratory for the future

05 January 2024/Kiel/Limassol. Tomorrow, the research vessel METEOR will leave Cyprus for a four-week research cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean, led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is particularly affected by climate change and human activities and is changing rapidly. The planned investigations across a diverse range of oceanic settings will provide information on what these changes look like and what they mean for the ecosystems of a future (sub)tropical ocean. The data collected will be combined with information from satellites and other autonomous platforms and modelling to provide a comprehensive picture of the changes.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Treating tuberculosis when antibiotics no longer work

A research team has detected various substances that have a dual effect against tuberculosis: They make the bacteria causing the disease less pathogenic for human immune cells and boost the activity of conventional antibiotics / publication in ‘Cell Chemical Biology’

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Light colour is less important for the internal clock than originally thought

Light in the evening is thought to be bad for sleep. However, does the colour of the light play a role? Researchers from the University of Basel and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) compared the influence of different light colours on the human body. The researchers’ findings contradict the results of a previous study in mice.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Accelerating Drug Development for Lung Diseases: New Insights from Single-Cell Genomics

To mechanistically understand the root causes of lung disease, and identify drugs that target specific pathways, the scientists around Prof. Herbert Schiller and Dr. Gerald Burgstaller from Helmholtz Munich are collecting deep molecular insights from patient samples and combining these with experimental interventions in the laboratory. A new combination of methods now enabled them to study mechanisms directly in human lung tissue, thereby accelerating drug development for novel therapies. This groundbreaking work is now published in Science Translational Medicine.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Tracing the Evolution of the “Little Brain”

The evolution of higher cognitive functions in humans has so far mostly been linked to the expansion of the neocortex. Researchers are increasingly realising, however, that the “little brain” or cerebellum also expanded during evolution and probably contributes to the capacities unique to humans. A Heidelberg research team has now generated comprehensive genetic maps of the development of cells in the cerebella of human, mouse and opossum. Comparisons of these maps reveal both ancestral and species-specific cellular and molecular characteristics of cerebellum development.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Deep-sea mining and warming trigger stress in a midwater jellyfish: GEOMAR study investigates effects of sediment plumes

21.11.2023/Kiel. The deep sea is home to one of the largest animal communities on earth which is increasingly exposed to environmental pressures. However, our knowledge of its inhabitants and their response to human-induced stressors is still limited. A new study led by scientists from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel now provides first insights into the stress response of a pelagic deep-sea jellyfish to ocean warming and sediment plumes caused by deep-sea mining. The researchers are publishing their results today in the journal Nature Communications.

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Defect in fruit fly respiratory system may provide insights into human aortic aneurysms

A team of researchers led by Leipzig University has gained new insights into the respiratory system of fruit flies – the so-called tracheal system – which could be important for future research into aneurysms. Dr Matthias Behr from the Institute of Biology (Department of Cell Biology) at Leipzig University and his team, together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, carried out genetic, cell biological and biochemical studies on Drosophila embryos.

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Proven for the First Time: The Microbiome of Fruit and Vegetables Positively Influences Diversity in the Gut

In a meta-study, a research team from the Institute of Environmental Biotechnology at TU Graz has provided evidence that the consumption of fruit and vegetables contributes positively to bacterial diversity in the human gut.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Scientists develop novel nanoparticles that could serve as contrast agents

Special nanoparticles could one day improve modern imaging techniques. Developed by researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the properties of these unique nanoparticles change in reaction to heat. When combined with an integrated dye, the particles may be used in photoacoustic imaging to produce high-resolution, three-dimensional internal images of the human body, the team reports in the journal „Chemical Communications“.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Interpreting Large-Scale Medical Datasets: ScPoli Enables Multi-Scale Representations of Cells and Samples

The increasing amount of data recorded in medical research can only lead to scientific breakthroughs and essential therapies for patients if interpreted and analyzed correctly. Computer scientists at Helmholtz Munich developed a generative model named scPoli (single-cell population level integration), that performs data integration of high-quality large-scale datasets of single cells to create valuable single-cell reference maps of the human body, so-called single-cell atlases, for medical research.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Exercise and Muscle Regulation: Implications for Diabetes and Obesity

