After nerve injury, the protein complex mTORC1 takes over an important function in skeletal muscle to maintain the neuromuscular junction, the synapse between the nerve and muscle fiber. Researchers at the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have now shown that the activation of mTORC1 must be tightly balanced for a proper response of the muscle to nerve injury.
On 28 August 2019, the University of Basel’s Biozentrum hosts a scientific symposium to honor its Nobel Prize laureate, Prof. em. Dr. Werner Arber, on the occasion of his 90th Birthday. In addition to a review of the lifetime achievements of the microbiologist and discoverer of bacterial restriction enzymes, two scientific lectures will highlight the newest developments in the field of genome editing.
Adjusting the thermal conductivity of materials is one of the challenges nanoscience is currently facing. Together with colleagues from the Netherlands and Spain, researchers from the University of Basel have shown that the atomic vibrations that determine heat generation in nanowires can be controlled through the arrangement of atoms alone. The scientists will publish the results shortly in the journal Nano Letters.
Acute myeloid leukemia stem cells elude the body’s immune cells by deactivating a danger detector. The underlying mechanisms and the potential new therapeutic approaches that this gives rise to have been detailed in the journal Nature by researchers from the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel in collaboration with colleagues in Germany.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg has ruled that Nigeria must release a Swiss tanker it has detained off its coast for more than 17 months. Switzerland appointed Anna Petrig, Professor of International Law at the University of Basel, as judge ad hoc for this case. This is the first time in the history of the UN tribunal that a woman has held this position.
The translation of the genetic code into proteins is a vital process in any cell. Prof. Mihaela Zavolan’s team at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has now uncovered important factors that influence the speed of protein synthesis in the cell. The results, recently published in “PNAS”, serve as a basis to better analyze translational control in a wide range of cell types.
A letter in the Basel papyrus collection describes day-to-day family matters and yet is unique in its own way: it provides valuable insights into the world of the first Christians in the Roman Empire, which is not recorded in any other historical source. The letter has been dated to the 230s AD and is thus older than all previously known Christian documentary evidence from Roman Egypt.
Sustainable means of mobility are becoming ever more popular. In Switzerland, around 15,000 people have registered with the online platform carvelo2go, which hires out electric cargo bikes. The use of this sharing service in the Basel area is now the subject of scientific investigation. Despite strong growth in member numbers, there are still fundamental barriers. The study by the University of Basel indicates ways that sharing providers and public authorities can promote the use of environmentally friendly cargo bikes.
On behalf of social security institutions, psychiatrists assess to what extent people with mental health problems are still able to work. However, the work capability assessments tend to be far too dissimilar. A new training course has helped to reduce the differences. This confirms a study conducted by researchers at the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel and financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
