In chronic leukemias, blocking the overactive kinase JAK2 by a targeted therapy approach is only mitigating the patients’ symptoms, but cannot truly change the course of the disease. A study by the University of Basel has shown that it may be possible to improve the therapeutic effects by additionally inhibiting a specific signaling pathway. The results are so convincing that they are already being incorporated into clinical studies in a “bench-to-bedside” approach.
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed an analytical method to detect genes involved in the development of cancer. Using this approach, they were able to identify a number of new cancer genes, including one that plays a role in breast cancer.
When questions about the risks and benefits of new technology split society, objective discussion becomes difficult. A University of Basel researcher investigated this kind of polarization using the example of perception of the risk posed by 5G. The research suggests how divergent risk perceptions may arise and how excessive polarization can potentially be countered in the future.
Many cancer patients suffer from anemia leaving them fatigued, weak, and an impaired ability to perform physical activity. Drugs only rarely alleviate this type of anemia. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to show what causes the anemia, and that physical exercise can improve this condition.
The biotech company T3 Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off of the University of Basel, has been awarded the Swiss Economic Award 2021 in the hightech/biotech category. The start-up working in the field of immuno-oncology is developing a cancer therapy based on living bacteria.
Why do people install a coronavirus warning app on their cell phone – or not? Researchers of the Department of Economic Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Basel investigated. The upshot: self-interest and technical understanding are more important than protecting others.
Cartilage cells from the nasal septum can not only help repair cartilage injuries in the knee – according to researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel, they can also withstand the chronic inflammatory tissue environment in osteoarthritis and even counteract the inflammation.
The cichlids of Lake Tanganyika in Africa are highly diverse – including with regard to sex chromosomes. These have changed extremely frequently in the course of the evolution of these fish and, depending on the species, can be of the type XY or ZW. This has been reported by a research team from the University of Basel and the Research Museum Koenig in Bonn in the scientific journal Science Advances.
Viruses do not always kill the cells they infect. Researchers at the University of Basel have discovered in experiments with mice that cells have the power to self-heal and eliminate viruses. However, these cells undergo long-term changes. The findings may provide a hint as to why cured hepatitis C patients are more susceptible to liver cancer for years after.
