Research Highlights

Researchers suspect that neurodegenerative diseases occur when messenger RNA (mRNA) goes astray in the neuron. With a new method, Marina Chekulaeva is able to identify “zipcodes” that assign a destination to mRNAs. She has now presented her method in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Combining single-cell data with a self-learning algorithm reveals how structural changes in chromosomes can trigger cancer. This new method could pave the way for personalized cancer treatments, writes a team led by Ashley Sanders in “Nature Biotechnology”.

A group of international researchers – among them Stephan Mathas from the ECRC – has found that changing a single segment of the genome causes a previously unknown immunodeficiency in humans. The paper, which appears in Science Immunology, reports the discovery of a point mutation in the transcription factor IRF4.

For nearly two decades, Oliver Daumke has been working to solve the mystery of how a molecular machine remodels cellular membranes. His team has now found the answer with the help of cryo-electron tomography. They report their findings in the journal “Nature Communications”.

To perform coordinated movements, we rely on special sensory neurons in our muscles and joints. Without them, the brain wouldn’t know what the rest of our body was doing. A team led by Niccolò Zampieri has studied their molecular markers to better understand how they work and describes the results in “Nature Communications”.

Cephalopods like octopuses, squids and cuttlefish are highly intelligent animals with complex nervous systems. In “Science Advances”, a team led by Nikolaus Rajewsky of the Max Delbrück Center has now shown that their evolution is linked to a dramatic expansion of their microRNA repertoire.

An overactive enzyme that causes an inherited form of high blood pressure also appears to protect against hypertension-induced cardiac damage. A team of researchers from the Max Delbrück Center, ECRC, and DZHK led by Enno Klußmann explains in the journal Circulation how this could fundamentally change the way hearts can be protected from damage.

Algorithms developed at the Max Delbrück Center are able to quickly detect new SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater. But that’s not all: the tool, which Altuna Akalin and his colleagues have now presented in “Science of the Total Environment”, can also find other pathogens.

Peering into single cells reveals new insights into acute kidney injury. Reporting in “Genome Medicine” and “Kidney International”, research teams at BIMSB, Charité and MHH describe novel gene expression patterns that may lead to new therapeutic approaches and strategies for biomarker discovery.

A new therapeutic agent may offer hope to young people suffering from a severe form of muscle cancer. As a research team led by Anton Henssen reports in “Nature Communications”, this agent prevents the repair of DNA damage in cancer cells, ultimately causing their death.