Researchers at the University of Basel have developed an efficient method for the preparation of therapeutic nanovesicles, thereby fulfilling a key prerequisite for industrial production. The method also paves the way for research into areas such as immunotherapy treatments for cancer.
Rare diseases are often caused by defects in genetic material. If children inherit only a defective gene from one parent, they often are asymptomatic “carriers” – or at least that was the previous assumption. However, a research team from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel is now reporting that such carriers can also suffer from life-threatening diseases – and that rare hereditary diseases are therefore probably more common than previously thought.
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a new approach for a vaccine against COVID-19. This vaccine is based on a modified coronavirus that can enter body cells and trigger an effective immune response but cannot multiply in the body. In animal studies, the vaccine effectively protected against the disease and even prevented virus transmission. Clinical trials in humans are to follow.
Every day, millions of cells die in our body. Other than generally assumed, cells do not simply burst at the end of their lives but rather, a specific protein serves as a breaking point for cell membrane rupture. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to elucidate the exact mechanism at the atomic level. They have published their results in “Nature”.
A compound previously used in veterinary medicine could greatly improve the treatment of parasitic worm infections in humans. Researchers at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute report these findings in “The New England Journal of Medicine”. The Swiss TPH will now join forces with Bayer to further develop the drug.
The hormone oxytocin is important for social interaction and to control emotions. A deficiency of this hormone has previously been assumed, for example, in people with autism, but has never been proven. Now, for the first time, researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel have succeeded in demonstrating a deficiency of oxytocin in patients with a deficiency of vasopressin caused by a disease of the pituitary gland. This finding could be key to developing new therapeutic approaches.
To date, inputting text in virtual reality has been difficult. Now researchers from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Basel have discovered a way to make the process easier – by adapting the principle of the swipe keyboard for the VR world.
With cardiac arrest, the chance of surviving decreases with every minute that passes without blood circulation. What a lot of people don’t know: The brain is irreversibly damaged after just a few seconds. Researchers at the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel are making the case for more information – and for clear communication regarding whether someone actually wants to be resuscitated.
Researchers from Basel and Zurich are creating a high-resolution atlas that depicts the development of the human retina. One technique they use is a new method that allows them to visualise more than 50 proteins simultaneously. The atlas helps scientists to better understand diseases.
