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 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.
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.
An international team of researchers involving members of the University of Basel’s Biozentrum challenges the conventional understanding of the cause of Parkinson’s disease. The researchers have shown that the inclusions in the brain’s neurons, characteristic of Parkinson‘s disease, are comprised of a membranous medley rather than protein fibrils. The recently published study in “Nature Neuroscience” raises new questions about the etiology of Parkinson’s disease.
Sports scientists from the University of Basel found that providing telephone-based coaching over the phone is an effective method for getting people in Switzerland to adopt a physically active lifestyle.
When we train the reaching for and grasping of objects, we also train our brain. In other words, this action brings about changes in the connections of a certain neuronal population in the red nucleus, a region of the midbrain. Researchers at the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have discovered this group of nerve cells in the red nucleus. They have also shown how fine motor tasks promote plastic reorganization of this brain region.
Natural products, or their close derivatives, make some of our most potent medicines, among which macrocycles are one class. The size and complexity of macrocycles has made it difficult to emulate and build on Nature’s success in the laboratory. By completing a complex molecular synthesis of these compounds attached to a unique identifying DNA strand, the Chemists of the University of Basel have built a rich collection of natural product-like macrocycles that can be mined for new medicines.
T3 Pharmaceuticals AG wins the W.A. de Vigier Foundation’s highest endowed award for startup companies in Switzerland of 100,000 Swiss Francs. The spin-off from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel works in the field of immuno-oncology and convinced the jury with their innovative therapeutic approach to fighting cancer with live bacteria.
