The pneumonia causing pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa has developed a twin-track strategy to colonize its host. It generates two different cells – motile spreaders and virulent stickers. Researchers at the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have now elucidated how the germ attaches to tissue within seconds and consecutively spreads. Just like the business model: settling – growing – expanding.
Buruli ulcer is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) resulting in debilitating skin lesions and disabilities. The current antibiotic treatment is long and has severe adverse side effects. Researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), which is associated with the University of Basel, together with colleagues from Singapore have discovered a highly effective compound against Buruli ulcer. This compound has the potential to become a powerful alternative to the existing treatment options, as the researchers report in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications.
Researchers from the University of Basel have reported a new method that allows the physical state of just a few atoms or molecules within a network to be controlled. It is based on the spontaneous self-organization of molecules into extensive networks with pores about one nanometer in size. In the journal small, the physicists reported on their investigations, which could be of particular importance for the development of new storage devices.
This year’s Ružička Prize has been awarded to Christof Sparr, Assistant Professor
at the University of Basel. The 38-year-old chemist was honored for his outstanding achievements in the development of new synthesis methods.
A widely used diabetes medication combined with an antihypertensive drug specifically inhibits tumor growth – this was discovered by researchers from the University of Basel’s Biozentrum two years ago. In a follow-up study, recently published in “Cell Reports”, the scientists report that this drug cocktail induces cancer cell death by switching off their energy supply.
Professor Georg Holländer and Professor Sai Reddy will head the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health.
On 1 January 2019, the UNIcard of the University of Basel will replace the current employee ID and the paper student ID. The new identity card is made of plastic, in credit card format and will be gradually equipped with applications.
For his achievements in cancer research, the cell biologist Prof. Michael N. Hall, from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, has been awarded the Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize 2019. The Prize Ceremony will take place on January 31, 2019, during the international Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Symposium in Zurich.
On Friday, 30 November 2018, the University of Basel held a traditional ceremony to celebrate its Dies Academicus – for the 558th time. The writer Hansjörg Schneider and the blockchain developer Vitalik Buterin were made honorary doctors along with the hospice founder Verena Grether, the medical engineer Robert Riener, the federal judge Thomas Stadelmann, the neuroscientist Thomas R. Insel, the theologian Hans-Martin Barth, and the illustrator Armin Coray. The Alumni Prize was awarded to the economist Beatrice Weder di Mauro.