news 2017

Multidrug resistance of microbes poses a serious global threat to human health. Such resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae significantly reduce therapeutic options for the treatment of Klebsiella-induced, potentially fatal pneumonia or sepsis.

Illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis may also be associated with lipids. Disorders are difficult to assess due to the diversity of lipids. Graz scientists present a new tool for the analysis of lipids in Nature Methods. No lipids, no life. In all organisms, lipids form cell walls, store energy and release it when necessary, and play an important role in cell signalling.

Hatching eggs in large-scale hatcheries are currently treated with formaldehyde to eliminate germs. Researchers from TU Graz, acib and Roombiotic have now developed a natural alternative. There was a Europe-wide outcry in the summer of 2017 as it emerged that hatching eggs were being treated with the insecticide fipronil, which is harmful to health.

Women born by Caesarean section due to a fetopelvic disproportion (FDP) are more than twice as likely to develop FDP when giving birth than women born naturally. This is the conclusion of a study by a team of evolutionary biologists at the University of Vienna headed by Philipp Mitteroecker. Using a mathematical model, the team was able to explain the paradoxical phenomenon that natural selection did not lead to the reduction in the rates of obstructed labour.

Biomechanics from TU Graz are developing surgical screws from donated human bone material for foot and jaw surgery in a project together with surgebright, a start-up from Linz. To heal broken bones using medical help, the surgical method of choice for decades have been metal screws, mainly made of titanium or stainless steel.

A new imaging technique, Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT), will soon be used to monitor important bodily functions. A collaborative project between TU Wien, the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, has enabled significant progress to be made with this technology.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Vienna have discovered a type of bacteria that uses tiny daggers to prevent itself from being eaten by amoebae. The scientists also resolved the three-dimensional structure of the mechanism that allows the micro-daggers to be shot quickly. Bacteria have to watch out for amoeba.

The agent Atglistatin can reduce the level of fatty acid in the blood. Funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, researchers at the University of Graz and TU Graz want to further develop the agent into a medicine to treat metabolic disorders. Worldwide, some 1.9 billion persons are overweight.

Scientists at the University of Graz and TU Graz have developed an active ingredient that reduces obesity and can prevent type II diabetes as well as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 1.9 billion people are overweight worldwide. 75 per cent suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and 400 million have type II diabetes.

Since a couple of decades, metal-containing drugs have been successfully used to fight against certain types of cancer. The lack of knowledge about the underlying molecular mechanisms slows down the search for new and more efficient chemotherapeutic agents. An international team of scientists, led by Leticia González from the University of Vienna and Jacinto Sá from the Uppsala University, have developed a protocol that is able to detect how metal-based drugs interact with DNA.