news 2024

Better understanding of this natural formation process offers potential for technical developments A new interdisciplinary study led by molecular biologist Florian Raible from the Max Perutz Labs at the University of Vienna provides exciting insights into the bristles of the marine annelid worm Platynereis dumerilii.

Slow electrons are used in cancer therapy as well as in microelectronics. It is very hard to observe how they behave in solids. But scientists at TU Wien have made this possible. Electrons can behave very differently depending on how much energy they have. Whether you shoot an electron with high or low energy into a solid body determines which effects can be triggered.

Liposomal bupivacaine was launched on the market twelve years ago to provide long-lasting local control of pain. The medication is used as a local anaesthetic, particularly for orthopaedic operations. A research study by MedUni Vienna has now shown the limited effectiveness of the substance. The study has just been published in the journal "Anesthesiology", the peer-reviewed journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

In Asian countries, where high-salt foods are popular, the link between high salt consumption and stomach cancer has already been proven. A long-term study by MedUni Vienna has now shown for the first time that this risk is also reflected in the cancer statistics in Europe. As the analysis recently published in the specialist journal "Gastric Cancer" shows, people who frequently add salt to their food are around 40 per cent more likely to develop stomach cancer than those who do not use the salt shaker at the table.

The human brain is not only larger and contains more nerve cells than the control center of other species, it is also networked in a very special way: Thick bundles of nerves connect brain regions like highways over long distances, such as the left and right hemispheres of the brain. A team of researchers at IMBA, in cooperation with MedUni Vienna, has now presented the first organoid model in which these information "highways" can be studied.

A team of materials scientists at the University of Leoben is working on improving medical implants with the help of additive manufacturing. Their research work was recently published in the journal "Advanced Functional Materials". Dipl.-Ing. Sepide Hadibeik, Dr. Florian Spieckermann and Jürgen Eckert from the Department of Materials Science at the University of Leoben, in cooperation with the Swiss Advanced Manufacturing Center in Biel, have used an advanced process for the additive manufacturing of metallic glasses for the first time.

Safely entering potentially unsafe areas with a robot from a distance using VR goggles. Eduardo Veas is making this possible at the Institute of Interactive Systems and Data Science at TU Graz.

Ancient grave find in Wels provides new insights through interdisciplinary research. When a grave was discovered in Wels 20 years ago, the find was thought to be the early medieval double burial of a married couple together with a horse due to its unusual characteristics. Only now has it been possible to clarify the biological sex and relationship of the buried persons using the latest archaeological technologies.

Blocking "switches" of the immune system has revolutionized the treatment of patients with various metastatic cancers. In 2018, the discovery of this principle was recognized by the Nobel Prize in Medicine. An international research team has now shown that the simultaneous inhibition of two "immune switches", PD-1 and LAG-3, can lead to the killing of lung cancer cells after just a few weeks.

PLS (Passenger Lymphocyte Syndrome) is a potentially life-threatening risk in lung transplants that has hardly been researched and is often underestimated in clinical practice. However, the complication occurs more frequently than previously thought, as shown by a recent study at the Department of Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapy in collaboration with the Department of Thoracic Surgery at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna.

Aloe vera, chia, ginger, blueberries, avocado and the like: the title "superfood" has already been awarded to many foods. It stands for fruits, seeds, vegetables and more that are said to have a particularly health-promoting effect in one or more areas due to their ingredients. One of these superfoods was researched as part of a study at the Medical University of Graz by Sandra Holasek from the Department of Immunology at the Otto Loewi Research Center: the local aronia berry and its juice.

New assistant professor at ISTA investigates how cells keep track of time The human body has adapted to Earth's day and night cycle.

Adaptation of the photosynthetic mechanism in air plants (Tillandsia) occurs through gene duplication Researchers at the University of Vienna, along with collaborators from France, Germany, Switzerland and the USA, have achieved a major breakthrough in understanding how genetic drivers influence the evolution of a specific photosynthesis mechanism in Tillandsia (air plants).

Clonal haematopoiesis is a phenomenon caused by mutations in haematopoietic stem cells and can lead to blood cancer. We now know that it occurs also in people with normal blood counts, where it is associated with an increased risk of life-threatening atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. A research team at the Medical University of Vienna has now developed a genetic testing procedure to detect clonal haematopoiesis, which, when used in combination with an ultrasound examination of the carotid artery, allows to identify patients at high cardiovascular risk.

Cannabinoids are endogenous hormones or naturally occurring molecules found in various plants, most commonly known as THC (?9-tetrahydrocannabinol) in cannabis plants. The therapeutic potential of these compounds is the subject of intensive research, yet their psychoactive and addictive properties stimulate intensive debate.

Only a few tree species are flexible enough to survive a century of rapid climate change Europe's forests have already been severely affected by climate change. Thousands of hectares of trees have already died due to drought and bark beetles. Scientists from the University of Vienna and the Technical University of Munich have now investigated which trees can be used for reforestation.

Special thorium-containing crystals, developed over many years at TU Wien, were crucial in tracking down the long-sought thorium transition. Emerald, ruby, amethyst and many other gemstones have one thing in common: they consist of a perfectly regular crystal structure into which foreign atoms are incorporated in low concentrations.

The "thorium transition", which physicists have been looking for for decades, has now been excited for the first time with lasers. This paves the way for revolutionary high precision technologies, including nuclear clocks. Physicists have been hoping for this moment for a long time: for many years, scientists all'around the world have been searching for a very specific state of thorium atomic nuclei that promises revolutionary technological applications.

A recent study in the journal Science takes the most comprehensive look yet at the past and future of global biodiversity: intensive land use reduced biodiversity by up to around 10 percent over the course of the 20th century. By 2050, the climate crisis could become the main factor, alongside land use, for further losses in biodiversity.

Researchers from TU Graz and the University of Graz have digitised a broken altar stone from Lavant so that citizens can put it together on the internet. The aim is to achieve what generations of archaeologists have failed to do. The Bishop's church at Kirchbichl in Lavant in East Tyrol is one of the most important early Christian monuments in Austria.