How do our muscles respond at the molecular level to exercise? Researchers at Helmholtz Munich and the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke (DIfE) have unraveled the cellular basis and signaling pathways responsible for the positive impact of physical activity on our overall health. Regulatory T cells, a type of immune cell, play a critical role in ensuring proper muscle function. These novel insights are paving the path towards precision medicines targeting metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetes, as well as muscle-related illnesses. Their discoveries are published in Cell Metabolism.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Cellular Cartography

An international team of scientists has created the first comprehensive index of human cells, mapping the sizes and abundance of all cell types across the entire body. This groundbreaking study, published in PNAS, reveals surprising mathematical patterns underlying cell size and number, challenging our fundamental understanding of cell growth and proliferation.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

CHOOSEn fate: one brain organoid’s tale on Autism

Does the human brain have an Achilles heel that ultimately leads to Autism? With a revolutionizing novel system that combines brain organoid technology and intricate genetics, researchers can now comprehensively test the effect of multiple mutations in parallel and at a single-cell level within human brain organoids. This technology, developed by researchers from the Knoblich group at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Treutlein group at ETH Zurich, permits the identification of vulnerable cell types and gene regulatory networks that underlie autism spectrum disorders. The results were published on September 13 in Nature.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

What do neurons, fireflies and dancing the Nutbush have in common?

Synchronicity is all around us, but it is poorly understood. Computer scientists have now developed new tools to understand how human and natural networks fall in and out of sync.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Opportunities for cancer treatment and wound healing: Microrobots for the study of cells

– Cells are stimulated by robots measuring just 30 micrometers (µm)
– Technological platform developed to produce microrobots
– Ion channel mechanisms can be influenced

A group of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed the world’s first microrobot (“microbot”) capable of navigating within groups of cells and stimulating individual cells. Berna Özkale Edelmann, a professor of Nano- and Microrobotics, sees potential for new treatments of human diseases.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Immune Cells Shape their own Path – Scientists at ISTA show how immune cells migrate along self-generated gradients

When fighting disease, our immune cells need to reach their target quickly. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) now discovered that immune cells actively generate their own guidance system to navigate through complex environments. This challenges earlier notions about these movements. The researchers’ findings, published in the journal Science Immunology, enhance our knowledge of the immune system and offer potential new approaches to improve human immune response.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

“Viral relicts” in the Genome Could Fuel Neurodegeneration

Genetic remnants of viruses that are naturally present in the human genome could affect the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers at DZNE come to this conclusion on the basis of studies on cell cultures. They report on this in the journal “Nature Communications”. In their view, such “endogenous retroviruses” could contribute to the spread of aberrant protein aggregates – hallmarks of certain dementias – in the brain. Thus, these viral relicts would be potential targets for therapies.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Various evolutionary forces shape the human skeleton

Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen explores skeletal features as an alternative to DNA analysis

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Unterschiedliche evolutionäre Kräfte formen das menschliche Skelett

Das Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment an der Universität Tübingen untersucht Skelettmerkmale als möglichen Ersatz für DNA-Analysen

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Panzergröße: Wie sich Schildkröten in den letzten 200 Millionen Jahren entwickelten

Vielfalt der Körpergröße von Schildkröten untersucht.
Internationale Forschende, unter ihnen Dr. Gabriel Ferreira vom Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment an der Universität Tübingen, haben die bisher umfänglichste Datensammlung zu Körpergrößen von rezenten und fossilen Schildkröten zusammengestellt. In ihrer im Fachjournal „Ecology and Evolution“ erschienenen Studie stellt das Team fest, dass die Größe der Panzerträger nicht – wie häufig angenommen – mit den klimatischen Verhältnissen zusammenhängt. Vielmehr sei die Lebensweise der Tiere ausschlaggebend für ihre Größenentwicklung.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

A promising investigational therapeutic monoclonal antibody to treat chronic hepatitis B and D infections

Affecting hundreds of millions of people, chronic hepatitis B is a widespread global health problem for which there is as yet no cure. In a preclinical study involving the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Heidelberg University Hospital, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and the US company Vir Biotechnology, the potential of an engineered investigational human monoclonal antibody for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis D has been demonstrated. Based on the results, clinical trials with the monoclonal antibody VIR-3434 are ongoing.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft