In no other stage of life does sleep change as much as in adolescence. Low-intensity morning exercise can have a positive effect on adolescents’ sleep patterns – as discovered by researchers at the University of Basel and Flinders University in Adelaide.
Even before carbohydrates reach the bloodstream, the very sight and smell of a meal trigger the release of insulin. For the first time, researchers from the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel have shown that this insulin release depends on a short-term inflammatory response that takes place in these circumstances. In overweight individuals, however, this inflammatory response is so excessive that it can impair insulin secretion.
NextImmune, a spin-off from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, has received financial support of 150,000 Swiss francs from the Venture Kick funding initiative. The start-up develops a new generation of immunosuppressive drugs for autoimmune diseases and organ transplantation.
The University Council has appointed Professor Andreas Müller as the new Professor of European Law, International Law and Human Rights, as well as Professor Beat Müller as Professor of Visceral Surgery. Professor Sarina Tschachtli is now Assistant Professor of German Medieval Studies, and Professor Malte Oppermann is Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry.
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.
Prisca Liberali, Professor at the University of Basel and research group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, receives the Gold Medal of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
Communication networks need nodes at which information is processed or rerouted. Physicists at the University of Basel have now developed a network node for quantum communication networks that can store single photons in a vapor cell and pass them on later.
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has awarded three leading researchers in Basel a highly endowed SNSF Advanced Grant. Professor Peter Scheiffele from the Biozentrum, Professor Stefan Willitsch from the Department of Chemistry and Professor Andreas Lüthi from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research will each receive a five-year endowment for their groundbreaking projects.
University of Basel researchers have discovered neutralizing antibodies which prevent bacterial infection or bring them to a halt. Only changes in the antibody docking sites on the bacterial cell surface enables the pathogen to evade this effective immune defense.
