Archive

Many tumors are thought to depend on glutamine, suggesting glutamine deprivation as therapeutic approach, but a new study shows that this effect might have been overestimated.

Fruit flies from warm regions have a siesta, whereas their Nordic counterparts do not. Biologists from the University of Würzburg reset the circadian clock of African flies in an experiment. As a result, these insect also reduced the length of their siesta.

Scientists have long been puzzled by the flounder's asymmetrical physiology. The mechanism that triggers the unusual asymmetry has now been identified by comparing the genomes of two related fish species.

Advance in biomedical imaging: The Biocenter of the University of Würzburg in close collaboration with the University of Copenhagen has developed an alternative approach to fluorescent tagging of proteins. The new probes are practicable and compatible with high-resolution microscopic procedures.

An international team of researchers has unravelled how the highly inflammatory giant cells arise. Researchers of the Würzburg Institute for Human Genetics participated in the project. Their findings will help develop more efficient therapies for immune diseases that are difficult to treat.

Sex determination, dormancy, water balance: The phytohormone abscisic acid has branched out in the process of evolution. An international research team presents new insights on this subject in the science journal PNAS.

The formation of macromolecular machines within cells is often a complicated endavour. Biochemists of the University of Würzburg and Göttingen have now unravelled new details of these processes. They show that cells invest a great deal of effort into preventing production errors.

Putting a halt to the profound changes affecting agricultural landscapes: With this goal in mind, scientists, farmers and official representatives teamed up to look into ecological intensification as a potential solution.

Inhibiting a protein called Sclerostin could probably help treating the bone-loss disease osteoporosis. New findings at the university of Würzburg could stimulate this research.

At present, an early diagnosis of the tumour-like crown gall disease affecting grapevines seems out of reach. Two researchers have taken a closer look at the tumours and found a very special environment.

Why do healthy cells become malignant and proliferate uncontrollably? Scientists of the University of Würzburg have investigated the role of a special protein in this process and settled and old controversy.

The increasing salinisation of soils is a major problem for farmers worldwide. Scientists of the University of Würzburg have now examined how plants regulated their salt intake. Their results could be significant to breed more salt-tolerant species.

An international group of researchers has pinpointed the sensor plants use to sense electric fields. A beneficial side effect: Their work could contribute to the understanding of how the Ebola virus enters human cells.

Do plants have some kind of nervous system? This is difficult to establish as there are no suitable measurement methods around. Plant researchers from Würzburg used aphids for this purpose – and discovered that plants respond differently to different kinds of damage.

Advance in biomedical imaging: The University of Würzburg's Biocenter has enhanced fluorescence microscopy to label and visualise up to nine different cell structures simultaneously.