news 2016

Can search engines save lives? LMU researchers are working on an approach which would enable search engines to more effectively identify users who are at risk of suicide and provide them with information on where to find help. Search engine queries not only reveal a lot about the user's interests and predilections, they also contain information relating to their mood or state of health.

Research news In type 1 diabetes, the body attacks its own insulin-producing cells. Scientists at Technical University of Munich (TUM), at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the German Center for Diabetes Research have now reported in the journal 'PNAS' about a mechanism used by the immune system to prepare for this attack.

Physicists at LMU have developed a novel nanotool that provides a facile means of characterizing the mechanical properties of biomolecules. Faced with the thousands of proteins and genes found in virtually every cell in the body, biologists want to know how they all work exactly: How do they interact to carry out their specific functions and how do they respond and adapt to perturbations? One of the crucial factors in all of these processes is the question of how biomolecules react to the minuscule forces that operate at the molecular level.

Research news Imiquimod is a medication successfully used in the treatment of skin diseases. In addition to its known mechanism of action, it also triggers other processes in the body. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have succeeded in explaining the molecular fundamentals of these additional effects.

LMU researchers have identified a pair of interacting molecules which play a critical role in the pathogenicity of Helicobacter pylori. H. pylori infections can cause peptic ulcers and are associated with stomach cancer. The rod-shaped bacterium Helicobacter pylori colonizes the surface of the cells that make up the lining of the stomach, and can cause gastritis, peptic ulcers and gastric cancer.

Research news Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that can colonize the human stomach - sometimes with fatal consequences. A research group led by Prof. Markus Gerhard of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Bernhard B. Singer of the Institute for Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Duisburg-Essen has discovered a completely new approach to preventing or treating infections with this bacterium as well as secondary complications.

Research news Scientists have conducted the first worldwide study of biodiversity and its impact on the productivity of forests. Data from more than 770,000 observation points from 44 countries were evaluated for this purpose. The samples included in the study comprised 8,700 species of trees from mangroves to trees in tropical rainforests, Central Europe, tundras, and dry savannas to populations in Mediterranean forests.

Research news Watching millions of neurons in the brain interact with each another is the ultimate dream of neuroscientists. A new imaging method now makes it possible to observe the activation of large neural circuits, currently up to the size of a small-animal brain, in real time and three dimensions.

Research news Scientists from Technical University of Munich have used the accurate x-ray vision provided by DESY's radiation source PETRA III to observe the degradation of polymer solar cells. Their study suggests an approach for improving the manufacturing process to increase the long-term stability of such organic solar cells.

Research news When an electron moves in solid matter, it polarizes its environment. Detailed insight into the interactions between electrons and their environment is the key to better performing future electronics components. However, since these processes transpire within only a few attoseconds, in the past they were practically impossible to investigate.

Research news Sequencing data from biological samples such as the skin, intestinal tissues, or soil and water are usually archived in public databases. This allows researchers from all over the globe to access them. However, this has led to the creation of extremely large quantities of data. To be able to explore all these data, new evaluation methods are necessary.

Some HIV-infected - and untreated - children do not develop AIDS. A new study shows that they control the virus in a different way from the few infected adults who remain disease-free, and sheds light on the reasons for this difference. Children who are HIV-positive but remain free of AIDS are very rare.

Research news Pancreatic cancer is an exceptionally aggressive type of cancer. Frequently, metastases already start to grow in other organs, particularly often in the liver, before the original tumor was even detected. Scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now discovered a molecular mechanism, which is responsible for the prominent susceptibility of the liver to metastases at such an early stage.

Optical quantum computers are what people are pinning their hopes on for tomorrow's computer technology - whether for tap-proof data encryption, ultrafast calculations involving enormous quantities of data or so-called quantum simulation, which allows highly complex systems to be reproduced on the computer.

Research news Plants cannot simply relocate to better surroundings when their environmental conditions are no longer suitable. Instead, they have developed sophisticated molecular adaptation mechanisms. Scientists at the Technical University Munich (TUM) in cooperation with the Helmholtz Center Munich and the University of Nottingham have been able to demonstrate that brassinosteroids, which until now have mainly been regarded as growth hormones, increase the resistance of plants against frost.

Scientists of Freie Universität and Max Planck Society succeed in worldŽs first structural analysis of aggregates believed to be cause of AlzheimerŽs disease ' 315/2016 from Sep 26, 2016 Scientists of Freie Universität Berlin und the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society made a major step forward in analyzing the biochemical causes of AlzheimerŽs and ParkinsonŽs disease.

Scientists of Freie Universität and Max Planck Society succeed in worldŽs first structural analysis of aggregates believed to be cause of AlzheimerŽs disease ' 315/2016 from Sep 26, 2016 Scientists of Freie Universität Berlin und the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society made a major step forward in analyzing the biochemical causes of AlzheimerŽs and ParkinsonŽs disease.

Japanese Studies Scholar Elena Giannoulis Receives ERC Starting Grant for Project on Technological Transformation of Intimacy in Japan ' 311/2016 from Sep 22, 2016 Elena Giannoulis, a junior professor of Japanese studies at Freie Universität Berlin, is receiving a Starting Grant amounting to 1.5 million euros over five years from the European Research Council (ERC) to investigate human-robot interaction.

Japanese Studies Scholar Elena Giannoulis Receives ERC Starting Grant for Project on Technological Transformation of Intimacy in Japan ' 311/2016 from Sep 22, 2016 Elena Giannoulis, a junior professor of Japanese studies at Freie Universität Berlin, is receiving a Starting Grant amounting to 1.5 million euros over five years from the European Research Council (ERC) to investigate human-robot interaction.

All objects in our solar system are build from matter synthesized in previous generations of stars. Using high-precision isotope measurements of neodymium and samarium, scientists from Münster (Germany), Chicago and Livermore (USA) have now found that Earth contains more material from red giant stars than primitive meteorites (chondrites) located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.