Press monitoring
Decoy molecule draws deadly mosquito-borne virus away from the brain
18.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a mosquito-borne virus that, in the worst case scenario, can infect the brain and become deadly. It’s notoriously difficult to treat, but now scientists have discovered the protein it latches onto – and used it to create a decoy molecule that draws the virus away from the brain. Originating in...
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Monster tumors could offer new glimpse at human development
16.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Finding just the right model to study human development – from the early embryonic stage onward – has been a challenge for scientists over the last decade. Now, bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have homed in on an unusual candidate: teratomas. Teratomas – which mean "monstrous tumors" in Greek – are tumors made up of...
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Sorting out viruses with machine learning
13.11.2020 | Press monitoring
The ongoing global pandemic has created an urgent need for rapid tests that can diagnose the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the pathogen that causes COVID-19, and distinguish it from other respiratory viruses. Now, researchers from Japan have demonstrated a new system for single-virion identification of common respiratory pathogens using a...
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Scientists use bacteria as micro-3-D printers
11.11.2020 | Press monitoring
A team at Aalto University has used bacteria to produce intricately designed three-dimensional objects made of nanocellulose. With their technique, the researchers are able to guide the growth of bacterial colonies through the use of strongly water repellent – superhydrophobic – surfaces. The objects show tremendous potential for medical use,...
Scientists Infect Lab-Grown Mini-Lungs With SARS-CoV-2
9.11.2020 | Press monitoring
A team of researchers have developed a mini-lung in the lab made of thousands of human lung stem cells. This breakthrough is now being used to understand what SARS-CoV-2 and other airborne pathogens do to our lung cells. The team used alveolar epithelial type-2 cells (AT2s), a type of lung stem cell that repairs the deepest portions of our...
Researchers develop artificial cell on a chip
6.11.2020 | Press monitoring
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a precisely controllable system for mimicking biochemical reaction cascades in cells. Using microfluidic technology, they produce miniature polymeric reaction containers equipped with the desired properties. This 'cell on a chip' is useful not only for studying processes in cells, but also...
Root bacterium to fight Alzheimer\'s: Rhizolutin dissociates beta and tau aggregates
4.11.2020 | Press monitoring
A bacterium found among the soil close to roots of ginseng plants could provide a new approach for the treatment of Alzheimer's. Rhizolutin, a novel class of compounds with a tricyclic framework, significantly dissociates the protein aggregates associated with Alzheimer's disease both in vivo and in vitro. A team working with YoungSoo Kim...
Ultrapotent COVID-19 vaccine candidate designed via computer
2.11.2020 | Press monitoring
An innovative nanoparticle vaccine candidate for the pandemic coronavirus produces virus-neutralizing antibodies in mice at levels ten-times greater than is seen in people who have recovered from COVID-19 infections. Designed by scientists at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, the vaccine candidate has been transferred to...
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Antibody-producing yeast vanquishes deadly gut infection in mice
30.10.2020 | Press monitoring
When people take antibiotics for one infection, another can swoop in to take its place: the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, which causes severe, recurring colon infections that kill nearly 30,000 people annually in the United States, most over the age of 65. Now, researchers have a new idea for battling C. diff: They have modified yeast to...
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Bullet-like nanoparticles heat and destroy cancer cells from the inside
28.10.2020 | Press monitoring
A research team in the UK have demonstrated how an adaptation of this technology can be used to tackle mesothelioma, a hard-to-treat cancer caused by asbestos exposure, with a little help from laser light. The work was carried out by scientists from the University of Cambridge and the University of Leeds and uses nanoparticles made from gold,...
