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A new study by scientists at the.NeuroRestore research center has identified the type of neuron that is activated and remodeled by spinal cord stimulation, allowing patients to stand up, walk and rebuild their muscles - thus improving their quality of life. This discovery, made in nine patients, marks a fundamental, clinical breakthrough.

Motivation is affected by oxidative stress in the brain, a study by EPFL and Nestlé shows. The findings also suggest motivation can be improved through nutritional interventions. In life, motivation can be the difference between success and failure, goal-setting and aimlessness, well-being and unhappiness.

Researchers at an EPFL lab have developed an ophthalmological device that can be used to diagnose some degenerative eye disorders long before the onset of the first symptoms. In early clinical trials, the prototype was shown to produce images with a sufficient degree of precision in just five seconds.

Scientists at EPFL have increased the power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells ("Grätzel cells") beyond 15% in direct sunlight and 30% in ambient light conditions. Mesoscopic dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were invented in 1990s by Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel, taking on the latter's name - the world-famous Grätzel cells.

Scientists at EPFL have determined how a protein that is critical in our first line of immune defense is regulated in the cell to prevent autoinflammatory diseases. How does a cell "know" that it's infected? This is a key question for innate immunity, our first line of defense to any infection or injury, made up of cells that quickly identify pathogens, like viral DNA.

Engineers from EPFL and the University of Strasbourg have developed an innovative surgical needle whose trajectory can be corrected on the fly, thanks to a flexible tip controlled with a simple button. Intended for use in image-guided surgery, the needle offers greater precision in surgeon's movements and reduces the risk for patients.

Chemical engineers at EPFL have developed a machine-learning model that can accurately predict the heat capacity of the versatile metal-organic framework materials. The work shows that the overall energy costs of carbon-capture processes could be much lower than expected. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of materials that contain nano-sized pores.

A team from the UNIGE, in collaboration with EPFL, reveals how motivation influences the neural circuits of perception and impacts decision-making. In a good or a bad mood, focused or distracted, in dire or no need: our internal states directly influence our perceptions and decision-making. While the role of motivation on the performance of behavioural tasks has been known for more than a century - thanks to the work of psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dilligham Dodson - its precise effect on the brain remains unclear.

Exploring the mechanics of anthrax infection, scientists at EPFL have discovered two proteins that are involved in controlling the levels of cholesterol in the membrane of our cells. "What our work shows is how a complex in the center of the cell, the ER-Golgi interaction region, controls plasma membrane cholesterol, which is essential for many cellular functions, if not essential for multicellular life," says Professor Gisou van der Goot at EPFL's School of Life Sciences.

Scientists led by groups at EPFL and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) explore the elaborate interplay between genes, sex, growth, and age and how they influence variation in longevity. Their results point at fundamental processes of aging that help in improving human healthspan.

In science, specialization pays off - at least when it comes to career impact. That's the finding of a team of researchers who looked specifically at this subject. Is it better to be a generalist or a specialist? Gaétan de Rassenfosse, who holds the Chair of Innovation and IP Policy at EPFL, set about answering this question by digging through data on more than 30,000 biomedical researchers.

Physicists at EPFL have developed a formulation to solve the longstanding problem of electron self-interaction when studying polarons - quasiparticles produced by electron-phonon interactions in materials. The work can lead to unprecedented calculations of polarons in large systems, systematic studies of large sets of materials, and molecular dynamics evolving over long time periods.

The composite containers developed by AELER, an EPFL startup, deliver better performance across the board: they're stronger, have a bigger payload, are better insulated, allow for enhanced tracking and can help cut carbon emissions.

Metabolism is essential to all living organisms, and modeling the chemical reactions that sustain life is no easy task. Now, scientists have released REKINDLE, paving the way for more efficient and accurate modeling of metabolic processes thanks to deep-learning. The way an organism metabolizes nutrients is a complex process.

Engineers at EPFL's Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory have developed a revolutionary method for detecting and locating partial discharges, which disrupt the functioning of power transformers. Transformers play a central role in power distribution systems, making it possible to carry electric power over long distances with minimal risk and losses.

Scientists have used a systems genetics approach to unravel novel genetic and environmental modulators of bile acid homeostasis. Their findings provide new insights into the regulatory mechanisms of bile acid homeostasis and may have implications for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Image: Circos plot summarizing the bile acid species quantified in different biological compartments, their changes, correlation and associations with quantitative trait loci in two different diets.

Scientists at EPFL have gotten bacteria to spontaneously take up fluorescent carbon nanotubes for the first time. The breakthrough unlocks new biotechnology applications for prokaryotes, such as near-infrared bacteria tracking and "living photovoltaics" - devices that generate energy using light-harvesting bacteria.

Scientists at EPFL have developed an implantation technique that allows unprecedented optical access to the "spinal cord" of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. This work can potentially lead to breakthroughs in the fields of neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and bio-inspired robotics. Understanding biological motor control requires the ability to record neural activity while animals are behaving," says Professor Pavan Ramdya at EPFL's School of Life Sciences.

EPFL biophysicists have developed control software that optimizes how fluorescence microscopes collect data on living samples. Their control loop, used to image mitochondrial and bacterial sites of division in detail, is released as an open source plug-in and could inspire a new generation of intelligent microscopes.

During the MOSAiC research expedition, conducted in the Arctic pack ice between 2019 and 2020, scientists observed an atmospheric perturbation triggered by the intrusion of a highly polluted warm air-mass. A first study providing further insight into the phenomenon and its potential implications has just been published.