Press archive

The Large Hydron Collider, mankind´s biggest physics experiment, started operation in summer at cern in Switzerland. This exhibtion shows called Weltmaschine shows scientist as they working at LHC investigate the fundamental questions of the Universe. German physics participating int the LHC will be present during exhibition to answer questions on the collider and guide visitors. Initiators of the exhibition are BMBF and CERN with participation of Helmholtz Research Centres DESY, GSI and IPP. Entry is free and guided tours are offered reguraly free of charge.

Weltmaschine

The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research selected six new Helmholtz Russia Joint Research Groups from a field of 20 applications. Each of these Research Groups, composed of up-and-coming German and Russian researchers, will receive €158,000 annually over the course of three years.

Milestone for Helmholtz-Russian collaboration

The German research vessel Polarstern has returned today to Bremerhaven from the Arctic Sea. It has cruised as the first research vessel ever both the Northeast and the Northwest Passages and thereby circled the North Pole. The third part of the research vessel’s 23rd Arctic expedition, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute in the Helmholtz Association, started its journey on August 12th in Reykjavik and ended it on October 17th in Bremerhaven.

Research around the North Pole - RV Polarstern returns home after its expedition through the Northeast and Northwest Passages

A group of antibiotic natural products discovered at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig points out a new mode of action against pathogenic bacteria. Isolated from myxobacteria, the substances prevent an enzym of the pathogens from being able to translate their genetic material. In this way, the propagation of bacteria – such as tuberculosis pathogens - is inhibited. A working group at Rutgers University in New Jersey (USA) has now joined up with HZI researchers and discovered in detail how these compounds interact with the target in pathogenic bacteria. The novel target is different from the target of known antibiotics such as rifamycin, a standard medication to counteract tuberculosis.

New antibiotic candidates from Braunschweig

Mode of action of HZI natural products elucidated – substances also act against bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. A group of antibiotic natural products discovered at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig points out a new mode of action against pathogenic bacteria.

New antibiotic candidates from Braunschweig

European space scientists are getting closer to unravel the origin of Mars' larger moon, Phobos. Thanks to a series of close encounters by ESA's Mars Express spacecraft and images captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the moon looks almost certain to be a 'rubble pile', rather than a single solid object. However, mysteries remain about where the rubble came from.

Mars Express closes in on the origin of Mars' larger moon

Natural killer cells are part of our body's own immune defense against cancer. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have found the factors that cause immune cells to accumulate in tumors. Gamma interferon, an immune messenger substance, can be used to direct NK cells specifically into cancer tissue.

Interferon Attracts Killer Cells to Tumors

Neurobiologist and pain researcher Professor Gary Richard Lewin from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, has been elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He is one of 59 life scientists from Europe and around the world who were recognised by EMBO for their excellence in research this year. Currently EMBO has 1360 members.

Professor Gary Richard Lewin becomes EMBO-Member

A large international group of researchers succeeded in sequencing the genome of a marine alga. The periodical nature reports that it is the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum (“The Phaeodactylum genome reveals the evolutionary history of diatom genomes” nature online, October 15th 2008). The researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association who participated in the research project concentrated primarily on this diatom’s evolution.

Genome of the diatom Phaeodactylum sequenced

If the heart becomes diseased during its embryonic/fetal development, it can regenerate itself to such an extent that it is fully functional by birth, provided some of the heart cells remain healthy. Dr. Jörg-Detlef Drenckhahn of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch made this discovery together with colleagues from Australia. They were able to demonstrate in female mice that the healthy cells of the heart divide more frequently and thus displace the damaged tissue. “Hopefully, our results will lead to new therapies in the future,” Dr. Drenckhahn said. “With the right signals, a heart that has been damaged – for example through infarction – might be stimulated to heal itself.”

Repair in the Developing Heart