News • Vaccination
Predicting mRNA degradation to improve vaccine stability
Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) as a therapeutic approach is gaining momentum due to its ability to be rapidly manufactured and its promising outcomes.
Search for: "biophysics" - 79 articles found
News • Appeal for sustainability
POCT: Why the medical sector must tackle its single-use diagnostic waste
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of these single-use diagnostics, or point-of-care tests has exploded. This is having major environmental consequences, experts point out.
Article • Tissue-engineered glioblastoma model
3D brain tumour in a dish to personalize cancer treatment
It is the size of a common pencil eraser, but it could have a huge impact on the therapy of glioblastoma: Scientists in Virginia have developed a novel 3D tissue-engineered model of the brain tumour microenvironment, which can be used to assess how the glioma cell invades healthy tissue, proliferates, and reacts to chemotherapy drugs.
News • Model system shows tumor grwoth
Novel organoid model for pancreatic cancer
Researchers in Munich have developed a novel model system that can be used to precisely track the growth steps and three-dimensional arrangement of pancreatic cancer cells.
News • Organ transplantation
Biofabrication: major step forward for building human heart
By recreating the helical structure of heart muscles, bioengineers improve understanding of how the heart beats.
News • Nanometer-scale imaging
Microscopy technique enables 3D super-resolution
Research team led by Göttingen University combine two techniques to achieve isotropic super-resolution imaging.
News • Not just for bitcoin
Blockchain can secure and store genomes
Blockchain is a digital technology that allows a secure and decentralized record of transactions. Now, researchers leveraged blockchain to give individuals control of their own genomes.
News • Cancer proliferation
3D tumour model to unveil metastasis mechanism
Model tumour systems could help explain whether pressure differences can push cancer cells into their surroundings – a basic mechanism behind metastasis.
News • New AI reveals
What is in our cells?
Artificial intelligence-based technique reveals previously unknown cell components that may provide new clues to human development and disease.
News • Organoid research
Structure formation in mini-organs
Many of the organ systems found in animals exhibit highly complex structures, which are essential for their various functions. How such structures develop during embryonic development is a central question in biology. Physicists led by Erwin Frey (Professor of Statistical and Biological Physics at LMU Munich) and Andreas Bausch (Professor of Cellular Biophysics at the Technical University of…
News • Potential for pan-variant therapies
SARS-CoV-2 might have a 'sugar coated' weak spot
Researchers identify two sugar-binding proteins that impede the viral entry of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. The team, spearheaded by researchers at IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences – may have found the “Achilles’ heel” of the virus, with potential for pan-variant therapeutic interventions. The findings are now published in the EMBO…
News • Mechanical inactivation
'Nano traps' to lock up and neutralize viruses
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. The strategy has already been tested against hepatitis and adeno-associated viruses in cell…
News • Building a coronavirus factory
How SARS-CoV-2 reprograms human cells to their own benefit
Coronavirus researchers under Prof. Rolf Hilgenfeld of the University of Lübeck and Dr. Albrecht von Brunn of the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich discovered how SARS viruses enhance the production of viral proteins in infected cells, so that many new copies of the virus can be generated. Other coronaviruses apart from SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 do not use this mechanism, thereby providing a…
News • Lipid research
Solving the sub-zero challenge of Covid-19 vaccines
New research by University of Texas at Dallas scientists could help solve a major challenge in the deployment of certain Covid-19 vaccines worldwide — the need for the vaccines to be kept at below-freezing temperatures during transport and storage. In a study published online in Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrate a new, inexpensive technique that generates crystalline…
News • HPV testing advances
Cervical cancer screening: Emerging tech to replace Pap smears
Emerging technologies can screen for cervical cancer better than Pap smears and, if widely used, could save lives both in developing nations and parts of countries, like the United States, where access to health care may be limited. In Biophysics Reviews, by AIP Publishing, scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital write advances in nanotechnology and computer learning are among the…
News • Physics of tumours
How cancer cells shape-shift to squeeze through tissue
Working with colleagues from Germany and the US, researchers at Leipzig University have achieved a breakthrough in research into how cancer cells spread. In experiments, the team of biophysicists led by Professor Josef Alfons Käs, Steffen Grosser and Jürgen Lippoldt demonstrated for the first time how cells deform in order to move in dense tumour tissues and squeeze past neighbouring cells. The…
News • Rescuing brain cell activity
Alzheimer's: Promising avenue to restore cognitive function
A team of neuroscientists has identified a potential means to address the loss of cognitive function due to Alzheimer’s disease by targeting protein synthesis in mice. Their findings, reported in the journal Science Signaling, reveal that synthetic pharmaceuticals could rescue the activity of brain cells needed for memory formation.
