Chronic pain is a major global health problem. The drugs that are currently used to treat the condition have limitations, such as side effects and insufficient pain relief. Therefore, research is underway to develop therapeutic antibodies that can target...
Modelling of a population during climate change
Climate change constitutes a selective pressure on populations because increasing temperatures result in a selective advantage or disadvantage for certain individuals depending on their genetic predisposition.We wrote a program to simulate such developments using the example of the reproductive...
Bee Api & Face
Do bees recognize their beekeeper by facial identification? By exploiting the floral constancy and insatiability of bees, we are subjecting foragers to reinforcement learning: we are conditioning them to recognise a beekeeper by associating a reward solely with a...
Toxicity of RedBull (R)
- September 1, 2023
- Biology, European Schools
This study evaluated the toxicity of RedBull, caffeine, sucrose, and taurine. The analysis, done at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology on Zebrafish larvae and PAC 2 cells, tested a range of concentrations of the substances. At 24h exposure, live...
Nanoparticles used as potential carriers of biology active substances boosting the seed germination and growth of arugula (Eruca vesicaria L. Cav.) and lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella locusta latter. Em. Betcke) cultivated under artificial environmental cond
Nowadays, we see a lot of tendencies in the world: climate changes, widespread use of synthetic fertilizers which causes a decrease in soil fertility. We need more food, cultivated even in unfavorable conditions. Our solution to increase crop yields...
Let There Be (Optimal) Light
Vertical farming, where crops are grown vertically indoors, uses more than 600% energy per kg of crops produced compared to traditional greenhouses. By reducing the amount of light exposed to the lettuce plant rocket, a reduction of this energy...
Caffeine as a medicine for apnea How relevant and useful is it to develop a TDM of caffeine?
- September 1, 2023
- Biology, Nederlands
Millions of premature babies suffer from breathing stops lasting more than twenty seconds, called apneas. These arise because the babies’ bodies are not developed enough. Sometimes their brain does not notice oxygen shortages and does not send impulses to...
Study of the R38-K40 ribosome binding site in the Rack1 protein using the Morg1 protein model
- September 1, 2023
- Biology, Czech Republic
Stress granules (SG) are the membraneless organelles which modulate the cells response to stress conditions. The transmission of protein Rack1 into the SG induces cancer cell resistance against some chemotherapeutics. The mechanism of its transfer is difficult to study...
Using network centrality measures as predictors of gene drive deployment outcomes
Gene drives are genetic constructs with super-Mendelian inheritance that can spread engineered alleles in wild populations to suppress disease vectors and invasive species, with deployment programs to begin within a decade. We developed a network-based model of gene drive...