The protein complex mTORC2 plays a crucial role in the regulation of cellular metabolism. It stimulates, for example, the production of lipids and fatty acids, but it also controls carbohydrate metabolism. In the past,…

The production of proteins is the most energy-consuming activity of cells. It needs to be tightly regulated, to ensure efficient use of cellular resources. Researchers led by Prof. Mihaela Zavolan at the Biozentrum have now…

In order to combat diseases, different therapies strive to intervene in pathological processes that occur in the cell nucleus. Chemotherapies, for example, target biochemical reactions that are involved in the proliferation…

Food scarcity, toxins, or pathogens: to survive, organisms must be able to respond to diverse environmental conditions and adapt their behavior appropriately. Parents pass on information about the prevailing living…

You are likely to lose around one third of your muscle mass over your lifetime. An excessive loss of muscle mass and muscle strength is known as sarcopenia. As life expectancy increases, so does the number of people…

In 1949, the Canadian psychologist Donald O. Hebb described that connections between neurons become stronger when the neurons are active at the same time, and that strengthened connections facilitate signal transmission. The…

The 2019 Nakasone Award was announced during the World Conference of Science Journalists in Lausanne, on Tuesday 2th July. “Michael Hall’s groundbreaking work expands the frontiers of science and enables us to begin to…

Every single cell of our body contains hundreds of tiny power plants, the mitochondria, which produce the energy required by the body, whether it be for walking, digesting or to ponder ideas. This inevitably generates…

Cells are the building blocks of all living creatures. In order to form a complex organism and stay healthy, cells need to communicate with each other and integrate the response within themselves. A group of enzymes,…

Misfolded proteins are non-functional and cause cell damage. In order to prevent this, there is a whole arsenal of proteins – called chaperones – that assist with folding and carry out quality control. In the bacterium…