prandd's blog
The current issue of SCIENCE features an article on Simron Singh, a human ecologist and anthropologist, and his work on the Nicobar Islands both before and after the massive tsunami hit Southern Asia in December 2004. In the wake of the disaster, Singh was asked by tribal elders to help them rebuild their society. He helped in many ways and the Austrian Science Fund FWF supported some of his activities. However, as a result of his relief work, the scientist in Singh evolved from an objective observer to an involved supporter then to an active participant in change. SCIENCE describes how he and his colleagues felt about this inevitable development.
A newly established Training and Dissemination Centre (TDcentre) will contribute significantly to the rapid diffusion of scientific knowledge that is being generated by an EU-Integrated Project on RNA Viruses. The TDcentre has now launched its activities with a workshop at the Campus Vienna Biocenter on 28. June. Participants from 15 countries exchanged ideas and facts about the structural analysis of protein domains.
The importance of molecular diagnostics for cancer treatment is set to increase significantly in coming years, according to a symposium held yesterday in Vienna. The reason for organising the symposium was the acquisition of a cutting-edge microarray analyser as part of the EU OVCAD (Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis) project. The device provides what is currently the most sensitive technology for analysing the activity of all human genes and therefore enables the type and progress of cancers to be determined with previously unattainable levels of accuracy.
How do we process numbers? A new project from the Austrian Science Fund – FWF hopes to find the complex answer to this seemingly simple question by building on the recent findings of a team from Innsbruck. These show that while children and adults are equally good at processing numbers, they actually use different regions of the brain to do so. The new project is now comparing the cerebral activity of children with and without numeracy deficits in order to arrive at a deeper knowledge of children’s numerical and spatial magnitude processing.
FIBREX Medical has successfully completed a first dose in man study with its lead product, the anti-inflammatory peptide FX06. FX06 is developed to prevent reperfusion injury, an undesired inflammatory reaction after acute myocardial infarction. The now completed clinical trial measured tolerability and pharmacokinetics of FX06 in healthy volunteers. The study confirmed the excellent safety profile of FX06 that has already been seen in experimental animal studies.
Vienna, April 6, 2006. Affiris (Vienna, Austria) raises EUR 8.5 million in series A round with MIG Funds (Munich, Germany) as sole investor. The milestone-based investment is split among three funds namely MIG Fonds 1 (EUR 1 million), MIG Fonds 3 and 4 (EUR 7.5 million).
At the Campus Vienna Biocenter research has begun into environmental stress-induced changes to the plant genome supported by the Austrian genome program (GEN-AU). A EUR 1.3 million budget has been allocated to the three-year project. Two task groups at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences and five at the Campus will investigate how extreme environmental conditions impact on the plant genome. It is also hoped that evidence will be found to support the hypothesis that inheritable environmental adaptations of living organisms do not occur randomly. Confirmation of this would revolutionise current thinking about heredity.
For the first time DNA analysis can identify paper-degrading microorganisms. This is made possible by a molecular process developed for fungal infected documents at the University of Vienna with support from the Austrian Science Fund FWF. Fungal species can now be clearly identified by means of a DNA region known as ITS1, making it easier to choose effective countermeasures for conserving historic documents.
The Raf-1 protein plays a key role in determining how liver cells react to signals for the activation of a self-destruction program. A group at the Campus Vienna Biocenter has discovered this hitherto unknown function of the long-known signal molecule in murine cells and have now published their findings in The Journal of Cell Biology. Future avenues for the development of therapies for a whole range of liver diseases have been opened up by the results of this project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
Ovarian cancer tumour cells use two separate mechanisms to evade the body’s defensive reaction — and in so doing also elude a newly discovered counteraction from the surrounding tissue. Details on these strategies, which have been observed in 65% of the cancer cells tested, are published today in Clinical Cancer Research by a group at the Medical University of Vienna led by Prof. Michael Krainer. The work, supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, may be a big help in optimising a new cancer therapy candidate.
The protein SPARC plays a key role in the development of heart muscle in the embryo. An Austrian Science Fund FWF project has discovered this previously unknown role of SPARC. The protein has a significant effect on the activity of the genes that are responsible for the emergence of heart cells from initially undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. The results of this project, carried out at the Medical University of Vienna, may enable heart cells to be grown for use in cell therapy for heart attack patients.
Berne, 11 November 2005 - Today, the Balzan Foundation presented the 2005 Balzan Prizes to Peter and Rosemary Grant (GB/USA) of Princeton University, New Jersey (USA) for population biology, to Peter Hall (Great Britain) of University College, London for the social and cultural history of cities since the beginning of the XVI century, to Russell J. Hemley and Ho-kwang Mao (USA) of the Carnegie Institution of Washington for mineral physics and to Lothar Ledderose (Germany) of the Universität Heidelberg for the history of the art of Asia. The winners in each subject area will receive one million Swiss francs (about EUR 650,000). Half of each award must be allocated by the winner for the funding of research projects carried out by young scholars or scientists.
The green light has been given for the first clinical study of a treatment against damage caused by heart attacks. Central to the study is FXO6, a peptide developed and patented by Austro-American company Fibrex Medical. Fibrex will now test the tolerability and pharmacokinetics of FX06 in humans. The peptide reduces inflammatory responses of the heart muscle that can arise after treatment for a myocardial infarction. Tests will begin immediately on the first - healthy - subjects at the Vienna General Hospital.
Female brown bears are driven to having many partners - not because of lust but as part of a sophisticated strategy for protecting future offspring. This surprising discovery is the result of a large-scale project by the Austrian Science Fund FWF in which the bear population in Scandinavia was closely observed in the wild. The data, that goes back for over 20 years, is published today and is contributing to a better understanding of this species which is once again becoming native to Europe.
The expression of two specific genes is almost completely downregulated in ovarian cancer tumours. An extensive analysis of gene expression in ovarian cancer tumour cells has revealed this important finding, which should be an aid to early diagnosis. The insights gained by the research at the Medical University of Vienna with the support of the Austrian Science Fund FWF are also central to a recently launched EU project aimed at optimising ovarian cancer diagnosis.
