Medizin

Fibrosis is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix that leads to destruction of the tissue architecture and consequently organ failure. In the developed world, an estimated 45 % of all deaths resulted from severe fibrotic diseases. A wide range of chronic diseases are able to induce fibrosis such as hepatitis, pulmonary disease, scleroderma and cancer. Current therapies for fibrosis are limited and of low efficacy. Further research on fibrosis is required to understand disease progression ...

Highly elastic, photocatalytic active, and superhydrophobic films were prepared by self-assembly of TiO₂ nanoparticles driven by crosslinking reactions of PDMS. The photocatalytic activity of the film provides self-cleaning and antibacterial properties when exposed to UV-A light. Substrates of different materials such as glass, PU, and polyester textiles can be easily modified with the film. The corresponding PDMS/TiO₂ film based wound dressings can effectively block leakage ...

Natural extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid vesicles that carry a plethora of biologically active molecules including soluble and membrane proteins, nucleic acids and metabolites. They have recently been recognized as a promising cell-free alternative to cell transplantation or as a novel therapeutic tool in various diseases. Many in vitro and in vivo studies have shown beneficial effects of EVs from different cell types in diseases ranging from cardiovascular conditions to ...

A novel molecular target of the semaphorin-plexin system to develop treatment options for cancer and for osteoporosis.

The development of the cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by Prof. Ernst Bamberg and his colleagues, and its application to light-induced modulation of neurons paved the way for the field of optogenetics.
Over time the light-gated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) has become an indispensable tool in neuroscience. Based on the pioneering work on ChR2 new variants have emerged, differing in their spectrum of light absorption, their kinetic ...

The RNA-programmable DNA-endonuclease Cas9 is widely used for genome engineering, where a high degree of specificity is required. Though this is a mechanism well controlled by canonical base-pairing, there is evidence that Cas9 does accept mismatches under certain circumstances.
This might be seen as a threat to precision needed in genome engineering at least in environments where such high precision is ultimately needed and acceptance of mismatches needs to be avoided, e.g.: cellular gene ...

A Cas nuclease such as Cas9 can introduce a DNA double strand break in a sequence target that is complementary to a 20-nt spacer sequence of its bound guide RNA (gRNA) when a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) is present. The gRNA can be provided as duplex of spacer containing CRISPR RNA (crRNA) and trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA). Or as a single gRNA (sgRNA) where crRNA and tracrRNA are fused by an artificial loop.
Hence a gRNA consists of the target-specific spacer and a constant part typically ...

A novel tool to detect and quantify NETs using a molecular feature of NET formation that has never been proposed as a marker for NETs before

We present an extremely sensitive, reliable and fast novel Lysine deacetylase (KDAC) assay, which can be performed in a continuous format. This novel KDAC assay is based on Firefly luciferase harboring an acetylation on an essential active site lysine, incorporated by genetic code expansion.

We furthermore offer a bacterial selection system that can help engineer KDACs. The selection system uses a reporter enzyme inactivated by lysine modifications at an essential active site residue, thereby ...

Biomarkers of ageing have long been sought after to help assess the biological age and general health status of individuals. Considerable efforts have been invested to identify such biomarkers, including physiologic readouts, metabolic parameters, glycomic profiles and others. Nevertheless, markers with strong predictive power have remained elusive.

Work in model organisms has identified several conserved signaling pathways that extend life span, such as reduced insulin/IGF signaling and ...