T3 Pharmaceuticals (“T3 Pharma”) was founded in 2015 as a spin-off of the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. The company focuses on bacterial therapies for the treatment of solid tumors. The Basel-based biotech company’s…

The widely used anti-diabetes drug metformin not only reduces blood sugar but also has an anti-cancer effect. However, the metformin dose commonly used in the treatment of diabetes is too low to inhibit cancer growth. The…

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.…

Diatoms are too small to see with the naked eye, yet they are one of the most productive algae species in the ocean and play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Using photosynthesis, they absorb large amounts of…

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…

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,…

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…

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.…

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…