The degradation and regeneration of myelin sheaths characterise neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Cholesterol is an indispensable component of myelin sheaths. The cholesterol for the regenerated myelin sheaths must therefore either be recycled from damaged myelin or produced again locally. In a recent study, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, led by Gesine Saher, found that in the case…

During protein synthesis, both transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and messenger RNA (mRNA) move rapidly through the ribosome. This movement is GTPase-powered by elongation factor G (EF-G). Niels Fischer, Marina Rodnina, and co-workers at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have visualized the steps of ongoing translocation by time-resolved cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) revealing how a small local event drives large-scale…

The director at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen was honored by the German Chemical Society (GDCh) for her research in the field of biochemistry. She received the prize in a ceremony on October 21, 2021. Proteins are involved in virtually all processes in living cells. However, they can only fulfill their tasks if they are produced without errors. Ribosomes, the ‘protein factories’ of living cells, play a…

Three years have passed since a spontaneous idea provided the impetus for the biotope project BioDiversum. With this project, the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen wants to provide habitats for endangered animal and plant species. On October 18, the BioDiversum was finally inaugurated. Guest of honor was the well-known ornithologist and conservationist Peter Berthold, who despite his old age never tires of…

The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants that can spread rapidly and undermine vaccine-induced immunity threatens the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The delta variant (B.1.617.2) emerged in India and subsequently spread globally within a short time period. Also in Germany, almost all recent infections are due to this variant. In addition to Delta, so-called Delta Plus sub-variants have been observed, which carry additional mutations that may make…

By this, he demonstrated that climate models can deliver reliable predictions despite short-term weather fluctuations, proving also the connection of increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and global warming. Klaus Hasselmann completed his doctoral thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS) in 1957 before he continued his scientific career at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. The…

The mechanism of molecular self-organization was assessed in a new model by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS). In their study, they simulated how environmental factors such as temperature influence the size of oil droplets in elastic matrices. The study will also help understanding droplet formation in biological cells, where biological molecules self-organize in condensates. The full paper was…

For researching new methods to track cellular processes, Stefan Glöggler of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and the Center for Biostructural Imaging of Neurodegeneration of the University Medical Center Göttingen (Germany) is awarded with the Felix Bloch lecture by the German Chemical Society (GDCh). He received the prize on September 29. Glöggler and his team recently succeeded in developing new efficient and fast methods to…

Cells, the fundamental building blocks of all living organisms, stick to other cells via a process called cell adhesion. For multicellular organisms like ourselves, cell adhesion plays a crucial role in our immune response, in wound healing and cancer development, and it prevents us from degrading into a pool of individual cells. The last twenty years of experiments and theory have shown that cell adhesion may be accurately described by a model…

The direction of movement of a microbe directly depends on the curvature of its environment – this is the key finding of a recent publication in the journal PNAS with participation of the universities of Loughborough, Düsseldorf and Bayreuth, as well as the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS) in Göttingen. The researchers investigated the navigation of a model microbe, a small self-propelling microalga, in confined…