30.09.2010 Haltestelle am Hubland verlegt

Bauarbeiten am Roten Platz

Vom 4. Oktober an wird die Bushaltestelle „Universitätsgelände“ am Hubland verlegt. Wegen der Sanierungsarbeiten auf dem „Roten-Platz“ halten die Busse der Linien 10 und 114 vor beziehungsweise nach der Ein- und Ausfahrt zur Tiefgarage.

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29.09.2010 Start signal to stop growth

[Translate to Englisch:] Manfred Schartl

Scientists at the Biocenter and from the Institute of Pharmacology at the University of Würzburg have discovered a gene in a species of fish that triggers puberty. People also carry this gene in their genetic make-up. In humans, it has been associated to date with regulating appetite and body weight.

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22.09.2010 Top Award for Junior Researcher

[Translate to Englisch:] Dr. Gustavo Fernandez

He is Spanish and has made the decision to conduct his research at the University of Würzburg over the next five years. Gustavo Fernández Huertas is going to develop intelligent materials at the Institute for Organic Chemistry. His project is funded by the Humboldt Foundation with a sizable amount of money.

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22.09.2010 Fatal Chain Reaction

[Translate to Englisch:] Diagram Myc-Protein

What happens at the molecular level when a normal body cell is transformed into a tumor cell? Scientists at the Biocenter of the University of Würzburg have now managed to clarify this complex process in some new detail.

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22.09.2010 Stroke: Enzyme kills nerve cells

Aggressive oxygen compounds (red) – including hydrogen peroxide – in the brains of mice after a stroke. Left: untreated; right: treated, shortly after the stroke, with a substance that inhibits the enzyme NOX4. Images: Christoph Kleinschnitz

The enzyme NOX4 is responsible for the death of nerve cells following a stroke. This discovery by researchers from the universities of Maastricht and Würzburg and from the Helmholtz Center in Munich offers new possibilities in therapy for a number of illnesses.

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20.09.2010 How sugar finds its way into wine

That plants which store a lot of sugar taste sweet is a known fact. What is new, however, is that these plants also produce a greater yield and have proven to be far more resistant to cold temperatures. Why this happens to be so has now been examined more closely by scientists from the universities of Würzburg and Kaiserslautern.

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14.09.2010 Plants conserve water by ion channel

The malate-activated anion channel current resembles the electrically excitable ion channels of human nerve cells in terms of its electrical properties (voltage dependency). (Abscissa: voltage in mV; ordinate: current density in picoampere/picofarad). In the background is a leaf section with blue-stained guard cells, and bottom right a single stained pair of guard cells (stoma), both images magnified. The blue dye (GUS) is the result of a molecular biology technique enabling the authors to demonstrate the activity of the anion channel gene or promoter in guard cells.

An ion channel that plants use to protect themselves against drying out has been discovered by Würzburg and Zurich researchers. What is special about it is that it functions in a similar way to the ion channels found in people and animals.

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