Mathematician Dr. Gabriel Dill likes things a bit complicated: For the Matura, he wrote a satire on Berlusconi – in Latin. And for his doctoral thesis, he chose a field that is quite exotic even for insiders: Diophantine geometry. His dissertation has now been awarded the Prix Schläfli by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT).
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.
Fields of opium poppies once bloomed where the Zurich Opera House underground garage now stands. Through a new analysis of archaeological seeds, researchers at the University of Basel have been able to bolster the hypothesis that prehistoric farmers throughout the Alps participated in domesticating the opium poppy.
A premature start in life can cause problems even into teenage years. A study by the University of Basel and the University Children's Hospital Basel (UKBB) indicates that training motor skills in these children helps even when they are older.
Some pathogens persist in the body causing chronic infections. Researchers at the University of Basel have now discovered a mechanism of highly selective targeting of host proteins by a bacterial toxin that is critical for the bacteria to establish chronic infection. The study recently published in PNAS provides new insights into the activity and function of bacterial toxins.
The tense situation in eastern Ukraine is fueling fears of a renewed escalation of a conflict that has forced two million people to flee their homes since 2014. Sociologist Professor Viktoria Sereda is investigating what this displacement means for individuals and Ukrainian society. She is currently a visiting researcher at the University of Basel.
The Foundation Fighting Blindness has granted 600,000 USD to help Hendrik Scholl as principal investigator define a novel way of reversing blindness. Hendrik Scholl is professor of ophthalmology at the University of Basel and clinical director of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB).
Quantum systems consisting of several particles can be used to measure magnetic or electric fields more precisely. A young physicist at the University of Basel has now proposed a new scheme for such measurements that uses a particular kind of correlation between quantum particles.
The European Research Council has awarded ERC Advanced Grants to two scientists from the University of Basel. Neurobiologist Prof. Silvia Arber and parasitologist Prof. Jennifer Keiser will receive funding in the millions for their pioneering research projects.
