Heidelberg scientists unveil genetic programmes controlling the development of cellular diversity in the cerebellum of humans and other mammals. The research results have now been published in the journal Nature.

The progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) can usually be slowed down with medication, but a cure is currently not possible. It is now established that Epstein-Barr viruses are involved in the development of MS. However, it is not known how the pathogens trigger the disease. The European Union is now funding the international research consortium BEHIND-MS as part of its HORIZON Europe program.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancers in humans. Chemotherapies attack not only the tumor cells but also healthy cells throughout the body. Innovative nanoparticles could be a new approach to treat cancer more precisely. The approach was developed by a research team from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences, the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Augmented reality for visual orientation - 15/11/2023

Fall prevention with the help of balance-enhancing AR glasses

As we age, our eyesight deteriorates and we have increasing difficulties with orientation. This can lead to balance problems and fatal falls. A team led by Dr. Lorenz Assländer from the University of Konstanz is currently developing a prototype of augmented reality (AR) glasses that use superimposed patterns to facilitate visual orientation in space, thereby helping to improve balance control and prevent falls.

All cancer cells - even those within the same tumor - differ from each other and change over the course of a cancer disease. Scientists at Heidelberg University Hospital, the Medical Faculty in Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center discovered molecular changes in multiple myeloma that help individual cancer cells to survive therapy.

Nanoparticles as drug carriers - 09/11/2023

Inhalation of nanocarriers for antibiotics against resistant tuberculosis pathogens

Around ten million people worldwide still contract tuberculosis every year. With an estimated 1.4 million deaths a year, tuberculosis was the world’s deadliest infectious disease until COVID-19. The high mortality rate is down to the sophisticated biology of the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A team of researchers from the KIT and the Research Centre Borstel (FZB) has developed a method that aims to outsmart the bacterium once and for all.

CAR-T cell therapy is a last hope for many patients with blood, bone marrow or lymph gland cancer when other treatments are unsuccessful. A limiting factor of this very effective and safe therapy is that the cells used in the process quickly reach a state of exhaustion. Researchers at the University of Freiburg have now been able to prevent this exhaustion and thus significantly improve the effect of the therapy in a preclinical animal model.