International study maps molecular targets for possible therapy for MERS, SARS-CoV1, and SARS-CoV2

19-Oct-2020

In search of new drugs against COVID-19, a group of around 200 scientists is uncovering the molecular processes with which the coronaviruses MERS, SARS-CoV1, and SARS-CoV2 manipulate the host cell. The researchers from six countries have found 73 human proteins with which components of all three ...

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Real-time observation of signal transmission in proteins provides new insights for drug research

08-Oct-2020

Proteins transduce information and signals within the human body by changes in their structures. For example, hormones binding to their target proteins cause a structural change which in turn opens new binding sites for other proteins elsewhere on the surface of the protein. Researchers refer to ...

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24-Sep-2020

By far the most important process in cell development is how cells divide and then enlarge in order to multiply. A research team headed by Freiburg medical scientist Prof. Dr. Robert Grosse has now discovered that bundled fibers of actin within a cell nucleus play an important part in how they ...

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Forest scientists develop innovative wood-based materials for 3D printing

24-Aug-2020

A viscous biopaste that is easy to process, solidifies quickly and is suitable for producing even complex structures using the 3D printing process has been developed by a research team headed by Prof. Dr. Marie-Pierre Laborie from the Chair of Forest Biomaterials at the University of Freiburg. ...

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Researchers find missing link in immune response

22-Jul-2020

Unraveling a key motif: The T lymphocytes of the immune system work to destroy infected cells or cancer cells. To do so, they have to identify the threat: Molecules perceived as foreign – so-called antigens – bind to the T-cell receptor on the T cell surface. Now research groups led by Dr. Susana ...

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Simulations on biologically relevant time scales

12-Jun-2020

Molecular dynamics simulations (MD) have become an ubiquitous tool in modern life sciences. In these simulations, the interactions between atoms and molecules and their resulting spatial movements are iteratively calculated and analyzed. Scientists are currently trying to gain access to ...

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How to control individual components of self-assembling molecular structures

08-May-2020

In the development of autonomous systems and materials, self-assembling molecular structures controlled by chemical reaction networks are increasingly important. However, there is a lack of simple external mechanisms that ensure that the components of these reaction networks can be activated in a ...

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Open source platform enables the free and transparent overview of COVID-19 genome informations

28-Feb-2020

Dr. Wolfgang Maier and Dr. Björn Grüning from the University of Freiburg, together with researchers from universities in Belgium, Australia and the USA, have reviewed the previously available data on sequences of the novel coronavirus and published their analyses on the open source platform ...

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Helpful Oxygen Carriers

19-Feb-2020

Enzymes with flavin cofactor play an important part in plants, fungi, bacteria and animals: as oxygenases they incorporate oxygen into organic compounds. For instance this allows people to excrete foreign substances more effectively. Until now scientists were agreed that such flavin-dependent ...

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This mechanism could improve immune therapies for cancer

13-Feb-2020

A simple mechanism, previously known from bacteria, ensures that the immune system strikes a balance between the rapid expansion of immune cells and the prevention of an excessive self-damaging reaction after an infection. This has now been deciphered by scientists at the University of Freiburg - ...

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