Receptor proteins serve as the “eyes and ears” of the cell. The largest receptor family are the so-called G protein-coupled receptors. They respond to highly diverse stimuli ranging from photons to hormones and odorants. Researchers at the University of Basel have discovered a unique recognition pattern that works like a barcode and tags the receptor for desensitization. By this mechanism, signaling in cells is rapidly switched off when it is no longer needed.
Lorenza Mondada, Professor of French and General Linguistics at the University of Basel, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki in recognition of her scholarly work.
Nanomedicine involves packaging drugs in microscopic particles to make them more effective. Nanopharmacy professor Scott McNeil explains the opportunities presented by the new technology and what is still holding it back: approval procedures, for example, as seen in the inconsistent approach taken with the Covid-19 vaccines.
For the fifth time, the University of Basel has recognized outstanding achievements in the field of teaching with the Teaching Excellence Awards. Participation was strong: altogether, a total of 549 nominations of 213 lecturers were submitted in the five categories.
In March 2022, Microsoft published research results about the realisation of a special type of particle that might be used to make particularly robust quantum bits. Researchers at the University of Basel are now calling these results about so-called Majorana particles into doubt: through calculations they have shown that the findings can also be explained differently.
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed an efficient method for the preparation of therapeutic nanovesicles, thereby fulfilling a key prerequisite for industrial production. The method also paves the way for research into areas such as immunotherapy treatments for cancer.
Rare diseases are often caused by defects in genetic material. If children inherit only a defective gene from one parent, they often are asymptomatic “carriers” – or at least that was the previous assumption. However, a research team from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel is now reporting that such carriers can also suffer from life-threatening diseases – and that rare hereditary diseases are therefore probably more common than previously thought.
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a new approach for a vaccine against COVID-19. This vaccine is based on a modified coronavirus that can enter body cells and trigger an effective immune response but cannot multiply in the body. In animal studies, the vaccine effectively protected against the disease and even prevented virus transmission. Clinical trials in humans are to follow.
Every day, millions of cells die in our body. Other than generally assumed, cells do not simply burst at the end of their lives but rather, a specific protein serves as a breaking point for cell membrane rupture. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to elucidate the exact mechanism at the atomic level. They have published their results in “Nature”.
