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Immune cells protect our body against invading pathogens. The chemokine receptor CCR5 on the surface of T cells plays an important role in this process. However, CCR5 also is used by the HI-Virus as entrance gate into T cells. A research consortium led by the University of Basel has now deciphered the mechanism of CCR5 receptor activation. The study provides important insights for the development of effective treatments for AIDS, cancer and inflammatory diseases.
Dr. Aurélien Lucchi is to become the new Assistant Professor of Data Analytics Systems at the University of Basel. Dr. Hanna Walsdorf and Dr. Samuel Allemann have also been appointed assistant professors and economist Professor Catherine Roux has been promoted to associate professor.
Neurons, nerve cells in the brain, are central players in brain function. However, a key role for glia, long considered support cells, is emerging. A research group at the University of Basel has now discovered two new types of glial cells in the brain, by unleashing adult stem cells from their quiescent state. These new types of glia may play an important role in brain plasticity and repair.
The President of the University of Basel, together with her deputy Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, will head the trinational university association for three years.
Metastases can develop in the body even years after apparently successful cancer treatment. They originate from cancer cells that migrated from the original tumor to other organs, and which can lie there inactive for a considerable time. Researchers have now discovered how these “sleeping cells” are kept dormant and how they wake up and form fatal metastases.
Some Covid-19 patients develop diabetes in the course of their infection. An international study with participation by the University of Basel has mapped how coronavirus attacks and destroys insulin-producing pancreatic cells. The researchers also identified a way to protect these cells.
The governments of the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt yesterday approved the performance mandate and global contribution – amounting to approximately CHF 1.35 billion for the University of Basel for the period 2022 to 2025 – as well as the revised University Agreement.
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.
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).
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