Immune response stronger than after two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine People under the age of 60 who initially received a vaccine from AstraZeneca should be given an mRNA vaccine at their second appointment. This is recommended by the German Standing Committee on Vaccination. However, up until now, there were no data available to indicate to what extent the human organism would react to such a mix-and-match vaccination and start to form antibodies.

International research team shows that protein from microbes uses a fraction of the resources of conventional farming Microbes have played a key role in our food and drinks - from cheese to beer - for millennia but their impact on our nutrition may soon become even more important. The world is facing growing food challenges as the human population continues to increase alongside its demand for resource intensive animal products.

Some cases of bloodstream infections are mild, but many have a fatal outcome - the reasons for these differences have remained in the dark despite decades of research. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence "Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections" (CMFI), the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine Tübingen (IMIT) at the University of Tübingen and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have now discovered a possible cause and on this basis developed a new experimental strategy to combat bacterial sepsis.

A team of German and American researchers from Augsburg, Münster, Edmonton, West Lafayette and Munich have detected the rolling movement of a nano-acoustic wave predicted by the famous physicist and Nobel prize-winner Lord Rayleigh in 1885. In a study published in the journal "Science Advances", the researchers use a nanowire inside which electrons are forced onto circular paths by the spin of the acoustic wave.

07/29/2021 In the fruit fly Drosophila, a hormone helps to balance rest and activity. This is shown by a new study of a research team led by the University of Würzburg. Might humans have a hormone with comparable function? Searching for food, eating, resting: in rough terms, this is the rhythm of life that many animals follow.

The attachment of the small protein ubiquitin to other proteins (ubiquitination) regulates numerous biological processes, including signal transduction and metabolism / Scientists at the University of Cologne discover the link to aging and longevity / Publication in 'Nature'. Scientists have discovered that the protein ubiquitin plays an important role in the regulation of the aging process.

Researchers investigate which material properties support vessel formation / Study published in the journal "Nature Communications" Using lab-created tissue to heal or replace damaged organs is one of the great visions for the future of medicine. Synthetic materials could be suitable as scaffolding for tissue because, unlike natural tissues, they remain stable in the organism long enough for the body to form new natural structures.

The dosage of broadly neutralizing antibodies determines the ability for virus replication / findings can contribute to design HIV therapy that can durably suppress the virus A Cologne-based research collaboration has found a way to predict the effect of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) on the growth rate of HIV-1.

An interdisciplinary group of scientists from the universities of Cologne, Koblenz, Tübingen, and Stuttgart has studied the characteristics determining the maximum running speed in animals. The model they developed explains why humans cannot keep up with the fastest sprinters in the animal kingdom. Based on these calculations, the giant spider Shelob from 'The Lord of the Rings' would have reached a maximum speed of 60 km/h.

65,000 years ago Neanderthal from the Swabian Jura hunted horses and reindeer with hafted leaf-shaped stone points. A newly discovered leaf point from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hohle Fels Cave documents the evolution of hunting. A team under the direction of Professor Nicholas Conard for the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment in southern Germany recovered the artifact underlying a layer dating to 65,000 years ago, which represents a minimum age for the find.

Heidelberg chemists succeed in producing synthesis and complete characterisation for the first time Silicon, a semi-metal, bonds in its natural form with four other elements and its three-dimensional structure takes the form of a tetrahedron. For a long time, it seemed impossible to achieve the synthesis and characterisation of a two-dimensional equivalent - geometrically speaking, a square.

Göttingen researchers create new kind of environmentally friendly bioplastic with hydroplastic polymers Plastics offer many benefits to society and are widely used in our daily life: they are lightweight, cheap and adaptable. However, the production, processing and disposal of plastics are simply not sustainable, and pose a major global threat to the environment and human health.

Ten years of data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory combined with numerical models reveal the deep low musical notes of the Sun   (mps) A team of solar physicists led by Professor Laurent Gizon of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) and the University of Göttingen in Germany has reported the discovery of global oscillations of the Sun with very long periods, comparable to the 27-day solar rotation period.

Why identical mutations cause different types of cancer Why do alterations of certain genes cause cancer only in specific organs of the human body? Scientists have now demonstrated that cells originating from different organs are differentially susceptible to activating mutations in cancer drivers: The same mutation in precursor cells of the pancreas or the bile duct leads to fundamental different outcomes.

07/19/2021 Centaurus A, one of the closest active galaxies to Earth, belongs to the brightest objects in the sky. An international team has now imaged the heart of Centaurus A in unprecedented detail. Scientists from the University of Würzburg were involved. An international team around the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, known for capturing the first image of a black hole in the galaxy M87, has now imaged the heart of the nearby radio galaxy Centaurus A in unprecedented detail.

Measurements of biomechanical properties inside living cells require minimally invasive methods. Optical tweezers are particularly attractive as a tool. It uses the momentum of light to trap and manipulate microor nanoscale particles. A team of researchers led by Cornelia Denz from the University of Münster has now developed a simplified method to perform the necessary calibration of the optical tweezers in the system under investigation.

Hollow nano-objects made of DNA could trap viruses and render them harmless To date, there are no effective antidotes against most virus infections. An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed a new approach: they engulf and neutralize viruses with nano-capsules tailored from genetic material using the DNA origami method.

Göttingen researchers investigate effect of non-human conversation partners in customer services   More and more companies are using chatbots in customer services. Due to advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, chatbots are often indistinguishable from humans when it comes to communication.

07/14/2021 The characteristics of plants of the same species can have different genetic causes depending on their origin. This is shown by a recent study at the University of Würzburg. What the fruit fly is to zoologists, the thale cress is to botanists. The widespread herb with the botanical name Arabidopsis thaliana serves them as a model organism from which knowledge can be gained for other plants.

Tracking future forest fires with AI As temperatures rise, the risk of devastating forest fires is increasing. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are using artificial intelligence to estimate the long-term impact that an increased number of forest fires will have on forest ecosystems.