https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf The element sodium plays a key role in nervous system function. An international research team headed by the Institute of Neurobiology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now conducted a closer examination of the sodium concentration in astrocytes—special cells in the brain. To achieve this, the researchers developed a method via which they can make the sodium content of individual cells in tissue directly visible, as they now describe in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cell-sodium-reveals-astrocytes-uniform.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2026 16:20:04 EDT news698593262 The need for medical treatments for rare diseases such as Leigh syndrome is high. However, low patient numbers make research into treatments difficult. Together with a team from the University of Luxembourg, researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) have succeeded in utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to establish a model that enables a better understanding of Leigh syndrome. In the course of this work, they succeeded in identifying new drug candidates for the treatment of the disease. The study is now published in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-screening-brain-organoids-uncovers.html Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:20:06 EDT news695898854 Metastases are a key problem in many types of cancer. As descendants of the primary tumor, they can grow in other organs distant from the primary site and are often difficult to identify. A research team from the Institute of Genetics at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now identified molecular mechanisms which can enable cancer cells to colonize other tissue. The team led by Dr. Tobias Reiff has published findings in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-hamelin-assay-molecular-mechanisms-cancer.html Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:20:03 EDT news694787821 Lymph nodes are key control centers in the immune system and play an important role in defending the body against infections and tumors. For these processes to function properly, immune cells (B cells and T cells) must be organized in a precise spatial pattern in the lymph node tissue, for example in so-called B cell follicles and T cell zones. They are controlled by stromal cells (non-hematopoietic structural cells). They release messenger substances called chemokines, creating signals to guide the immune cells to their designated positions in the lymph node. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-cell-chemokine-collapse-aggressive-lymphoma.html Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:20:01 EDT news693677881 Iron is an essential trace element in biological cells. The concentration of the element and its so-called redox state—it can exist either in a doubly ionized state as iron (II) (Fe2+) or a triply ionized state as iron (III) (Fe3+)—play a key role in metabolic processes such as cellular respiration and in microbial stress responses. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-biosensor-enables-real-tracking-iron.html Biochemistry Sun, 25 Jan 2026 10:00:01 EST news688319822 Is complex social behavior genetically determined? Yes, as a team of biologists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) together with colleagues from Bochum and Paris discovered while studying bees. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-male-bees-food-behavior-genetic.html Evolution Mon, 22 Dec 2025 15:28:26 EST news685639675 The group of rare earth elements (REEs) comprises a total of 17 elements, all of which possess similar chemical properties. In addition to the two lightest elements, scandium and yttrium, the group also includes lanthanum, cerium and neodymium, as well as the radioactive promethium. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-rare-earth-elements-peptides-life.html Biochemistry Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:21:29 EST news685286461 Conditions can get rough in the micro- and nanoworld. For example, to ensure that nutrients can still be optimally transported within cells, the minuscule transporters involved need to respond to the fluctuating environment. Physicists at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and Tel Aviv University in Israel have used model calculations to examine how this can succeed. They have now published their results—which could also be relevant for future microscopic machines—in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-tiny-particles-surf-microcosmic-energy.html General Physics Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:26:19 EST news685031161 It sounds bizarre, but they exist: crystals made of rotating objects. Physicists from Aachen, Düsseldorf, Mainz and Wayne State (Detroit, U.S.) have jointly studied these exotic objects and their properties. They easily break into individual fragments, have odd grain boundaries and evidence defects that can be controlled in a targeted fashion. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-exotic-roto-crystals-individual-fragments.html General Physics Tue, 21 Oct 2025 09:36:03 EDT news680258161 Bacteria are constantly moving with the help of motility organs called flagella or pili to colonize new niches. Also, bacteria can exchange information, like "speaking to each other," and thus acquire new abilities through the exchange of DNA materials. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-mechanisms-bacterial-motility-dna-bacteria.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 26 Sep 2025 11:34:03 EDT news678105241 The molecular hydrogen ion H₂⁺ is the simplest molecule. This simplicity makes it a perfect study object for physicists, as its properties—for example, its energy levels—can be calculated precisely. In turn, this enables theoretical predictions to be compared with experimental measurements to determine whether the theories reflect reality correctly. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-physicists-precision-proton-electron-mass.html General Physics Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:35:08 EDT news676647297 Plants produce all the amino acids essential for human life. This commonly occurs in specialized cell organelles, so-called plastids. A research team headed by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now decoded the mechanism by which plants distribute these amino acids within their organisms. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-re1-proteins-emerge-key-players.html Plants & Animals Fri, 22 Aug 2025 12:37:03 EDT news675085021 Avoiding the formation of unwanted clusters of similar elements when dividing data into groups is of great importance for the analysis of medical data. Psychologists and computer scientists from Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf (HHU) developed a new method to solve this "anticlustering" problem in 2020. Together with researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), they have now developed an extension, which is important for analysis of high-throughput sequencing data and more. The researchers describe their new tool in the context of an application to the chronic disease endometriosis in the journal Cell Reports Methods. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-allocation-anticlustering-method-sequencing-analysis.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:38:32 EDT news674746708 Natural genetic variation in the genome ensures biodiversity and drives evolution. However, as natural evolutionary processes require millennia, we cannot wait for them to adapt crop plants to the rapidly changing climatic conditions. To safeguard global food security, researchers must accelerate the identification of appropriate natural DNA variants to improve crop plant performance under stress conditions. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-climate-resilient-crop-method-reveals.html Biotechnology Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:22:03 EDT news674396521 How can a horde of active robots be automatically brought to a standstill? By arresting their dynamics in a self-sustained way. This phenomenon was discovered by physicists at Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf (HHU) and La Sapienza University in Rome. The threshold principle of static friction with the ground plays a decisive role here: it removes the kinetic energy of two robots after a mutual collision so efficiently that they can no longer set themselves in motion. