A Viral Close-Up of a Distinct Virus Related to HIV

“We were expecting a difference from other viruses, but the extent of it completely blew us away”

26-Sep-2024 - Almost everyone knows about HIV. Fewer people know about its relative, HTLV-1. However, HTLV-1 can cause serious illnesses, including cancer. To develop ways to combat this virus, understanding its structure is essential. Martin Obr and Florian Schur from the Institute of Science and Technology ...

Study shows what your favourite film genres reveal about your brain

29-Aug-2024 - Crime films, action films, comedies, or documentaries? A person's favourite film genre reveals a lot about how their brain works. This is the finding of a new study led by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) that compared data on film preferences with recordings of the brain ...

Neurobiology: Washing machine for the brain

08-Aug-2024 - Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of California in San Diego have used microscopic techniques to show for the first time that the blood vessels entering the brain pulsate independently of the heartbeat and brain activity. The waves traveling through the brain may not ...

Scientists develop cost-efficient medical imaging method

Low-field magnetic resonance imaging combined with hyperpolarization

09-Jul-2024 - Max Planck scientists presented a low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner for the development of novel MRI methods at the 73rd Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau. As part of an associated scientific event, two researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in ...

Retina indicates severity of schizophrenia

Study could provide basis for individual prognoses

06-Jun-2024 - In a new study, researchers discovered that the retina of schizophrenia patients differs from the retina of healthy participants. These changes could help psychiatrists to recognize who will have a particularly severe course of illness. From an evolutionary perspective, the retina is an outgrowth ...

AI personalises brain tumour therapy

Progress in the personalised treatment of brain tumours: AI identifies mutations

22-May-2024 - Machine learning (ML) methods can quickly and accurately diagnose mutations in gliomas – primary brain tumours. This is shown by a recent study by Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences (KL Krems). In this study, data from physio-metabolic magnetic resonance images were analysed to ...

Diamond dust shines bright in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Potential alternative to widely used contrast agent gadolinium

30-Apr-2024 - An unexpected discovery surprised a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart: nanometer-sized diamond particles, which were intended for a completely different purpose, shone brightly in a magnetic resonance imaging experiment – much brighter than the actual ...

World's first high-resolution brain developed by 3D printer

New model can advance research into neurodegenerative diseases

22-Mar-2024 - In a joint project between TU Wien and MedUni Vienna, the world's first 3D-printed "brain phantom" has been developed, which is modelled on the structure of brain fibres and can be imaged using a special variant of magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). As a scientific team led by TU Wien and MedUni ...

Single-celled kamikazes spearhead bacterial infection

How a few soldier cells confer virulence to an entire bacterial population by sacrificing themselves

23-Jan-2024 - You suddenly feel sick - pathogenic bacteria have managed to colonize and spread in your body! The weapons they use for their invasion are harmful toxins that target the host’s defense mechanisms and vital cell functions. Before these deadly toxins can attack host cells, bacteria must first ...

A foreign language is transforming the brain

Learning a second language strengthens neural connections in the language network in the left hemisphere of the brain

11-Jan-2024 - Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have unearthed fascinating evidence that the brain undergoes important changes in wiring when we embark on the journey of learning a new language in adulthood. They organized a large intensive German learning ...