Press releases

How can the immune system be made more potent against cancer? To solve this crucial question, Dr. Liang-Ping Li and Professor Thomas Blankenstein of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany have dedicated ten years of research to develop a new method. The researchers modified T cell receptors (TCRs), the antenna-like structures of T cells, so that they would no longer ignore cancer cells, but instead specifically track and recognize them. This modification is the precondition for the immune system to destroy cancer cells. The researchers developed a mouse with a whole repertoire of these human T cell receptors (Nature Medicine, doi: 10.1038/nm.2197)* with the aim of utilizing these receptors in the future for targeted immunotherapy in patients.

More Cancer-Fighting Power – Mouse with Highly Effective Components of the Human Immune System - Ten Years of Developmental Work by MDC and Charité Researchers

Munich, August 2, 2010. Fast, targeted and direct – Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München have succeeded in manipulating selected genes in mouse zygotes in a single step. Using zinc-finger nucleases *, they generated mutations without taking a detour via mouse embryonic stem cells. Over the long term, these findings concerning targeted gene manipulation will save valuable research time and will be universally applicable to other mammalian cells to investigate gene functions. The results of...

Helmholtz Zentrum München Researchers Find Shortcut to Manipulating Specific Genes in the Mammalian Genome

Using "dark channel" fluorescence, scientists can explain how biochemical substances carry out their function Spectroscopic techniques are among the most important methods by which scientists can look inside materials. They exploit the interaction of light waves with a given sample. Now, using X-ray absorption spectroscopy, researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) have observed the moving of electric charges from solute to solvent so-called electron transfer. They can even make assertions on the temporal sequence of this process. As one example, they can find out how solute biochemical substances carry out their microscopic ...

Help from the Dark Side

Neuherberg, August, 04. 2010. In a large-scale international study in which Helmholtz Zentrum München participated, scientists have identified 95 gene loci which influence lipoprotein metabolism in humans. Viewed from a long-term perspective, these findings open up new lines of research in the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). It is the first genome-wide association study of this kind to be published in the prestigious journal Nature. Together with their colleagues from...

Scientists Pinpoint 95 Gene Loci Linked to Lipid Metabolism Discovery May Offer New Approach to Treating Coronary Artery Disease

Researchers from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich have shown that the ADAM10 protein can inhibit the formation of beta-amyloid, which is responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. ADAM10 acts like a pair of molecular scissors to cut the protein from which beta-amyloid is formed, effectively preventing the formation of beta-amyloid. This makes ADAM10 a key molecule in Alzheimer’s therapy. The research team has just published detailed information on their findings in the online edition of the EMBO Journal.

New approach to Alzheimer’s therapy

Bedrock has been reached Tuesday July 27 2010 at the deep ice core drilling site NEEM on the Greenland Ice Sheet at the depth 2537.36 m. The Eemian is the last interglacial period, when climate was warmer than today, and sea level 5 meters higher, and is our best analogue for future climate. Scientists from 14 nations participated in NEEM, the most international ice core effort to date. After five years of work, ice from the warm interglacial Eemian period, 130.000 to 115.000 years before present and even older ice has been recovered. The last 2 m of ice above the bedrock contains rocks and other material that has not seen sunlight for hundreds of thousands of years.

NEEM Deep Ice Core Drilling Project in Greenland Reaches Bedrock – Conclusions on Climate Conditions and Sea Level Rise in Geological Past Expected

Parts of the Arctic have cooled clearly over the past century, but temperatures have been rising steeply since 1990 also there. This is the finding of a summer temperature reconstruction for the past 400 years produced on the base of tree rings from regions beyond the Arctic Circle. German and Russian researchers analysed tree growth using ring width of pine from Russia’s Kola Peninsula and compared their findings with similar studies from other parts of the Arctic.

Signs of reversal of Arctic cooling in some areas

The European Research Council will support Dr. Aurelio Teleman and his working group 'Signal Transduction in Cancer and Metabolism' with a €1.5 million grant. The money is provided as a Starting Grant by the Research Council to support the young scientist in his study of genes regulating cell growth. The goal of the funded project is to study the TOR gene, which is substantial in regulating cell growth, and its role in cancer. "We are very honored, of course, to be awarded the renowned ERC Starting Grant," says Teleman. "We will use the money to create new positions for doctoral students in our lab and offer young researchers excellent conditions for their research."

European Research Council Awards a €1.5 Million Grant to DKFZ Scientist

The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association for the first time sent its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) on an under-ice mission at about 79° North.

Highlight of the Polarstern expedition: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle of the Alfred Wegener Institute dives under the Arctic ice for the first time

Is it possible that there are salt solutions on Mars that remain liquid despite the extremely low temperatures – a class of fluids known as cryobrines? Research findings at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have shown that this is a theoretical possibility. Prof. Diedrich Möhlmann of the DLR Institute of Planetary Research presented these initial findings on Friday 23 July and Saturday 24 July 2010 at the international COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) 2010 conference in Bremen.

DLR investigates the existence of liquid salt solutions on Mars