In 2012, the "European Autism Interventions - A Multicentre Study for Developing New Medications" (EU-AIMS) was launched as a collaboration for research for the treatment of autism. The aim of this collaboration is to…

Congenital muscular dystrophy is a rare hereditary disease which cannot be cured. The more than 30 known forms of this neuromuscular disease differ in the type of genetic defect and in the severity of disease progression.…

Odors, light, hormones and a tremendous variety of signaling molecules are recognized by a large family of cell receptors, known as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). They are located on the cell surface and transduce…

In the course of evolution, the human body has developed diverse strategies to protect itself from harmful substances. In the intestine, the placenta and also in the blood-brain barrier are tiny transport proteins, which…

Be it through mucosa or the intestinal lining, different tissues and surfaces of our body are entry gates for bacterial pathogens. The first few seconds - the moment of touch - are often critical for successful infections.…

The ability of pathogens to multiply in the host is crucial for the spread of infections. The speed of bacterial division greatly depends on the environmental conditions. Under unfavorable conditions, such as nutrient…

Recognizing their offspring by smell ensures animal parents can nurture their own young. The research group led by Prof. Fiona Doetsch at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has now demonstrated in mice that new nerve cells…

The brain is malleable well into adulthood. Brain plasticity is not only due to the formation of new nerve connections. Stem cells present in the adult brain also generate new nerve cells. For more than a hundred years,…

Until recently, it was assumed that vertebrates share similar mechanisms controlling sleep behavior. That's why researchers have been using fish in the past 20 years as a model organism to study sleep and its regulation. Now…

Many bacteria adopt a fascinating defense strategy by forming communities on surfaces, known as biofilms. We encounter such biofilms in our daily lives, for example, as dental plaque in the mouth, slimy films on stones in…