The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) together with the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) will launch a grant program for young scientists. The “DKFZ-NCI Fellowship Program in Cancer Research” will enable young researchers from both institutes to work at the partnering institute for up to four years and subsequently create their own junior research groups.

Transatlantic Exchange Program To Improve Chances for Young Scientists

Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technische Universität München (TUM) under the direction of Prof. Michael Sattler have developed a new strategy allowing them to determine the spatial structure of biomolecules in solution. The method is flexible and generally applicable to obtaining structural information for signal forwarding pathways in the cell or in the regulation of gene expression. The current online issue of the prestigious scientific journal Angewandte Chemie reports on their results.

New basis for drug development: Structure determination of biomolecules in their natural environment

Humans and animals are able to perceive even the slightest vibration and touch of the skin. Mechanosensitive ion channels play a crucial role in the mediation of these sensations. Ion channels are pores in the cell membrane which are highly responsive to external signals. Mechanosensitive ion channels open at the slightest vibration and allow ions (electrically charged particles), to cross the cell membrane, which causes an electrical current until the channel closes again. Until now it was unclear how the ion channels were opened. Dr. Jing Hu and Professor Gary Lewin of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now discovered the presence of a protein filament that causes the ion channels to open and shut like a tethered gate (EMBO Journal,Vol. 29, No. 4, pp 855-867; doi: 10.1038/emboj.2009.398)*.

MDC Researchers Link Protein Tether to Touch Perception - Tiny Protein Filament Opens and Closes Ion Channels

Application-oriented projects of the BWPLUS Environmental Research Program – in two of which KIT participates – are in the focus of the twelfth “Status Colloquium on Environmental Research in Baden-Wuerttemberg”, February 24 and 25, 2010, on KIT Campus North. The colloquium is organized by the Karlsruhe Project Management Agency, Baden-Wuerttemberg Research Programs (PTKA-BWP), within Karlsruhe Institute of Technology on behalf of the Environmental Ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Journalists and the interested public are cordially invited.

Environmental Research for Baden-Wuerttemberg

Beginning Thursday, 11 February 2010, our Sun is being monitored round the clock - the space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas V. The continuous stream of data supplied by this observatory will substantially improve our ability to forecast space weather. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is supporting this NASA-led mission with the SDO Data Center at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research (MPS).

On the trail of space weather: SDO solar observatory launched successfully