News • Virion recreated
First computational model of entire SARS-CoV-2 virus
Researchers at the University of Chicago have created the first usable computational model of the entire virus responsible for Covid-19—and they are making this model widely available to help advance research during the pandemic. “If you can understand how a virus works, that’s the first step towards stopping it,” said Prof. Gregory Voth, whose team created the model published in…
News • Radiation
Scientists recruit atomic heavyweights in fight against cancer
A promising approach to treating cancer—called targeted alpha-particle therapy or TAT—could better harness the curative power of radiation treatments and lessen the severity of their more debilitating side effects.
News • Brain rejuvenation
Drug reverses age-related mental decline within days
Just a few doses of an experimental drug can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists. The drug, called ISRIB, has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome, prevent noise-related hearing loss,…
News • Downsized imaging
Signals from a miniature MRI unit
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is indispensable in medical diagnostics. However, MRI units are large and expensive to acquire and operate. With smaller and cost-efficient systems, MRI would be more flexible and more people could benefit from the technique. Such miniature MRI units generate a much weaker signal that is difficult to analyze, though. Researchers at the Göttingen Max Planck…
Sponsored • Addressing a broad range of research applications
Mass spectrometry advances
Since the Covid-19 epidemic took hold, the public has expected ‘unprecedented progress from the scientific community,’ observed Dan Shine, senior vice president and president of the analytical instruments division of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. ‘A deeper analysis of proteins is critical to understanding disease, including novel viruses. New instruments, software and workflows can power…
Interview • International research collaboration
The Pan-Cancer project: Cancer development begins within the genes
Launched in 2011, the Pan-Cancer Project, involved more than 1,300 scientists and clinicians in 37 countries, and analysed more than 2,600 genomes of 38 tumour types. Discovery: The first indications of cancer development can be found in genes at a very early stage, which triggers new opportunities for treatment.
News • "Enhance that"
New algorithm sharpens focus of cryo-electron microscopes
Scientists have developed a tool that improves the resolution and accuracy of powerful microscopes that are used to reveal insights into biology and medicine. In a study published in Nature Methods, a multi-institutional team led by Tom Terwilliger from the New Mexico Consortium and including researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) demonstrates how a new computer…
News • Reduced complications, death
COVID-19: The benefits of vitamin D
Adequate levels of vitamin D reduces complications and deaths among COVID-19 patients, reveals new research performed at the Boston University School of Medicine. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were vitamin D sufficient, with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of at least 30 ng/mL (a measure of vitamin D status), had a significant decreased risk for adverse clinical outcomes including…
News • Anti-inflammation
Can special coatings reduce complications after implant surgery?
New coatings on implants could help make them more compatible. Researchers at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have developed a new method of applying anti-inflammatory substances to implants in order to inhibit undesirable inflammatory reactions in the body. Their study was recently published in the "International Journal of Molecular Sciences".
Article • Catching up with SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19 rapid response test kits – the race is fierce
To develop and manufacture COVID-19 test kits in massive quantities was not part of their 2020 business plans. Yet, as the epidemic evolved into a global pandemic, the urgent need for diagnostic and antibody SARS-CoV-2 test kits triggered an unprecedented scramble among medical manufacturers.
News • A look at oligodendrocytes
Parkinson’s disease may start in the gut
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of North Carolina have mapped out the cell types behind various brain disorders. The findings are published in Nature Genetics and offer a roadmap for the development of new therapies to target neurological and psychiatric disorders.
