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Life Sciences - Chemistry - 01.02.2017

Basement membrane protein influences the connection of blood vessel cells: Tracking inflammatory processes / Study produced by researchers at Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence
Which molecular mechanisms are at work when, in the case of inflammation, immune cells migrate from the blood vessel into the tissue? Researchers at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence at Münster University have gained new insights into this question: the laminin 511 protein, that underlies endothelial cells that form the inner cell layer of the blood vessel wall, influences how permeable the vessel is for immune cells.

Life Sciences - Health - 27.01.2017

Antibodies as ‘messengers’ in the nervous system
Research news Antibodies are able to activate human nerve cells within milliseconds and hence modify their function - that is the surprising conclusion of a study carried out at Human Biology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). This knowledge improves our understanding of illnesses that accompany certain types of cancer, above all severe intestinal malfunctions.

Life Sciences - 25.01.2017

Sizing up spaces by ear
Humans can be trained to use echolocation to estimate the sizes of enclosed spaces. LMU researchers now show that the learning process involves close coordination between sensory and motor cortex. In principle, humans need not rely solely on vision for orientation. Some blind persons make use of self-generated sounds to estimate their position and orientation in an enclosed space relative to reflecting surfaces.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 16.01.2017

Take the mRNA train
Messenger RNAs bearing the genetic information for the synthesis of proteins are delivered to defined sites in the cell cytoplasm by molecular motors. LMU researchers have elucidated how the motors recognize their mRNA freight. Messenger RNAs carry the information for the assembly of proteins from the DNA in the cell nucleus to the sites of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm, and are crucial for cell function.

Health - Life Sciences - 06.01.2017

How ancestry shapes our immune cells
A genetic variant that is particularly prevalent in people of African ancestry confers protection against malaria. LMU researchers have now shown how it modulates the properties of white blood cells that play a major role in immune defenses and inflammation. Virtually the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa, and some 70% of African Americans, carry a gene variant (allele) which results in a trait referred to as Duffy-negative.

Health - Life Sciences - 03.01.2017

Tailoring individual therapies for Multiple Sclerosis
Research news A large global new partnership called 'MultipleMS', coordinated by Karolinska Institute in Sweden, has been awarded 15 million euro from the European Commission in the Horizon2020 program to find novel and better treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In this project, 21 universities and companies from Europe and the USA will unite efforts to tailor the development and application of therapies to the individual MS patient.

Life Sciences - Health - 03.01.2017

Stocking up on spare parts
LMU researchers show, for the first time, that the orientation of the plane of division of neural stem cells at a specific stage during embryonic development determines the capacity of the adult brain to replace nerve cells. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, but also strokes or other types of traumatic brain damage, result in the death of nerve cells in the brain.

Life Sciences - Social Sciences - 22.12.2016

How Social Factors Can Influence Hunting
Due to a shortage of natural predators, wild animal populations are often controlled through hunting. Whether a hunter shoots at an animal depends not only on specific hunting criteria, but is also significantly influenced by social factors - such as competition with other hunters. This was demonstrated in a study directed by Florian Diekert, economist at Heidelberg University.

Life Sciences - Health - 19.12.2016

An inhibitor’s inhibitor
An international team of researchers has shown why a standard treatment for the aggressive blood-cell cancer AML so often fails. The study uncovers a new biomarker that predicts the efficacy of the chemotherapy and identifies a new drug target. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer that is characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of certain types of white blood cells.

Life Sciences - Health - 16.12.2016

New key players found in fighting fungi
Research news Fungal infections are a serious health risk. They can be harmful especially to patients whose immune system is compromised through illness or chemotherapy. A team working at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has discovered an important mechanism in the body's defenses against fungi.

Health - Life Sciences - 15.12.2016

The needle in the haystack
Research news New cancer therapies harness the immune system to fight tumors. One of the main principles behind these therapies is to find out precisely which molecules on cancer cells trigger an immune response. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry has for the first time identified suitable protein structures directly from patients` tumor cells.

Health - Life Sciences - 14.12.2016

Early signs in cerebrospinal fluid
Little is known about the role of the brain's immune system in Alzheimer's disease. Researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Munich and the Munich site of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) have now found an early immune response in individuals with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's: their brain's showed abnormal immune reactions as early as about seven years before the expected onset of dementia.

Life Sciences - 08.12.2016

Stress leads to an internal reorganization of the body’s cells
A stressful job, trouble with the children and a near-empty bank account. When everything starts to get too much again, it can help to make a fresh start. If cells are under a lot of stress, for example as a result of injuries, they also undergo a fundamental reorganization. It's all about their cytoskeleton, which again and again forms new structures from many individual components in a highly flexible way, for example in order to support the cell or to transport molecular charges.

Life Sciences - Physics - 28.11.2016

New Regulator of Immune Reaction Discovered
Cells of the immune system can distinguish between protein molecules that are "self" and "non-self". ­For example, if we are exposed to pathogens such as bacteria or viruses that carry foreign molecules on their surface, the body reacts with an immune response. In contrast, cells are "tolerant" of the body's own molecules.

Earth Sciences - Life Sciences - 11.11.2016

Life on Land Began 300 Million Years Earlier Than Previously Thought
Geologists Found Traces of Microorganisms in Rock Layer Several Billions of Years Old / Findings Published in "Geology" ' 389/2016 from Nov 11, 2016 According to a recent study, life on Earth took hold on land at least 3.2 billion years ago - 300 million years earlier than previously thought.

Life Sciences - Mathematics - 10.11.2016

When Nerve Cells Detect Patterns for Acquired Knowledge
For observations based on sensory data, the human brain must constantly verify which "version" of reality underlies the perception. The answer is gleaned from probability distributions that are stored in the nerve cell network itself. The neurons are able to detect patterns that reflect acquired knowledge.

Life Sciences - Health - 10.11.2016

Münster researchers make ongoing inflammation in the human brain visible
The ultimate aim in biomedical research is the transfer of results from experiments carried out in animals to patients. Researchers at the Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence (CiM) at the University of Münster have succeeded in doing so. For the first time, they have been able to image ongoing inflammation in the brain of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS).

Life Sciences - Physics - 03.11.2016

Shaping up to make the cut
Research news Before RNA copies of genes can program the synthesis of proteins, the non-coding regions are removed by the spliceosome, a complex molecular machine. The correct regulation of the splicing plays a central role for many cellular processes. By means of nuclear spin measurements and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, a team of scientists has now discovered an unexpected mechanism in the assembly of the spliceosome.

Health - Life Sciences - 24.10.2016

How Does Friendly Fire Happen in the Pancreas?
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.

Life Sciences - Health - 18.10.2016

The key to pathogenicity
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.