Researchers at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel have developed a new technique using nanobodies. Employing the so-called “Morphotrap”, the distribution of the morphogen Dpp, which plays an important role in wing development, could be selectively manipulated and analyzed for the first time in the fruit fly. The results of the study have been published in the current issue of “Nature”.
This year the European Molecular Biology Organization EMBO has again selected two scientists from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel to become “EMBO Young Investigators”. Prof. Marek Basler and Prof. Clemens Cabernard are two from a total of 23 scientists from around Europe who, as talented scientists, will participate in the “EMBO Young Investigator program”.
Tuberculosis bacteria employ an unusual strategy. They present themselves to the immune system in a constant shape. Their antigenic variation is low what provokes a severe immune response. As a consequence, the bacteria enter the lungs from where they are easily transmitted from humans to humans by coughing.
This edition of “Uni-Ein-Blicke” takes us behind the scenes of the Basel Mission (today Mission 21) and its archives – an important resource for research at the University of Basel. This year, the mission is celebrating its 200-year anniversary. The guided tour is open to all employees and students of the University of Basel and takes place October 27 in German and English.
The international research project ‘imagineTrains’ studies perceptions, ideas, and problems that decision makers and passengers associate with rail as a mode of transport.
Our innate immune system rapidly eliminates invading pathogens. When a pathogen is detected in the body, the “inflammasome” protein complex initiates the defense response of the immune cells. By combining two high-resolution methods, researchers from the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have now determined the atomic structure of an important part of the inflammasome.
Researchers at the University of Basel have succeeded in building protein gates for artificial nano-vesicles that become transparent only under specific conditions. The gate responds to certain pH values, triggering a reaction and releasing active agents at the desired location.
One in four young people have experienced chronic pain and a mental disorder. According to a new report in the Journal of Pain, the onset of pain is often preceded by mental disorders: an above-average rate of incidence of depression, anxiety disorders, and behavioral disorders occurs before the onset of headaches, back pain and neck pain.
In 2013, an Indian TV channel named Venki Ramakrishnan one of the “25 greatest global living Indians”. On 13th October, 2015, the structural biologist and Nobel Prize laureate will visit the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. As a part of the Biozentrum Lectures series, the scientist will talk about the structure and function of the ribosome.