Rituximab, an anti-cancer drug targeting the membrane protein CD20, was the first approved therapeutic antibody against B tumor cells. Immunologists at the University of Freiburg have now solved a mystery about how it works. A team headed by Professor Dr. Michael Reth used cell cultures, healthy cells, and cells from cancer patients to investigate how […]
Researchers in the United States and Canada have conducted a study showing that just a single dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is likely to protect against emerging variants. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the agent responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that continues […]
A new study suggests that despite considerable adversity, many people have also experienced positive effects in lockdown as a result of a less frenetic life. Results from a new study which draws on survey data collected during the peak of the first wave of the pandemic suggests that being forced to slow down life, as […]
Professionalization in any field requires long-term experience and training. In the past decades, studies have demonstrated that the professionalization of athletes and artists create differences in the behavior of the brain while carrying out activities related to their area of expertise. To detect the effects of media professionalization in the brain, a research team from […]
Progressive vision loss, and eventually blindness, are the hallmarks of juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL) or CLN3-Batten disease. New research shows how the mutation associated with the disease could potentially lead to degeneration of light sensing photoreceptor cells in the retina, and subsequent vision loss. “The prominence and early onset of retinal degeneration in JNCL […]
Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) is a technique invented in 1984 by the English scientist Alec Jeffreys during research into hereditary diseases. It is used for the analysis of unique patterns in DNA fragments in order to genetically differentiate between organisms – these patterns are called Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (VNTRs). Genetic polymorphism is […]
Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) represents a tomographic imaging method that is used to determine the spatial distribution of magnetic material injected into the bloodstream. Iron-oxide based superparamagnetic nanoparticles are used as a suitable material for the purpose of this quite novel imaging technique. The concept of MPI was conceived in 2001 by Dr. Bernhard Gleich […]
SORLA is a protein trafficking receptor that has been mainly studied in neurons, but it also plays a role in cancer cells. Professor Johanna Ivaska's research group at Turku Bioscience observed that SORLA functionally contributes to the most reported therapy-resistant mechanism by which the cell-surface receptor HER3 counteracts HER2 targeting therapy in HER2-positive cancers. Removing […]
National lockdowns have been the most profound and significant public health interventions within living memory. They have been difficult socially and economically, and have negatively affected people’s health in many different ways. But for some people lockdowns have provided an unexpected opportunity to make positive changes to their lives, running counter to prevailing narratives of […]
By any measure, carbon-based life originates from carboxylation. That is to say, the coupling of atmospheric carbon dioxide to sugar. Carboxylation is also critical for mitochondria to function. There are five carboxylation enzymes in mitochondria, and they share one thing in common—they are all operated by a covalently linked biotin cofactor. Biotin is also known […]
