Cancer immunotherapy is a successful form of treatment in oncology, but it doesn't work for every patient. One problem may be the lack of a specific type of immune cell in the tumor, researchers in the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel have found. The researchers were able to partially replace the cell's function using a signaling molecule. This may make it possible to overcome resistance to cancer immunotherapy.
As early as the Neolithic period, pests posed a threat to agricultural yields, as shown by the remains of mice and insects found in prehistoric wells by a Basel-led archaeological research team. However, there are also indications that people knew how to defend against these pests – for example, by switching to less vulnerable kinds of grain.
Cell therapies are the new hope when it comes to tackling diseases such as leukemia or multiple sclerosis, but they require an intensive and strenuous course of pretreatment. Researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel have developed an approach to make both this preparatory process and the follow-up treatment more gentle and effective. The researchers have founded a start-up with a view to further developing the approach for clinical use.
Viruses such as HIV or the pathogen that causes hepatitis C can overwhelm the immune system. One approach to developing vaccines for these chronic infections has until now been aimed exclusively at what are known as the memory B cells, a specific type of immune cells. Researchers at the University of Basel now report that these cells need the help of other memory cells to effectively defend the body against chronic viruses. This is an important finding in vaccine design.
For the first time, University of Basel researchers have equipped an ultrathin semiconductor with superconducting contacts. These extremely thin materials with novel electronic and optical properties could pave the way for previously unimagined applications. Combined with superconductors, they are expected to give rise to new quantum phenomena and find use in quantum technology.
If you can’t buy cigarettes, you won’t start smoking – such is the thinking behind the ban on selling cigarettes to young people. A new Basel study for Switzerland has revealed, however, that while the ban does not make smoking more attractive, neither does it act as a significant deterrent.
Spatial reasoning ability in small children reflects how well they will perform in mathematics later. Researchers from the University of Basel recently came to this conclusion, making the case for better cultivation of spatial reasoning.
1.4 million people die of tuberculosis worldwide each year. Multidrug-resistant strains pose a particular problem because they are so difficult to treat. In a study in Georgia, Basel researchers have demonstrated that prisons play a key role in transmission. The consequences ripple out to Switzerland as well.
A blind patient has partially regained visual function. This was achieved through optogenetic therapy, which aims to treat inherited diseases of the photoreceptors within the eye. The accomplishment by the international research team represents an important step in the treatment of genetically determined blindness.
