Since his time as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Marek Basler has been fascinated by a tiny bacterial injection apparatus, the so-called type 6 secretion system (T6SS). This nanomachine works like…

Each living cell grows and divides, thus generating new offspring. This process is also known as the cell cycle. Strictly speaking, it describes a periodic repetition of two coordinated cycles: the duplication of a cell’s…

Genetic information is protected in the cell nucleus by a membrane that contains numerous nuclear pores. These pores facilitate the traffic of proteins known as importins that deliver molecular cargoes between the nucleus…

The G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) perform very diverse tasks in our body. They enable us to see, taste food, feel cold or warm, or respond to stress. Located on the cell surface, GPCRs sense a large variety of signals…

RNA molecules are individual transcripts of the cell’s DNA. They transfer the genetic information of the DNA and provide a template for the production of proteins that regulate all the cell’s processes. The small carriers of…

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…

Individual visual stimuli are not processed independently by our brain. Rather neurons exchange incoming information to form a coherent perceptual image from the myriad of visual details impinging on our eyes. How our visual…

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,…

The WHO calls the creeping and rapidly growing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria a “silent pandemic”. The crisis is aggravated by the fact that hardly any new drugs have come onto the market in recent decades. Even…

Muscular dystrophy is a term used to describe many different muscular diseases caused by genetic defects. To date, there are no treatments available to stop disease progression. In their study, the scientists led by Prof.…