Nanomedicine involves packaging drugs in microscopic particles to make them more effective. Nanopharmacy professor Scott McNeil explains the opportunities presented by the new technology and what is still holding it back: approval procedures, for example, as seen in the inconsistent approach taken with the Covid-19 vaccines.
For the fifth time, the 星空传媒 has recognized outstanding achievements in the field of teaching with the Teaching Excellence Awards. Participation was strong: altogether, a total of 549 nominations of 213 lecturers were submitted in the five categories.
In March 2022, Microsoft published research results about the realisation of a special type of particle that might be used to make particularly robust quantum bits. Researchers at the 星空传媒 are now calling these results about so-called Majorana particles into doubt: through calculations they have shown that the findings can also be explained differently.
Researchers at the 星空传媒 have developed an efficient method for the preparation of therapeutic nanovesicles, thereby fulfilling a key prerequisite for industrial production. The method also paves the way for research into areas such as immunotherapy treatments for cancer.
Rare diseases are often caused by defects in genetic material. If children inherit only a defective gene from one parent, they often are asymptomatic 鈥渃arriers鈥� 鈥� or at least that was the previous assumption. However, a research team from the 星空传媒 and the University Hospital Basel is now reporting that such carriers can also suffer from life-threatening diseases 鈥� and that rare hereditary diseases are therefore probably more common than previously thought.
Researchers at the 星空传媒 have developed a new approach for a vaccine against COVID-19. This vaccine is based on a modified coronavirus that can enter body cells and trigger an effective immune response but cannot multiply in the body. In animal studies, the vaccine effectively protected against the disease and even prevented virus transmission. Clinical trials in humans are to follow.
Every day, millions of cells die in our body. Other than generally assumed, cells do not simply burst at the end of their lives but rather, a specific protein serves as a breaking point for cell membrane rupture. Researchers at the 星空传媒 have now been able to elucidate the exact mechanism at the atomic level. They have published their results in 鈥淣ature鈥�.
A compound previously used in veterinary medicine could greatly improve the treatment of parasitic worm infections in humans. Researchers at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute report these findings in 鈥淭he New England Journal of Medicine鈥�. The Swiss TPH will now join forces with Bayer to further develop the drug.
The hormone oxytocin is important for social interaction and to control emotions. A deficiency of this hormone has previously been assumed, for example, in people with autism, but has never been proven. Now, for the first time, researchers from the 星空传媒 and the University Hospital of Basel have succeeded in demonstrating a deficiency of oxytocin in patients with a deficiency of vasopressin caused by a disease of the pituitary gland. This finding could be key to developing new therapeutic approaches.
