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Researchers from the University of Bonn are using an innovative method to watch immune receptors go about their business Immune cells are capable of detecting infections just like a sniffer dog, using special sensors known as Toll-like receptors, or TLRs for short. But what signals activate TLRs, and what is the relationship between the scale and nature of this activation and the substance being detected? In a recent study, researchers from the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) used an innovative method to answer these questions.

A team of biologists from the University of Münster has investigated whether and how the immune system can influence the behaviour of sticklebacks It's a well-known fact that if you don't get enough sleep, you're more likely to get sick. And it has also been observed that people sleep differently when they're infected.

Researchers from Bonn uncover how tiny eye movements and the density of our photoreceptors aid in sharp vision Our ability to see starts with the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in our eyes. A specific region of the retina, termed fovea, is responsible for sharp vision. Here, the color-sensitive cone photoreceptors allow us to detect even the smallest details.

Head and neck cancers are among the ten most common cancers worldwide. Head and neck tumors account for about three to five percent of all cancers, with squamous cell carcinomas being the predominant form. They occur in areas such as the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx. An international team of researchers led by Sara Wickström has now developed a new technique that allows the properties of cancer cells and their surrounding tissue to be analyzed in detail at the single-cell level.

Mushrooms come in a breathtaking variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Especially in autumn, mushroom hunters swarm into the forests to find the tastiest of them, prepare them in a variety of ways and eat them with relish. However, it is well known that there are also poisonous mushrooms among them, and it is vital to distinguish between them.

News from Researchers at Leipzig University have examined the complex relationships between obesity, social isolation and mental health in the German adult population. Their findings show that socially isolated obese people are at increased risk of mental illness. Particularly at risk are the elderly, the widowed and men of lower socio-economic status.

New imaging data reveal that the follicle expands, contracts, and finally releases the egg Approximately 400 times in a woman's life, a mature egg makes the -leap. It is released into the fallopian tube, ready for fertilization by the sperm. Researchers led by Melina Schuh, Christopher Thomas, and Tabea Lilian Marx from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences have now succeeded in visualizing the entire process of ovulation in mouse follicles in real-time.

Psychopathic people have great difficulty or are even unable to show empathy and regulate their emotions. According to a new study by Matthias Burghart, a Max Planck researcher in Freiburg, this could be because these people suffer from alexithymia, also known as emotional blindness. The term alexithymia is an amalgam of the Greek prefix a- (without) and the words lexis (reading) and thymos (emotion).

Chemicals are omnipresent today: they enter our bodies through food, air or the skin. But how do these complex mixtures of chemicals affect our health? In a study published in the journal Science, a research team from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Tübingen has shown that chemicals that occur in complex mixtures and in concentration ratios as found in humans act together.

First mRNA stabilizing substance could open new ways in the development of innovative mRNA therapeutics   mRNA-based therapeutics and vaccines are the new hope in the fight against incurable diseases. A commonly used strategy in the development of messenger RNA ( mRNA) medicine is based on the destruction of disease-causing mRNA.

Just a matter of the head? Not at all: Psychologist Dr. Barbara Schmidt from Jena University Hospital investigated the influence of hypnosis on our physical performance in a study now published in the journal "Scientific Reports". The results showed that hypnosis can not only increase the subjective feeling of strength, but also objective strength - with long-lasting effects.

In Germany, around 17,000 people are diagnosed with gastric cancer every year. The disease is one of the leading causes of tumour-related deaths. This is due to late diagnosis and the rapid spread of tumour cells throughout the body. In two international clinical trials, a team of scientists involving the University of Leipzig Medical Center have investigated a drug that can prolong patients' survival.

Current findings from a Jena-Zurich research project form an important basis for the creation of artificial symbioses with specific properties that could be used for biotechnological applications in the future. For example, they could be used in Medicine, agriculture or environmental technology to protect plants against illnesses or to modify fungi so that they produce certain enzymes or active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Researchers at the University of Leipzig Medical Center have deciphered a new mechanism that plays a central role in the development of diabetic kidney disease. Their study focuses on a coagulation protein. It can be detected in urine samples from patients in the early stages of the disease and can be used as a diagnostic marker.

Researchers are breeding protein-rich rice varieties that cause minimal increase in blood sugar levels Rice is a staple food for over four billion people. By nature, it contains a lot of carbohydrates but very little protein. A team of researchers from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, Germany, has now identified the genes that control the carbohydrate composition and protein content of rice.

Researchers from Bonn and Aachen elucidate the role of individual brain neurons in human odor perception We often only realize how important our sense of smell is when it is no longer there: food hardly tastes good, or we no longer react to dangers such as the smell of smoke. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the University of Aachen have investigated the neuronal mechanisms of human odor perception for the first time.

Genome instability can cause numerous diseases. Cells have effective DNA repair mechanisms at their disposal. A research team at the University of Würzburg has now gained new insights into the DNA damage response. Whenever cells divide, there is a high risk of damage to the genetic material. After all, the cell has to duplicate its entire genetic material and copy billions of genetic letters before it divides.

Bonn researchers reclassify leading gene variants, a large proportion of them as benign The genetic confirmation of a suspected diagnosis of "hereditary colorectal cancer" is of great importance for the medical care of affected families. However, many of the variants identified in the known genes cannot yet be reliably classified in terms of their causal role in tumor formation.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin (MPIMG) and the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna have discovered a potential "pause button" in the earliest stages of human development. Whether humans can control the timing of their development has long been debated.

Bonn researchers use nanobodies to elucidate pore formation by gasdermin D in cell membranes The formation of pores by a particular protein, gasdermin D, plays a key role in inflammatory reactions. During its activation, an inhibitory part is split off. More than 30 of the remaining protein fragments then combine to form large pores in the cell membrane, which allow the release of inflammatory messengers.