Alternative Signaling Pathway Improves Transplantation of Blood Stem Cells

Same receptor, different effect

13-Oct-2026 - Gene therapies are used to treat many different blood disorders. However, blood stem cells often fail to achieve their full potential after transplantation. UZH researchers have now explored an alternative signaling pathway that could provide a remedy. Blood stem cells are rare cells in the bone ...

Severe inflammatory reactions are attributable to an unknown immunological regulatory mechanism

Elevated FGL-1 levels correlate with more severe inflammation—the signaling pathway may also be relevant in other diseases

05-Aug-2026 - A research team at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Basel, has identified a previously little-studied immunological feedback loop that significantly influences inflammatory responses in the human body. At the center of ...

New approaches to male contraception

"ContraPur" research network aims to reversibly block ATP-controlled sperm transport in the testicles

29-May-2026 - In the interdisciplinary research network "ContraPur", scientists from five German universities are working on the development of a new, non-hormonal contraceptive method for men. The project is coordinated by Prof. Marc Spehr, holder of the Chair of Chemosensorics at RWTH Aachen University. ...

First ​“protein map” of neurons that initiate pain reveals new targets for drugs

Deep Visual Proteomics applied to nerve cells for the first time

15-Apr-2026 - One in five people worldwide suffers from chronic inflammatory pain. Meanwhile, about two thirds of those affected find little relief from existing pain medications; new therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. ​“We first must understand precisely how sensory nerve cells trigger pain at the ...

First steps towards cell therapy for brain disorders

07-Apr-2026 - Researchers in Freiburg have found a way to selectively replace defective immune cells in the blood vessels of the brain using an animal model. This is an important first step towards cell therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders. The findings were recently published in the ...

Which signalling pathways in the cell lead to possible therapies for Parkinson's disease

New triggers for mitophagy – a self-cleaning process in cells – discovered

29-Jul-2025 - Autophagy is essentially the 'rubbish collection' of our cells. If there are problems in this process, which is so important for our health, diseases such as Parkinson's can result. In their latest study, leading cell biologists at the Max Perutz Labs at the University of Vienna investigated ...

Andrea Ablasser, Glen Barber, and Zhijian J. Chen will be awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2025

Award recognizes the discovery of a fundamental signaling pathway of innate immunity

19-Sep-2024 - Physician Andrea Ablasser, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, virologist Glen Barber, Ohio State University, and biochemist Zhijian ‘James’ Chen, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, will receive the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2025, the Scientific ...

Hijacking in the immune system

The human cytomegalovirus reprograms cellular defence mechanisms

01-Mar-2024 - The human cytomegalovirus, HCMV for short, lies dormant unnoticed in the body of most people for their entire lives. In immunocompromised individuals, however, the virus can cause life-threatening infections. It infects dendritic cells, a specific type of cell in the immune system. Although the ...

Researchers Find New Pathway for HIV Invasion of Cell Nucleus

17-Aug-2023 - A study has identified a new pathway that human immune deficiency virus (HIV) uses to enter the nucleus of a healthy cell, where it can then replicate and go on to invade other cells. The researchers also identified three proteins that are needed for the virus to carry out the invasion and have ...

Anti-Aging for the brain? A recent study provides new insights into age-related changes in the brain

Important signalling pathway in brain aging identified

09-Aug-2023 - A landmark study published on 2nd August 2023 in the journal Nature provides new insights into aging processes in the brain and potential targets for combating age-related neurodegenerative diseases. The research team, led by Prof. Andrea Ablasser from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne ...