Archive Press Releases

When infected with influenza, the body becomes an easy target for bacteria. The flu virus alters the host’s immune system and compromises its capacity to effectively fight off bacterial infections. Now, a team of immunologists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and cooperation partners has discovered that an immune system molecule called TLR7 is partly to blame. The molecule recognizes the viral genome – and then signals scavenger cells of the immune system to ingest fewer bacteria. The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Innate Immunity.

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Today in Brussels a workshop was held on the future role of geothermal energy in Europe's heat supply, initiated by the European Commission. The event "Future Utilization of Geothermal Energy in Urban Areas" concerning geothermal power and heat production in urban areas also featured the European Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger as a speaker. It was organized by two member centres of the Helmholtz Association, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.

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A workshop on the future role of geothermal energy in supplying heat in Europe took place in Brussels today on the initiative of the European Commission. The European Workshop on Future Utilization of Geothermal Energy in Urban Areas addressed the use of geothermal energy in generating heat and electricity in towns and cities and included a speech by EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. The event was organised by two Helmholtz Centres: the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam ‒ German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).

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Environmental contaminants, such as smoking, are harmful to the human organism in relation to the occurrence of allergies. This is known. Until now, researchers had never investigated whether and to what extent environmental contaminants also affect allergy-relevant stem cells. For the first time a team at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has found evidence for this: Smoking affects the development of peripheral allergy-relevant stem cells in the blood. In order to present this result Dr. Irina Lehmann and Dr. Kristin Weiße chose a new scientific path: The combination of exposure analysis and stem cell research.

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The new building for plasma physics at Forschungszentrum Jülich was officially opened today by representatives from politics and science. Jülich scientists working in this field are involved in coordinated efforts worldwide to create power plants based on nuclear fusion. The new building, constructed at a cost of € 4.6 million, provides office space and additional laboratory facilities.

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Scientists from around the globe will convene at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) on November 15th – 16th, 2012 to discuss the links between a disrupted metabolism and various diseases. The conference “Metabolism 2012: From Signaling to Disease” is part of an annual forum series organized in Heidelberg by the DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, which is a strategic alliance between the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH) at Heidelberg University. Professor Stephan Herzig, who heads a joint research department of DKFZ, ZMBH and Heidelberg University Hospital on diabetes and cancer, leads conference organization.

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At what pressure do thin shells start to collapse? This classical mechanical problem also plays a part in understanding microcapsules, which are used to transport active ingredients directly to an organ in the body. In contrast to pressure vessels or diving bells, thermal fluctuations also exert an influence here. The microscopic shells are deformed in an uncontrolled manner due to this thermally induced molecular motion. Under pressure, these shells therefore tend to collapse at an earlier stage than predicted, which was revealed for the first time in precise calculations made by Jülich scientists and their partners from Harvard University. Their findings have been published in the renowned journal PNAS.

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An interdisciplinary German research network with major participation of researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) has sequenced the complete genome of Burkitt lymphoma cancer cells. In their project as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), the scientists found the genome of Burkitt lymphoma tumor cells mutated in more than 2,000 spots compared to normal cells. The researchers discovered a gene mutated in more than three thirds of all Burkitt lymphomas. This provides new targets for diagnosis and therapy of this aggressive type of lymphoma. The giant amount of data generated in this project is stored and evaluated at DKFZ, where Prof. Roland Eils has been building up a bioinformatics infrastructure for cancer genome sequencing unique in Germany. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Genetics.

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The new high performance Computer JUQUEEN at Forschungszentrum Juelich has reached the new top position as Europe's fastest supercomputer and 5th fastest in the world by the current TOP500 List, published recently. As the first supercomputer in Europe to reach a compute performance of 5 Petaflop/s – equating to 5 quadrillion operations per second – the system opens up new possibilities for research intensive grand projects and a wider spectrum of participating work groups.

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Using the world’s most powerful X-ray laser in California, an international research team discovered a surprising behaviour of atoms: with a single X-ray flash, the group led by Daniel Rolles from the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) in Hamburg (Germany) was able to kick a record number of 36 electrons at once out of a xenon atom. According to theoretical calculations, these are significantly more than should be possible at this energy of the X-ray radiation. The team present their unexpected observations in the journal “Nature Photonics”. CFEL is a collaboration of DESY, the Max Planck Society and the University of Hamburg.

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