A “chemical ChatGPT” for new medications

AI learns chemical connections

25-Oct-2024 - Researchers from the University of Bonn have trained an AI process to predict potential active ingredients with special properties. Therefore, they derived a chemical language model – a kind of ChatGPT for molecules. Following a training phase, the AI was able to exactly reproduce the chemical ...

Breakthrough in research on brown fat

Hope for strategies that support weight loss: Researchers from Denmark and Germany have found brown fat’s “off-switch"

30-Apr-2024 - Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, the Novo Nordisk Center for Adipocyte Signaling (SDU), the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have found a protein that is responsible for turning off brown fat activity. This new discovery could lead to a promising ...

"Growing end" of inflammation discovered

Stopping chronic inflammatory diseases

20-May-2022 - Redness, swelling, pain - these are signs of inflammation. It serves to protect the body from pathogens or foreign substances. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Cologne were able to show that inflammatory reactions of an important sensor protein proceed in a specific spatial ...

Milk may exacerbate MS symptoms

Cow's milk protein triggers autoimmune response in mice that damages neurons

03-Mar-2022 - Multiple sclerosis sufferers often complain of more severe disease symptoms after consuming dairy products. Researchers at the Universities of Bonn and Erlangen-Nuremberg have now found a possible cause for this. According to the study, a protein in cow's milk can trigger inflammation that ...

Researchers film fundamental life process

Study provides more detailed insights into the formation of ribosomes

29-Oct-2021 - All proteins in a cell are assembled by complicated molecular machines. The precursors of these ribosomes are produced in the cell nucleus and then enter the cell through the so-called nuclear pores. Researchers at the University of Bonn and ETH Zurich have now filmed this fundamental process in ...

Researchers investigate structural changes in snap-frozen proteins

A novel method allows visualization of molecular motions lasting a few millionths of a second

03-May-2021 - Researchers at the University of Bonn and the research center caesar have succeeded in ultra-fast freezing proteins after a precisely defined period of time. They were able to follow structural changes on the microsecond time scale and with sub-nanometer precision. Owing to its high spatial and ...

Molecule attacks coronavirus in a novel way

29-Mar-2021 - Scientists at the University of Bonn and the caesar research center have isolated a molecule that might open new avenues in the fight against SARS coronavirus 2. The active ingredient binds to the spike protein that the virus uses to dock to the cells it infects. This prevents them from entering ...

Cellular protein shredders for the fight against cancer

How a cellular mechanism can be used for other purposes

27-Mar-2020 - An international team of researchers led by the Universities of Bonn and Ulm has investigated how a cell’s own "protein shredder" can be specifically programmed to fight cancer. The researchers were able to demonstrate the degradation of proteins that are overly active in breast cancer, for ...

Blue light for RNA control

Researchers regulate the activity of RNA molecules

02-Sep-2019 - Messenger RNA molecules contain genetic information and thus control the synthesis of proteins in living cells. Biochemists at the University of Bayreuth and the University of Bonn have now discovered a way to regulate this process which is central to gene expression: Certain actinobacteria ...

How plague pathogens trick the immune system

Researchers show how an enzyme changes its shape and promotes the infection

16-Jul-2019 - Yersinia have spread fear and terror, especially in the past, but today the plague pathogens have still not been completely eradicated. The bacteria inject various enzymes, including the enzyme YopO, into the macrophages of the immune system. There it is activated and prevents the defense cells ...