The proteins of SARS-CoV-2 play key roles in how the virus manages to evade immune defense and replicate itself in patients’ cells. An international research team – with significant contribution from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) – has now compiled the most detailed view of the virus' protein structures available to date. The analysis employing artificial intelligence methods has revealed surprising findings.
Scientists have long been aware of a link between the gut microbiome and the central nervous system (CNS). Until now, however, the immune cells that move from the gut into the CNS and thus the brain had not been identified. A team of researchers in Munich has now succeeded in using violet light to make these migrating T cells visible for the first time. This opens up avenues for developing new treatment options for diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and cancer.
Against infections, tumours and inflammations, immune cells are locally positioned as rapid reaction forces in the organs of the body. On site, they specialise and take on various tasks.
Soap molecules reversibly open specific channel proteins in bacteria. These channels are also interesting from a medical point of view, as they are part of the defense mechanisms of bacteria. A Würzburg research group published these results in the renowned journal PNAS.
In Kulmbach, researchers are working on the food of the future. Prof. Dr. Susanne Baldermann is studying the metabolism of plants and drawing conclusions for a future agriculture that will no longer be restricted to rural areas: "Vertical Farming" in urban areas as a reaction to climate change and soil scarcity is one of the research fields of the Professor of Food Metabolome at the University of Bayreuth's new Faculty of Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition and Health located in Kulmbach.
T cells play a decisive role in fighting the coronavirus and preventing infected individuals from becoming seriously ill. They identify and fight the virus directly within the infected cells. A team of researchers working in Munich have produced a precise profile of the T cells that respond to SARS-CoV-2 and described them at various stages of the illness. This novel methodological approach may in the future also help to assess the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines or in the development of T cell-based treatments for serious cases.
Why people suffer from chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as ulcerative colitis is only partially understood. However, it is known that the bacteria of the intestinal flora and dysfunction in the immune system play an important role. In patients with IBD, an increased number of cells in the intestinal wall, known as epithelial cells, die. Bacteria then pass from the interior of the intestine into the damaged intestinal wall, causing inflammation and further cell death. The epithelial barrier, the barrier between the intestinal contents and the intestinal wall also becomes more permeable.
It all started with joint pain and a red facial rash: the then 16-year-old Thu-Thao V had already undergone several medical examinations in three cities when she was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in February 2017 at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen. In the life-threatening autoimmune disease, which mainly affects young women, the immune system attacks its own cells in various organ systems. After different immunosuppressive therapies failed to improve her symptoms, Thu-Thao V was treated with CAR-T cells by researchers from the German Centre for Immunotherapy (DZI) at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen in March 2021.
When the immune system attacks a person’s own intestines, this leads to chronic inflammation and considerable pain and discomfort for patients suffering from the disease. Together with researchers from the US and France, a team of researchers at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has discovered a potential new approach to treatment. The results have been published in the journal Gastroenterology.
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 cultures. It may also prove successful against corona viruses.
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