News • Cancer radiotherapy monitoring
Novel hydrogel turns pink to indicate radiation dose sweet spot
More than half of all cancer patients undergo radiation therapy and the dose is critical. Too much and the surrounding tissue gets damaged, too little and the cancer cells survive. Subhadeep Dutta and Karthik Pushpavanam, graduate students working in the lab of Kaushal Rege, Professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, and collaborators at Banner-M.D. Anderson in Gilbert, Arizona, developed a…
News • "Immune escape"
Cancer camouflage: how our immune system is duped
T cells play a huge role in our immune system's fight against modified cells in the body that can develop into cancer. Phagocytes and B cells identify changes in these cells and activate the T cells, which then start a full-blown program of destruction. This functions well in many cases – unless the cancer cells mutate and develop a kind of camouflage that let them escape the immune system…
News • Bacterial battle
Designing drugs that cure Clostridium difficile
A newly published paper details a research breakthrough that provides a promising starting point for scientists to create drugs that can cure Clostridium difficile (C. diff) — a virulent health care-associated infection that causes severe diarrhea, nausea, internal bleeding, and potentially death. The bacteria affects roughly half-a-million Americans and causes nearly 15,000 deaths in the U.S.…
News • Molecular diversity
New insights into abnormal proteins in Parkinson’s disease and MSA
Parkinson’s and multisystem atrophy (MSA) – both of them neurodegenerative diseases – are associated with the accumulation of alpha-synuclein proteins in the brain. Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (MPI-BPC) have investigated the molecular makeup of these protein deposits finding structural…
News • Endoprothesis treatment
"Smart" implant coatings to nip infections in the bud
A material that is particularly toxic when bacteria are present in its environment? Physicists from the University of Augsburg, together with colleagues from Hamburg and Munich, have developed just such an "smart" coating. In the future, it could help prevent complications in the healing of endoprostheses. The coating also offers further advantages: It is extremely wear-resistant and…
Sponsored • GERICARE research programme
Evaluating the benefits of point-of-care ultrasound for geriatric medicine
Dr Nicolas Azulay is a general medicine doctor specialising in scheduled and emergency ultrasound examinations at the University Hospitals of Nice, where he works at the Pasteur II and Cimiez hospitals. As part of the clinical research programme GERICARE, he recently studied the impact of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) assessment of patients admitted to the short-stay geriatric unit at Cimiez,…
News • In the skin
New 'pain organ' discovered
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered a new sensory receptor organ that is able to detect painful mechanical damage, such as pricks and impacts. The discovery is being published in the scientific journal Science. Pain causes suffering and results in substantial costs for society. Almost one person in every five experiences constant pain and there is a considerable need to…
Video • New treatment options
Unlocking the secrets of cell communication
Portland State University (PSU) researchers have made a significant breakthrough by developing the 3-D structure of proteins from inside the eye lens that control how cells communicate with each other, which could open the door to treating diseases such as cataracts, stroke and cancer. The PSU research team, led by chemistry professor Steve Reichow, used a multimillion-dollar microscope and a…
News • Early diagnosis
New blood test detects early stage ovarian cancer
Research on a bacterial toxin first discovered in Adelaide has led to the development a new blood test for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer - a disease which kills around 150,000 women globally each year.
Article • Data handling
Blockchain: “Hype will fade but the technology will remain”
A new dimension in data handling is not only emerging, but is already a reality in our lives. However, political discourse about this often lags behind real events. We spoke with two experts who have an overview of clouds, decentralised data flows and the evaluation of personal data with IT help in various areas. Engineer Professor Alexandra Dmitrienko is a Secure Software Systems expert at the…
News • Neural development
Why our brains fold the way they do
Everyone knows what our brains look like – but why is it folded up like that? Looking at other species reveals much less folding or even none at all. Scientists in Dresden, Germany, have now taken a closer look at the ridges and grooves of human brains. They discovered what causes our brains to fold – and what happens when the folding process goes wrong.
News • Oncology
Malaria drug could make cancer treatments more effective
An existing malaria drug could improve the effectiveness of a new class of cancer therapies, called glutaminase inhibitors, if used in combination, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) discovered in a new study.
Article • An era of turbulence and innovation
The birth and rebirth of imaging
The New Horizons Lecture at the RSNA annual meeting is a keynote address that looks to the future, and the inventor of a major innovation in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, Daniel K Sodickson MD PhD, did just that. His lecture entitled ‘A New Light: The Birth and Rebirth of Imaging’ looked back at how MRI has evolved and forward at what it will become.
News • Mitosis' structure
Understanding the inside of cancer cells
Cell division is an intricately choreographed ballet of proteins and molecules that divide the cell. During mitosis, microtubule-organizing centers (MTOCs) assemble the spindle fibers that separate the copying chromosomes of DNA. While scientists are familiar with MTOCs’ existence and the role they play in cell division, their actual physical structure remains poorly understood. Shruthi…
Article • AEC syndrome
Cause of severe genetic disease identified
Mutations in the p63 protein lead to a number of disorders, but none is as severe as the AEC syndrome. Scientists at Goethe University Frankfurt in collaboration with a research group from the University of Naples Federico II have now discovered that this syndrome resembles diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or ALS more closely than it does other p63-based syndromes. Their results,…
News • Research
Experimental drug interferes with Alzheimer’s mechanisms
The chemical compound “anle138b” eases cognitive deficits and normalizes gene expression in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, the drug seems to close harmful openings in the membrane of nerve cells. An international collaboration reports these findings in the journal “EMBO Molecular Medicine”. The scientists suggest that anle138b should be validated in clinical trials…
News • Study
Relaxing proteins may prevent dysfunction and disease
For many years, we thought that all proteins must fold into complicated shapes to fulfill their functions, looking like thousands of sets of custom-tailored locks and keys. But over the past two decades, scientists have begun to realize other proteins—including those involved in many essential cellular functions—remain fully or partially unfolded for parts of their lives. Out of this…
Video • Cell signals
Wound healing: more complex than you think
In a sharp and pointy world, wound healing is a critical and marvelous process. Despite a tremendous amount of scientific study, many outstanding mysteries still surround the way in which cells in living tissue respond to and repair physical damage. One prominent mystery is exactly how wound-healing is triggered: A better understanding of this process is essential for developing new and improved…
Article • Light microscopy
An image is worth a thousand words
Light microscopy today offers a wealth of techniques that provide fascinating insights into life on subcellular level. “In light microscopy these days there are so many new techniques that each of us can only handle a subset of them,” says Christian Tischer, scientific officer in der Advanced Light Microscopy Facility of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany,…
Article • Neurology
The 3-D printed brain tumour
3-D printed tumour-like constructs will be used by a research team at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, to raise research to a new level and successfully lead to new treatment options.
