Each year, thousands of patients in Swiss hospitals become infected with dangerous pathogens that can hardly be controlled with antibiotics. The methicillin-resistant bacterium Staphylococcus aureus , MRSA for short, is…

When someone is confronted with ‘foreign’ material, be it viruses, bacteria, fungi, but also donor organs following transplantation, immune cells called T cells come into action to inactivate and destroy the ”foreign”…

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…

The blood vessels form a widely ramified supply system that passes through our body from head to toe. They serve as pathways for blood cells and transport oxygen as well as nutrients into each individual organ. In the…

Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders. In Switzerland, about 15,000 people are affected. Because of the worldwide rise in life expectancy, a rapid increase in Parkinson's cases is expected…

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,…

Prof. Markus Affolter about CRISPR/Cas9 Only a few years ago, the gene scissors CRISPR/Cas9 were discovered. It has revolutionized the scientific world, as it has never been so easy to change the genome of organisms. CRISPR…

Walking, breathing, or writing – these movements would not be possible without our muscles. The instructions are given by the nerves that communicate with the muscles through neuromuscular junctions. Damage to or loss of…

Our body keeps bacterial pathogens under control by restricting their access to essential nutrients such as iron. Iron is crucial for all living organisms. When bacteria are deprived of iron, they stop growing and…