New targeting opportunities discovered against canine distemper virus

Structure of the canine distemper virus "docking protein" determined and depicted it at molecular level for the first time - and this can also help with measles

16-Mar-2023 - The highly contagious canine distemper virus is dangerous to dogs and wild life animals. It is also closely related to the equally highly contagious measles virus. Researchers at the University of Bern and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences have now for the first time determined the ...

Discovering New Cancer Treatments in the “Dark Matter” of the Human Genome

New tool determines potential targets

10-Oct-2022 - Researchers of the University of Bern and the Insel Hospital, University Hospital Bern, have developed a screening method to discover new drug targets for cancer treatment in the so-called “Dark Matter” of the genome. They applied their method to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the greatest ...

A novel painless and reliable allergy test

In vitro mast cells provide unprecedented reliability

23-Mar-2022 - Although allergies are widespread, their diagnosis is complex and, depending on the type of allergy, the prospects of success with therapy are not always clear. Skin tests so far have been unpleasant, time-consuming and associated with a certain risk of triggering an allergic overreaction. ...

In vitro Zoo helps in understanding SARS-CoV-2

Rhesus macaques and cats as potential spillback reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2

21-Jul-2021 - A team of researchers from the Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK) at the University of Bern and the Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI) have used a unique collection of advanced cell culture models of cells lining the airways from various domesticated and wildlife animals to ...

Predicting success in therapy with individualized cancer models

Further step in the direction of individualized medicine

11-Mar-2021 - Scientists at Urology Research Laboratory of the Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR), University of Bern and Urology Department of the Inselspital of Bern, have established organoid culture models from prostate tumor biopsies. These are small clusters of cells which can be used to test the ...

Researchers create sophisticated lung-on-chip

A fully biodegradable life-sized air-blood-barrier

10-Feb-2021 - In collaboration with clinical partners from the Inselspital, researchers from the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Research of the University of Bern have developed a second-generation lung-on-chip model with life-size dimension alveoli in a stretchable membrane, made of purely biological material. ...

Mechanism discovered how the coronavirus hijacks the cell

A starting point for vaccine and drug development

15-Sep-2020 - Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Bern have discovered a mechanism by which the corona virus manipulates human cells to ensure its own replication. This knowledge will help to develop drugs and vaccines against the corona virus. Like a pirate hijacking a ship, a virus takes control ...

Rapid test for the determination of antibodies against Sars-Cov-2

No elaborate biosafety precautions are necessary

03-Aug-2020 - To determine immunity to Sars-Cov-2 and the effectiveness of potential vaccines, the amount of neutralising antibodies in the blood of recovered or vaccinated individuals must be determined. A traditional neutralisation test usually takes two to three days and must be carried out with infectious ...

Cancer control: Structure of important transport protein solved

Discovery of promising binding site

21-Jun-2019 - For the first time, Bernese researchers have been able to solve the structure of a transport protein and thus to describe the functional mechanism that plays a significant role in the survival of cancer cells. This is an important step towards developing effective inhibitors and fight tumor ...

Turbocharger for the cell machinery

14-Jan-2019 - The classic molecular-biological narrative has a simple form: Gene-RNA-protein. This is what we learned in school: DNA is transcribed into RNA. In the protein factories (the so-called ribosomes), the RNA serves as a kind of punch card - the proteins are assembled by the machinery exactly ...