Article • Contrast enhancement
Sonic boom with bubbles
Illuminating blood vessels, opening the blood-brain barrier and delivering drugs. What will be the next big thing that tiny microbubbles can do?
News • Microscopy
Watching molecular machines at work
When one cell divides into two - that is how all forms of life are propagated - the newly born daughter cells have to be equipped with everything they will need in their tiny lives. Most important of all is that they inherit a complete copy of the genetic information from their mother cell. If this is not the case because a wrong number of chromosomes – on which the genetic information is…
Article • Early warning
Blood test detects early Alzheimer’s
The cause of Alzheimer’s disease remains unknown. Early diagnosis is currently not possible as clinical symptoms only occur once a large number of neurones in the brain have already been destroyed. There is no treatment available either.
News • Bacteria
Revolutionary antibiotics will save the world
An international team of including the Lomonosov Moscow State University researchers discovered which enzyme enables Escherichia coli bacterium (E. coli) to breathe.
Suitable protein tags for nanoscopy
Scientists of the Göttingen Cluster of Excellence CNMPB and the EMBL describe efficient fluorescence tag for super-resolution microscopy.
News • Biophysic
What happens when red blood cells "wriggle"
For the first time, and using physical methods, scientists have demonstrated how red blood cells move. They recognized that fast molecules in the vicinity make the cell membrane in the blood cells wriggle – but that the cells themselves also become active when they have enough reaction time.
Article • Scanner
The world’s first digital clinical path lab
The field is so new that the annual Digital Pathology Congress (3-4 December in London) was held for only the second time. Yet, Philips Healthcare could announce a world-first – in partnership with the Netherlands-based LabPON, the company has created the first clinical pathology laboratory to be completely converted to digital diagnosis.
News • Research
Drug engineered from bananas fights deadly viruses
A banana a day may not keep the doctor away, but a substance originally found in bananas and carefully edited by scientists could someday fight off a wide range of viruses, new research suggests. And the process used to create the virus-fighting form may help scientists develop even more drugs, by harnessing the “sugar code” that our cells use to communicate. That code gets hijacked by…
News • Toolkit
Microchip helps to visualize breast cancer proteins
A photograph may reveal how something looks, but direct observation can divulge how the objects behave. The difference can mean life or death, especially when it comes to fighting human disease. To help researchers examine exactly how human diseases work at the molecular level, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientist Deborah Kelly has developed a new set of tools to peer into the…
Article • MR vs. biopsy
MRI technique could reduce need for breast biopsies
A magnetic resonance (MR) breast imaging technique that uses no ionizing radiation or contrast agent could reduce unnecessary biopsies by providing additional information about suspicious findings on X-ray screening mammography, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.
News • Fighting AIDS
Targeting HIV in semen to shut down AIDS
There may be two new ways to fight AIDS -- using a heat shock protein or a small molecule – to attack fibrils in semen associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the initial phases of infection, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Researchers grow cardiac tissue on “spider silk” substrate
Genetically engineered fibers of the protein spidroin, which is the construction material for spider webs, has proven to be a perfect substrate for cultivating heart tissue cells, MIPT researchers found. They discuss their findings in an article that has recently come out in the journal PLOS ONE.
Long-standing mystery in membrane traffic solved
Researchers discovered that NSF unravels a single SNARE complex using one round ATP turnover by tearing the complex with a single burst, contradicting a previous theory that it unwinds in a processive manner.
