Nerve cells can regulate their sensitivity to incoming signals autonomously. A new study led by the University of Bonn has now discovered a mechanism that does just that. The German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior were involved in the work. The results have now been published in the journal Cell Reports. 

Following a two-year enforced hiatus due to COVID-19, the Universitätsgesellschaft Bonn’s traditional winter soirée returned this year. Held in the main auditorium in the University Main Building, it included a ceremony at which the UGB prizes were presented in recognition of exceptional doctoral theses and student engagement.

For several years now, the CRISPR/Cas9 gene scissors have been causing a sensation in science and medicine. This new tool of molecular biology has its origins in an ancient bacterial immune system. It protects bacteria from attack by so-called phages, i. e. viruses that infect bacteria. Researchers from the Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), in cooperation with the partner University of St Andrews in Scotland and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Hamburg, have now discovered a new function of the gene scissors. The study was published in the scientific journal "Nature".

Success for a research alliance of the University of Bonn, the Technical University of Dresden and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU): The Collaborative Research Center (SFB)/Transregio 237 "Nucleic Acid Immunity" has convinced with its research work of the past four years. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding it for another period with around ten million euros. As planned, the function of spokesperson will be transferred from Prof. Dr. Gunther Hartmann of the University of Bonn to Prof. Dr. Veit Hornung of the LMU.

In severe epilepsies, surgical intervention is often the only remedy - usually with great success. While neuropsychological performance can recover in the long term after successful surgery, on rare occasions, unexpected declines in cognitive performance occur. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now been able to show which patients are at particularly high risk for this. Their findings have been published in the journal "Annals of Neurology." They may help identify affected individuals for whom surgery should be avoided. Instead, new treatment prospects are emerging for these patients.
 
 

The World Reputation Ranking, published by the prestigious magazine “Times Higher Education” (THE), has named the University of Bonn as one of the top 100 universities in the world. Its position in the group ranked 91st–100th marks a very strong performance by the University, which has also come an outstanding sixth within Germany.
 
 

Antibiotics are major weapons in the fight against bacterial infections. However, antibiotics are increasingly losing efficacy due to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a most serious threat, that besides limiting our option to treat bacterial infections, also restricts modern medical therapies and treatments, such as chemotherapy, transplantation and surgery.