MPI for Heart and Lung Research: Possible new treatment for lung cancer
Published 07.05.2012Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim and Justus Liebig University Giessen have discovered an enzyme which regulates the division of tumour cells and blood vessel growth in the cancer tissue. Now they aim to starve lung tumours by blocking the phosphodiesterase PDE4.
Picture: Formation of PDE4 in oxygen-deficient lung tumour cells. Lung cells produce PDE4 (stained green: left) even if their oxygen content is normal. More PDE4 is produced (right) if they are oxygen-deficient (hypoxia). The cell nuclei are stained blue. © Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research
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Fritz Haber Institute: Improving catalysts
Published 02.05.2012Insights into the process which converts carbon dioxide into methanol could make it possible to recycle greenhouse gas: There is now one less mystery in chemical production plants. For many decades industry has been producing methanol on a large scale from a mixture of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as hydrogen. An international team, including chemists from the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, has now clarified why the catalyst used in this process – copper and zinc oxide particles and a small portion of aluminium oxide – works so well. They also discovered why this reaction accelerator has to be produced in the tried and tested way. The researchers established that defects in an as yet unknown combination with mixing of copper and zinc oxide at the catalyst’s surface are the reason why the catalysts are so active. These findings could make a contribution to further improving the catalyst, and also help researchers develop catalysts that convert pure carbon dioxide efficiently. These could be used to recycle the greenhouse gas that is produced when fossil fuels burn.
Picture: The first step towards the catalyst is the most important one: Julia Neuendorf and Malte Behrens control how a mixture of copper, zinc and aluminium salts precipitate the precursor for the catalyst of the methanol synthesis in the semi-automatic precipitation reactor. © Norbert Michalke for the MPG
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MPI for Molecular Genetics: New anti-diabetic substance found
Published 02.05.2012Liquorice root found to contain anti-diabetic substance. Researchers discover promising anti-diabetic substance in the amorfrutin class of natural substances: It provides the raw material for liquorice candy, calms the stomach and alleviates diseases of the airways: liquorice root. Chosen as the “Medicinal plant 2012”, the root has been treasured in traditional healing since ancient times. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin have now discovered that liquorice root also contains substances with an anti-diabetic effect. These amorfrutins not only reduce blood sugar, they are also anti-inflammatory and are very well tolerated. Thus, they may be suitable for use in the treatment of complex metabolic disorders.
Picture: Scientists have identified a group of natural substances with an anti-diabetic effect, the amorfrutins, in the edible roots of the liquorice plant Glycyrrhiza. © Alexander Vögtli, PharmaWiki
Save the date on May 15: BioVaria 2012 – presenting more than 70 Life Science inventions
Published 02.05.2012On May 15 the technology fair BioVaria 2012 will show “Europe’s Next Top Technologies”, i.e. the latest licensable technologies developed by leading university and non-university research institutions in Europe. Max Planck Innovation is again main partner and co-organiser of the technology fair, which takes place for the fifth time this year. Max Planck Innovation together with the Lead Discovery Center (LDC) will present novel Inhibitors for Rab Geranylgeranyl Transferase (RabGGTase), deriving from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, to an audience from the biotech- and pharmaceutical- as well as the venture capital sectors. The inhibitors could be the basis for the development of new cancer drugs.
Two successful models for bridging the innovation gap in life sciences
Published 25.04.2012When exploiting the economic potential of scientific discoveries, the problem often arises that a technology in the form developed at the Max Planck institutes (MPI) is not sufficiently close to the market for industry. With the establishment of the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) and the Life Science Inkubator GmbH & Co KG (LSI), we have created two very successful companies to bridge this innovation gap.
