Allgemein

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved funding for the research project: „Unraveling the Membrane-Selective Mechanism of Lugdunin: Insights into Specificity for Gram-Positive Bacteria and Antimicrobial Activity.“ This study is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Computational Biology group at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, led by Prof. Dr. Rainer Böckmann, and the group of Prof. Dr. Claudia Steinem at the University of Göttingen.

When we think about bacteria, we may imagine single cells swimming in solution. However, similarly to humans, bacterial cells often socialize, using surfaces to coalesce into complex heterogeneous communities called biofilms. Within a group, bacteria in the biofilm are extremely robust in resisting various environmental stresses – a crucial feature making biofilm-associated infections extremely difficult to treat with antibiotics.

Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) is providing approximately 25.8 million euros (28 million US dollars) in funding for an international research project led by FAU: The non-profit organization will support the cassava source-sink (CASS) project in the next five years to improve the productivity of one of the most important food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. The project unites researchers from 11 institutions around the world to optimize cassava physiology to significantly increase the yield of high-quality cassava storage roots under low-input farming conditions in smallholder farmer fields.

In a collaborative project the research groups of Prof. Henry Dube (Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy) and Prof. Esther Zanin (Department of Biology) established a new class of light responsive molecules, based on (oxo-)rhodanine, and demonstrated that their activity can be controlled with light in cancer cells.

Cells are the basis of life and new cells arise by dividing one cell into two cells. In animals, cell division is typically mediated by a ring-like structure consisting of long threads of actin fibers. This actin ring shrinks in size and generates the two new cells. In case actin ring constriction fails, cell division is abolished and numerous diseases can arise. The research group of Prof. Dr. Esther Zanin discovered a novel type of ring that assembles and constricts in case actin fibers are missing. The molecular composition of the novel contractile ring and how it constricts was recently published by the research group in Cell Reports

Antibodies are crucial, not only for treating tumors and infections. Sometimes, however, the immune reaction they trigger can be too strong and end up causing more damage, for example in the case of people infected with Covid-19. Problems such as these can often be avoided by finetuning antibodies, as Prof. Dr. Falk Nimmerjahn from FAU and two of his colleagues in the Netherlands and in the UK have now reported in the journal Nature Immunology.

A team of researchers at FAU and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen has gained new insights into the maturation of SARS-CoV-specific antibodies after multiple vaccinations with the mRNA vaccine Comirnaty. They have now published their work in the journal Science Immunology.

Whether it is as a new organic fuel, innovative cancer medication or a sustainable source of food: researchers across the globe see immense potential in euglenoids. Of the 1,000 known species, only 20 have been investigated to date.

Female putty-nosed monkeys deliberately use alarm calls to recruit males to defend the group. This is the conclusion reached by Claudia Stephan, an evolutionary biologist at FAU, together with colleagues from the Wildlife Conservation Society after conducting observations in the Republic of the Congo.

The team of Prof. Dr. Sabine Müller (Lehrstuhl für Zellbiologie) at the Biology Department reports in the science magazine Current Biology how plant cells of the leave epidermis develop their interdigitating “puzzle” shape.