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Some lung tumors do not respond to radiation therapy. This effect can be reversed by blocking an enzyme in the tumor cells, as a Würzburg research team reports. Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world, with 2.2 million new cases and around 1.8 million deaths in 2020 alone. While knowledge about the disease has improved considerably and new therapeutic strategies can prolong the lives of previously incurable patients, the figures clearly show that the mortality rate is still far too high.

Similar to vaccines against the coronavirus, RNA-based antibiotics could decisively advance medicine. Research teams from Würzburg have investigated the requirements they must fulfill to achieve this. In the fight against the corona pandemic, mRNA-based drugs have impressively demonstrated their capabilities.

06/15/2022 Similar to the vaccines against the coronavirus, RNA-based antibiotics could significantly improve modern medicine. Research teams from Würzburg have investigated the prerequisites that such antibiotics must meet for this strategy to work. In the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, mRNA-based vaccines have impressively demonstrated their potential.

05/25/2022 In old age, the performance of the immune system decreases, and older people are more susceptible to infections. Research teams from Würzburg and Freiburg have now discovered an approach that could be used to slow down this process. The corona pandemic has made it clear: Older people are more susceptible to infections, suffer from more severe infectious diseases than young people, and they take significantly longer to recover.

05/18/2022 The German government is providing about 2.4 million Euros for a new research group in infectious diseases at JMU Würzburg. Dr. Carmen Aguilar will use this grant to search for new therapeutic approaches against one of the most common and recurrent bacterial infections. About every second woman gets a urinary tract infection once in her life, the cause for which is most often the uropathogenic bacterium Escherichia coli (UPEC).

04/25/2022 Do pesticides have anything to do with the decline in bee populations? A research team led by the University of Würzburg has investigated - and found a connection between fenbuconazole and the insects' mating behavior. Bees are among the most important pollinators on earth. They pollinate not only plants with beautiful flowers, but also many crops.

04/21/2022 Propelling micrometre-sized drones using light only and exerting precise control: Physicists at the University of Würzburg have succeeded at this for the first time. Their microdrones are significantly smaller than red blood cells. A hand-held laser pointer produces no noticeable recoil forces when it is "fired" - even though it emits a directed stream of light particles.

Dormant herpesviruses induce their reactivation via a previously unknown cellular mechanism mediated by a viral microRNA. Würzburg researchers show this in the journal "Nature". Eight different herpes viruses are known to date in humans. They all settle down permanently in the body after acute infection.

03/22/2022 Excessive sugar consumption can promote inflammatory processes in the body and facilitate the development of autoimmune diseases. A research team at the University of Würzburg has now deciphered new details of these processes. People who consume sugar and other carbohydrates in excess over a long period of time have an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease.

03/22/2022 Researchers from Würzburg, Freiburg and Leipzig discover a mechanism for prioritizing the immune response in bacteria. What tasks need to be done today, and which is the most urgent? People have to constantly set priorities in their daily life. Bacteria are no different: They too must prioritize when combating viruses with CRISPR.

Researchers at the University of Würzburg develop the "photoswitching fingerprint analysis". A unique technology that for the first time allows the analysis of molecular processes and revolutionises biomedical research. Super-resolution microscopy allows fluorescence images of cells, organelles and molecular complexes to be acquired with unprecedented spatial resolution.

Researchers from Heidelberg and Würzburg have uncovered the inner workings of the molecular machinery that shapes chromosomes during cell division. Our cells perform a marvel of engineering when it comes to packing information into small spaces. Every time a cell divides, it bundles up an amazing 4 metres of DNA into 46 tiny packages, each of which is only several millionths of a metre in length.

In humans, only nerves and muscle cells are electrically excitable, whereas in plants almost all cells are. This is due to a sophisticated mechanism in an ion channel of the vacuole. Plant cells use electrical signals to process and transmit information. In 1987, as a postdoc of Erwin Neher in Göttingen, biophysicist Rainer Hedrich discovered an ion channel in the central vacuole of the plant cell, which is activated by calcium and electrical voltage, using the patch-clamp technique (Nobel Prize for Neher and Sakmann 1991).

02/24/2022 Würzburg researchers have highlighted and quantified a three-fold coupling between exciton, photon, and phonon in a microcavity with embedded two-dimensional materials. Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials can provide highly interesting excitonic properties, which render them an attractive platform to explore polaritonic physics.

02/24/2022 Infections with several pathogens simultaneously increase the risk of cervical cancer-these results from a study conducted on artificial 3D tissue models. Patients who develop cervical cancer are often infected not only with the human papillomavirus (HPV) but also simultaneously with the bacterial pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis .

02/21/2022 How do canopy insects react to the sudden disappearance of their host tree? A study in the floodplain forests along the river Elbe shows surprising results. As a result of the droughts of recent years, a pronounced tree mortality has been observed in Germany, which has left clearly visible gaps in forests and parks.

02/18/2022 The carnivorous Venus flytrap can be anaesthetised with ether. Some surprising parallels to anaesthesia in humans emerge. Medicine has a broad repertoire of anaesthetics at its medication allows patients to better endure painful treatments or even sleep through them. As early as 1842, ether was first used for a dental treatment in New York.

02/16/2022 In northern Spain, wild honeybees use hollow electricity poles as nesting cavities. Natural areas in the surroundings promote the colonies' chances to survive the winter. Until recently, experts considered it unlikely that the honeybee had survived as a wild animal in Europe. In a current study, biologists Benjamin Rutschmann and Patrick Kohl from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany, show that wild honeybees still exist in the region of Galicia in the northwest of Spain.

02/14/2022 Cerebral venous thrombosis is a rare, often severe disease that has been brought to public attention by the Covid 19 pandemic. Researchers have now succeeded for the first time in deciphering a molecular cause of this disease. Cerebral venous thrombosis is a rare form of cerebral circulatory disorder that, unlike classic stroke, more often affects younger people.

Toward a new kind of superconductivity: An international team of physicists finds joint appearance of intricate quantum phenomena. Toward a new kind of superconductivity: In the past four years scientists have discovered metals whose crystal structure mimics that of a traditional Japanese woven bamboo pattern: kagome metals.