Picture: The Lead Discovery Center GmbH was jointly developed by Max Planck Innovation and the Max Planck Society as a novel approach to advance findings from excellent basic research into the development of medicines. © LDC
Technology offer: The “raspberry-lotus” effect – stable, water-repellent and self-cleaning surfaces
Published 16.04.2012Solar modules with no dust layer, clean windscreens, spectacles that never need to be cleaned – water-repellent surfaces that use the lotus effect and are self-cleaning can be used in a wide variety of applications. An invention by the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research now enables the production of transparent and stable surfaces on which water forms droplets that drip off and remove dirt particles in the process – with the help of so-called “raspberry particles”.
Picture: The water-repellent surface of the lotus plant provides the model for the new technology (Source: MPI for Polymer Research).
License deal: Abberior develops fluorescent dyes for use in high-resolution microscopy
Published 16.04.2012High-tech microscopes are not the only thing needed to obtain crystal clear images from the nanocosmos. Scientists can only make such minute details visible with the help of special fluorescent dyes. Max Planck Innovation, the technology transfer organisation of the Max Planck Society, has signed a licensing agreement with the company Abberior GmbH for the development of such dyes.
© MPI for Biophysical Chemistry
MPI of Neurobiology: New immune defence enzyme discovered
Published 16.04.2012A previously unknown serine protease forms part of the antibacterial defence arsenal of neutrophil granulocytes: Neutrophil granulocytes comprise important defences for the immune system. When pathogenic bacteria penetrate the body, they are the first on the scene to mobilise other immune cells via signal molecules, thereby containing the risk. To this end, they release serine proteases – enzymes that cut up other proteins to activate signal molecules. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have now discovered a new serine protease: neutrophil serine protease 4, or NSP4. This enzyme could provide a new target for the treatment of diseases that involve an overactive immune system, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Picture: Microscope image of normal human bone marrow tissue with stained NSP4 in myeloblasts and myelocytes. © MPI of Neurobiology
MPI for Molecular Biomedicine: Culprit behind unchecked angiogenesis identified
Published 16.04.2012Max Planck researchers discover how drug resistance in tumours may be prevented: Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, is a complex process during which different signalling proteins interact with each other in a highly coordinated fashion. The growth factor VEGF and the Notch signalling pathway both play important roles in this process. VEGF promotes vessel growth by binding to its receptor, VEGFR2, while the Notch signalling pathway acts like a switch capable of suppressing angiogenesis. Until recently, scientists had assumed that Notch cancels the effects of VEGF through the downregulation of VEGFR2. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine and the Westphalian Wilhelms-University in Münster, Germany, were able to demonstrate that defective Notch signalling enables strong and deregulated vessel growth even when VEGF or VEGFR2 are inhibited. In this case, a different VEGF family receptor, VEGFR3, is strongly upregulated, promoting angiogenesis. “This finding might help explain drug resistance issues in certain types of cancer therapy and could become the basis for novel treatment strategies,” suggests Ralf Adams, MPI’s Executive Director and Chair of the Department of Tissue Biology and Morphogenesis.
Picture: Growing blood vessels in the retina of a mouse. Vessels grow from the centre to the outer parts of unsupplied tissue. © MPI for Molecular Biomedicine
MPI for for Molecular Biomedicine: Somatic stem cells obtained from skin cells for first time ever
Published 23.03.2012Skipping pluripotency ‘detour,’ Max Planck researcher Prof. Schöler again takes lead in stem cell research: Breaking new ground, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany, have succeeded in obtaining somatic stem cells from fully differentiated somatic cells. Stem cell researcher Hans Schöler and his team took skin cells from mice and, using a unique combination of growth factors while ensuring appropriate culturing conditions, have managed to induce the cells’ differentiation into neuronal somatic stem cells. “Our research shows that reprogramming somatic cells does not require passing through a pluripotent stage,” explains Schöler. “Thanks to this new approach, tissue regeneration is becoming a more streamlined – and safer – process.”
Picture: Immunofluorescence microscopy image of the induced neural stem cells using antibodies against two neural stem cell markers SSEA1 (red colour) and Olig2 (green colour). © MPI for Molecular Biomedicine
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