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-friction-cools-threshold-effects-enable.html General Physics Wed, 06 Aug 2025 12:10:04 EDT news673700769 Why do violent conflicts between groups persist—even when all sides suffer as a result? Researchers from psychology and medicine at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have now examined the dual effect of physiological stress messengers on social behavior in intergroup conflicts. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-stress-group-bonds-fuels-intergroup.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 15 Jul 2025 09:52:27 EDT news671791940 Mitochondria are cell organelles surrounded by a double membrane. In addition to numerous essential functions in the metabolism of the cell, they also play a key role in the integration of signals into the cell, which are critical for the development of cancer and in the immune response. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-fundamental-role-membrane-mitochondria.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 10 Jul 2025 13:32:13 EDT news671373120 Virtually all light-emitting diodes used today require phosphors based on so-called rare-earth elements, which are expensive and challenging to obtain. In a collaborative research project between Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and the University of Innsbruck, chemists have now demonstrated that the element manganese is in principle also suitable for such applications. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-sustainable-manganese-based-phosphors-white.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 18 Jun 2025 12:02:09 EDT news669466920 Earthworms often form a cluster, from which they can barely free themselves. A similarly active, writhing structure forms when the tentacles of lion's mane jellyfish become entangled. Robotic grippers utilize this principle by using multiple synthetic flexible arms to grip and move objects. And such interlinked self-propelled filaments can also be found at the smaller micrometer scale, for example in a biological cell. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-movement-entangled-cluster-worms-polymer.html Soft Matter Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:51:04 EDT news669297062 Biofilms are conglomerates of bacteria and other organisms, which are feared in medicine as well as other areas because they can contain pathogens and are highly resistant to treatment. Chemists at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have, in collaboration with colleagues from Munich and Groningen, examined how the polysaccharide "Pel"—a central component of many biofilms—is exported out of the cell by the pathogen P. aeruginosa. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-pelbc-complex-bacteria-antibiotic-resistant.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 11 Jun 2025 14:21:04 EDT news668870462 Grasses have evolved a wide variety of inflorescences, in which the seeds are arranged in many different ways: Some types form complex, branched inflorescences with multiple seeds, while others—such as barley—have much simpler inflorescences. In barley, each individual grain forms on a short axis called a "rachilla." https://phys.org/news/2025-05-barley-grain-production-linked-peptide.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 20 May 2025 14:35:03 EDT news666970501 Protons are the basic building blocks of matter. Together with neutrons, they form atomic nuclei. These minute, positively charged particles have an antimatter counterpart, antiprotons. While the latter have a negative charge and a reversed magnetic moment, they are otherwise identical to protons—at least according to the Standard Model of particle physics. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-penning-enables-loss-free-protons.html General Physics Wed, 14 May 2025 14:17:04 EDT news666451021 Are there areas of the brain that regulate prosocial, altruistic behavior? Together with colleagues from the universities in Lausanne, Utrecht and Cape Town, researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have studied a very special group of patients and established that the "basolateral amygdala" (part of the limbic system) plays an important role in this. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-rare-disease-uncovers-amygdala-impact.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:00:32 EDT news663865226 Bioinformaticians from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and the university in Linköping (Sweden) have established that the genes in bacterial genomes are arranged in a meaningful order. In the journal Science, they explain that the genes are arranged by function: If they become increasingly important for faster growth, they are located near the origin of DNA replication. Accordingly, their position influences how their activity changes with the growth rate. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-strategic-gene-placement-bacteria-insights.html Evolution Thu, 10 Apr 2025 16:04:16 EDT news663519852 Damage to the genetic material of mitochondria—the mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA for short—can lead to diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Such damage also speeds up the aging process. However, the cells are normally capable of identifying such damage and reacting. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-cells-mitochondria-uncovers-specialized-recycling.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 07 Apr 2025 11:09:03 EDT news663242941 Organelles in cells were originally often independent cells, which were incorporated by host cells and lost their independence in the course of evolution. A team of biologists headed by Professor Dr. Eva Nowack at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) are examining the way in which this assimilation process occurs and how quickly. They now describe their findings about an intermediate stage in this process in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-organelle-evolves-symbiosis-cell-intermediate.html Evolution Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:00:06 EDT news661593038 The international Healthy Crops consortium has developed an innovative strategy to combat the disease bacterial blight (for short: BB) in rice using genome editing technology. If approved for use by farmers in Kenya, the BB-resistant rice varieties are expected to reduce yield losses associated with the disease in the affected rice growing regions and increase productivity. The work is a collaboration between Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU). https://phys.org/news/2025-02-genome-rice-resistance-bacterial-blight.html Biotechnology Thu, 20 Feb 2025 10:10:01 EST news659267645 How can aromatic compounds be separated from aliphatic compounds efficiently without having to rely on energy-intensive processes? In an article published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, chemists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) present an innovative molecular sieve made of partially fluorinated macrocycles that can separate these compounds selectively. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-supramolecular-machine-aromatic-aliphatic-compounds.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 11 Dec 2024 14:13:04 EST news653148781 Researchers at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) are collaborating with colleagues from Frankfurt/Main, Oxford and Würzburg to investigate how the complex, cooperative behavior of honeybees (Apis mellifera) is genetically programmed so that it can be passed on to subsequent generations. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-honeybee-gene-behavior.html Ecology Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:00:01 EDT news649668421 A research team from Germany and the U.S. led by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has developed a data description that can provide results from fluorescence measurements for structural and dynamic modeling of large biomolecules. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-3d-biomolecules-dictionaries-fluorescence-based.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:21:55 EDT news648742911