News archive

Gene evolution: Not only copies

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 18:48

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön have examined genes from human, mouse, zebrafish and stickleback. They refuted the thesis that new genes are created simply from copies of old genes.

A group of American and Japanese researchers using the functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography succeeded in elucidating the processes in the brain that lead to an self-overestimation. The researchers published their findings in the Journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS).

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Sony DADC announced a collaboration that will harness Sony DADC’s global manufacturing expertise to further advance the Institute’s Organs-on-Chips technologies.

Baden-Württemberg wants to be a model in biomedical research and provides additional money for the development of alternatives to animal testing.

A new study of the Animal Welfare Academy in Neubiberg near Munich, which was funded by the Foundation for the Promotion of Alternative and Complementary Methods to Reduce Animal Testing (set), has found that in the context of the European chemicals directive REACH still avoidable animal experiments are carried out despite existing replacement process.

Genome of HeLa cells deciphered

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 18:56

More than 60 years after the first successful cultivation of HeLa cells in a Petri dish scientists from Heidelberg have deciphered the genetic makeup of these cells.

Today the last stage of the 7th Amendment to the Cosmetics Directive became legally effective. