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Press Releases

A crane takes the researchers to the uppermost treetops to study the seasonal fluctuations of the water balance.

When trees die during a drought event, they die of thirst: A field study on spruce trees shows that an abrupt collapse of the hydraulic system is responsible.

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SONATE-2 in orbit: Visualisation of the new technology testing satellite for highly autonomous payloads and artificial intelligence.

Building a satellite with artificial intelligence on board that is trained in space: For this project, Professor Hakan Kayal from Würzburg is receiving 2.6 million euros from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

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Schematic representation of the coherent control of a spin defect (red) in an atomic layer of boron nitride. Boron nitride consists of boron (yellow spheres) and nitrogen (blue spheres) and lies on a stripline. The spin defect is excited by a laser and its state is read out via photoluminescence. The qubit can be manipulated both by microwave pulses (light blue) of the stripline and also by a magnetic field.

An international research team has made progress towards improved materials for quantum sensor technology. Medicine, navigation and IT could benefit from this in the future.

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During drought, the signalling molecule GABA is produced and inhibits the opening of leaf pores (left). If the enzyme GAD2, which converts glutamate to GABA, is genetically switched off, the pores remain open even during drought - the plants lose more water (centre). If the gene for GAD2 is reintroduced into the closing cells, the defect is reversed. The experiment shows that the sphincter cells autonomously perceive stress and react to it with GABA production.

During drought, plants use a signalling molecule known from animals to limit their water loss. The molecule provides them with a kind of memory of how dry the day was.

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Violet light triggers a signalling chain in the light sensor protein switch-Cyclop, blue or green light stops the chain. At the end, the production of the signalling molecule cGMP is regulated by the enzyme guanylyl cyclase (GC).

New tool for cell biology: Würzburg researchers have developed a light sensor with an enzyme function that can be switched on and off with different light colours.

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Model of the SMN complex, stained yeast cells can be seen in the background.

Capturing the structure of large molecular complexes with variable shape is an extremely difficult task. Scientists from Würzburg and Montpellier now have been able to do it – thanks to a new approach regarding an important protein machine.

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Not an injection, but a capsule that can simply be swallowed: This is what vaccination against Covid-19 could look like in the future.

Scientists at the University of Würzburg together with a pharmaceutical company are working on a novel approach to oral vaccination against the coronavirus.

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Measurements have shown how the hummingbird hawkmoth uses optic flow for flight control and orientation.

How do hawkmoths use visual patterns in different parts of their visual field? While researching this question, a team from the Würzburg Biocentre experienced a surprise.

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Confocal fluorescence images of glass surfaces coated with the cyanine dyes Alexa Fluor 647 (a) and CF660C (b) and with carborhodamine dye ATTO647N (c) after light excitation at 568 nanometres (nm). By exciting the red-absorbing dyes at 640 nm in certain areas (negative images top right), dyes are photoconverted there and it is possible to write letters on the surface that were excited at 568 nm and fluoresce at about 580 nm. The carborhodamine dye shows more efficient photobluing than the cyanine dyes.

An undesirable effect can occur in super-resolution fluorescence microscopy: photoblueing. A new publication in „Nature Methods“ shows how it can be prevented or made useful for research.

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The molecule Larp7 plays an important role in the assembly of snRNP complexes. It accumulates in nerve cells (arrow) where the complexes are formed.

A new signaling pathway has been identified that can prevent the overproduction of certain RNA-protein complexes in neurons. These complexes play an important role in neurodegenerative diseases.

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Babies are able to quickly and seemingly effortlessly acquire a skill as complex as language. They already develop basic skills for this in the first six months of life.

In the process of developing language, the melody patterns that emerge in infants' vocalisations are a very important first step. A new study has shown that the complexity of these patterns rapidly increases in the first months.

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With two additional genes for the enzyme dioxygenase and the light-controlled anion channel ACR1, the tobacco plant can channel salt ions across the cell membrane when exposed to green light. The success can be seen in the experiment: While pollen tubes normally grow in the direction of the egg cell for fertilization, in genetically modified cells they change the direction of growth depending on the exposure to light.

Optogenetics can be used to activate and study cells in a targeted manner using light. Scientists at the University of Würzburg have now succeeded in transferring this technique to plants.

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