Article • Cold plasma
Treatment out of a power socket
Electricity is not the only thing that should come out of an electrical socket; ideally so should cold atmospheric plasma, according to Dr Georg Daeschlein, at the Dermatology Department, University of Greifswald, who has investigated its medical properties for years. Report: Ralf Mateblowski
Giant virus revealed in 3-D using X-ray laser
For the first time, researchers have produced a 3-D image revealing part of the inner structure of an intact, infectious virus, using a unique X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The virus, called Mimivirus, is in a curious class of “giant viruses” discovered just over a decade ago.
Mobile IT has a place within radiology
Workstations and desktops may still be around in future hospitals – will be of clear benefit to medics in a large variety of medical applications.
Key Trends in Technology for Diagnostics and Therapy in/from China
Improving access to care still is a key goal of the Chinese national government. Broadening insurance coverage and supplying diagnostic devices as well as IT-based communication tools, in particular to the needy rural care providers, are major elements of the campaign for modernization.
Medical research in France
Since its creation three years ago, the French National Alliance for Health and Life Sciences (Aviesan) has proved its full worth in scientific coordination, Annick Chapoy reports from Paris
New tracers and hybrid systems enhance applications for SPECT
Although most nuclear medical examinations using SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) take place beyond hospitals, two to three times more SPECT exams than PET-CT exams are carried out within hospitals.
CIED patients can have MRI examinations
A new generation of cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) includes the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Defibrillator (CRT-Ds) and Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Pacemakers (CRT-Ps). Professor W R Bauer at University Hospital Würzburg has been significantly involved in their development, EH Editor Ralf Mateblowski to ask him about…
A heart for jellyfish
In a paper published in ”Nature Biotechnology” on the 22nd of July of 2012 Harvard researchers explain how making a jellyfish from rat DNA can help to solve cardiac problems.
Breast imaging in 2025
A leading radiologist is forecasting a ‘paradigm shift’ in breast imaging. Dr Peter Brader, from Department of Radiology, Division for Molecular and Gender Imaging, Medical University Vienna, envisages that diagnosis and treatment will move from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to one of personalised molecular medicine by 2025. He also foresees greater use of theranostics with combinations…
The ultra-high-field MRI symposium
Early problems of ultra-high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have been overcome by successful development of adequate hardware. In consequence big efforts have been achieved in structural imaging, as well in functional imaging. Basic scientists and physicians who work in ultra-high-field MRI in Europe and the USA, met at the Berlin Ultra-high-field Facility (BUFF), in the Max Dehlbrück…
GE develops novel imaging technology
A novel molecular imaging technology aimed at rapid diagnosis of cell death in organs such as the brain and heart has been licensed by The Medical College of Wisconsin, USA, to GE Healthcare. The method uses imaging probes with a radiopharmaceutical compound. Under the license GE will further evaluate and develop the technology and will have an option to commercialize it.
Eröffnung des Heidelberger Ionenstrahl-Therapiezentrums (HIT)
Am 2. November wurde das Heidelberger Ionenstrahl-Therapiezentrum (HIT) feierlich eröffnet. Die am GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt entwickelte Krebstherapie steht nun erstmals im Routinebetrieb einer großen Patientenzahl zur Verfügung. Bislang wurden Patienten ausschließlich am Therapieplatz bei GSI behandelt. Die Therapie mit Ionenstrahlen…
Russia's continuing laser medicine advances
For the past 30 years, in the former USSR and Russia, laser medicine has been actively developed and regular annual conferences have opened new avenues for its use by the country's doctors.
euHeart
Royal Philips Electronics is to lead `euHeart´, the new European Union (EU) funded research project that aims to improve CVD diagnosis, therapy planning and treatment.
Genes that controll ES-cell fate identified
Scientists have identified about two dozen genes that control embryonic stem cell fate. The genes may either prod or restrain stem cells from drifting into a kind of limbo, they suspect. The limbo lies between the embryonic stage and fully differentiated, or specialized, cells, such as bone, muscle or fat.
Top-Class scientific lectures and lively discussions in Heidelberg
Four times a year, the “Leica Scientific Forum — Advances in Life Science” offers top-class lectures, with eminently respectable speakers in the field of medicine like Noble prize winner Professor Dr. Erwin Neher from the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, who was guest speaker at the last Forum this year on December 5. The Forum – which takes place in Heidelberg…
Molecular MRI
By Dr Fabian Kiessling, Head of the Division of Molecular Imaging, Department of Biophysics and Medical Radiation Physics, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ)
Perinatal medicine
Interview with Prof. Klaus Vetter MD, director of the Obestetrics Clinic at the Perinatal Centre, Vivantes Hospital Neukölln, Berlin, Germany.