Press Releases

Ambrosia beetles are fascinating: they practice agriculture with fungi and they live in a highly developed social system. Biologist Peter Biedermann has now discovered new facts about them.

On the track of evolution: a catalytically active RNA molecule that specifically attaches methyl groups to other RNAs – a research group from the University of Würzburg reports on this new discovery in "Nature".

The most important pathogenicity factors of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori are centrally regulated by a small RNA molecule, NikS. And this was not the only surprise that NikS provided.

The carnivorous Venus flytrap snaps shut when a prey touches it twice within 30 seconds. In the journal Nature Plants researchers report on how this plant's short-term memory and counting system works.

Minor changes in immune cells can significantly affect the immune response, scientists of the University of Würzburg have now discovered. Their findings could be relevant for stem cell therapy.

Specialized immune cells settle permanently in tissues of the body and build “local task forces”. Wuerzburger scientists have recently discovered, how these cells can regenerate themselves and can adapt to the new environment.

Researchers at the universities of Würzburg and Frankfurt have developed a new compound for treating cancer. It destroys a protein that triggers its development.

The immune system will memorize the pathogen after an infection and can therefore react promptly after reinfection with the same pathogen. Now, scientists at the University of Würzburg have deciphered new details of this process.

Please do not disturb: After forest fires, bark beetle infestations and other damage, the affected forests should not be cleared. Researchers report this in the journal Nature Communications.

A new site of the German National Center for Tumour Diseases will be established in Bavaria. It will be coordinated from Würzburg; Erlangen, Regensburg and Augsburg are also involved.

Researchers from the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Würzburg show that popular mobile messengers expose personal data via discovery services that allow users to find contacts based on phone numbers from their address book.

The industrial conversion of nitrogen to ammonium provides fertiliser for agriculture. Würzburg chemists have now achieved this conversion at room temperature and low pressure using only light elements.

The long-term expression of genes in vertebrate organs predisposes these genes to be subsequently utilized in other organs during evolution. The scientists Kenji Fukushima and David D. Pollock report this finding in the journal Nature Communications.

Astrophysicist Sara Buson wants to explore "monsters of the universe" – blazars that eject particles with unimaginable energies. For this project she is receiving 1.5 million euros from the European Research Council.

Chemist Crispin Lichtenberg has won a EUR 1.5 million Starting Grant of the European Research Council. He wants to use the money to study the potential of novel chemical compounds.