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They are small, adaptable and dangerous: trypanosomes - seen here in the intestine of the tsetse fly.

Using a new approach, scientists are applying the techniques of physics to investigate the relationships between parasites and their hosts. The programme is led by the Würzburg cell biologist Markus Engstler.

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When two species of a natural Xiphophorus population in Mexico mate, their offspring frequently exhibit large black skin lesions that turned out to be melanoma.

Environmental pollution is responsible for matings between two fish species that usually don't mix. In their offspring, scientists have now identified genes relevant for the development of skin cancer.

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Picture of a herpes virus

The genome of the herpes simplex virus 1 was decoded using new methods. Hundreds of previously unknown gene products were found. The virus causes lip herpes, but can also be life-threatening.

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The main protease (green) is a key molecule that helps the virus to replicate. A suitable drug (in red as a ball-and-stick model) could inhibit the molecule function.

Dr. Andrea Thorn, a structural biologist from Würzburg, is leading an international coronavirus research network. The results of her work are important for developing vaccines and drugs.

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The distribution of the glutamate receptor mGluR4 and other proteins in the presynaptic membrane Left a high-resolution dSTORM image. On the right, the result obtained with conventional fluorescence microscopy – molecular details are not visible here.

"Distance keeping" is not exactly the motto of the glutamate receptors: Using high-resolution microscopy, it now was discovered that the receptors usually appear in small groups at the synapses and are in contact with other proteins.

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Continuing education has a positive effect on the employees‘ loyalty.

Company training increases the loyalty of its employees. Loyalty also increases if the training improves the employees' chances on the labour market.

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In expansion microscopy, the preparation is magnified more than four times. Here, a germ tube of Aspergillus fumigatus is shown before and after expansion; the scale corresponds to ten micrometers. The plasma membrane (turquoise) and the mitochondria (pink) were stained. (Picture: Ulrich Terpitz / University of Würzburg)

For the first time, the cells of fungi can also be analysed using a relatively simple microscopic method. Researchers from Würzburg and Cordoba present the innovation in the journal "Frontiers in Microbiology".

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This is what it could look like once the small satellite INNOcube is in orbit. (Picture: Chair of Computer Science VIII / University of Würzburg)

It does not require any cabling and its supporting structure is at the same time a battery: research teams from Braunschweig and Würzburg are working on such a cleverly constructed small satellite.

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The sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) (Photo: Andreas Hartl)

Sturgeons lived on earth already 300 million years ago and yet their external appearance seems to have undergone very little change. A team of researchers from Würzburg and Berlin has now succeeded in sequencing their genome.

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A funnel of light

03/27/2020
The figure shows how light is caught through the light funnel (Graphic: University Rostock / Alexander Szameit).

Physicists of the University of Würzburg, in a joint collaboration with colleagues from the University of Rostock, have developed a light funnel apparatus. It could serve as a new platform for hypersensitive optical detectors.

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Using special ligands, it was possible to prove that opioid receptors are also present as pairs of two in the cell membrane.

It could be an important step forward in the improvement of pain therapy: Thanks to newly developed molecular probes, the behavior of individual opioid receptors can now be studied in detail.

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Slow down the spread of the new coronavirus: That is the order of the day.

Time will tell whether the drastic measures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus will be effective. Lars Dölken, Professor of Virology at the University of Würzburg, urges patience.

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