Life Sciences and Chemistry

Profos vervollständigt Bakteriophagenprotein Patentportfolio

Das Biotechnologieunternehmen Profos AG hat sich weltweit exklusive Patentrechte des britischen Institute of Food Research (IFR) und des Instituts für Mikrobiologie der Technischen Universität München zur gezielten Identifizierung und Zerstörung gram-positiver Bakterien mittels Bakteriophagenproteine gesichert. Damit hat Profos sein Patentportfolio wesentlich erweitert, das sich bisher bereits u. a. auf den Nachweis und die

The world’s oldest known modern hummingbird fossils have been discovered in Germany. The tiny skeletons are also the first modern-type hummingbird fossils ever found in the Old World. These creatures, with strikingly similar resemblances to today’s hummingbirds, lived in present-day Germany more than 30 million year ago. Although hummingbirds are currently restricted to the Americas, their long-extinct Old World “look-alikes” may have helped determine the shape of some Asian and African flo

Researchers comparing the human genome with the genomes of other species have discovered a surprising number of matching DNA sequences in a variety of vertebrate species, including the mouse, rat, dog, and chicken. The fact that these sequences have remained unchanged over long periods of evolutionary history indicates that they are biologically important, but for now their functions are largely a mystery.

Published May 6 by Science Express (the online edition of the journal Science), these

Dutch researcher Niels Cornelisse used computer models to study the electrochemical communication between cells from rat kidneys and cells from the pituitary gland of a toad species. He found many similarities in the coupling of chemical and electrical signals in these completely different cells.

Cells transmit electrical and chemical signals to other cells to coordinate the various cellular activities in the organism. Cornelisse made a mathematical model for the link between the chemical c

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found that a protein they discovered three years ago in the male reproductive tract is a potent anti-bacterial agent.

In addition to protecting the male against invading bacteria, the protein may aid fertilization by protecting sperm from harmful organisms encountered in the female reproductive tract.

A report of the study, now online, will be published in the July issue of the journal Endocrinology. Designated DEFB1

Looks can be deceiving, the saying goes, and the same can be said of animals in the marine environment. To the casual observer, it would appear that the mighty great white shark and the common tuna don’t have a lot in common. In fact, just the opposite is true, according to new research led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and their colleagues in Germany.

In the first exploration of muscle dynamics in live lamnid sharks (a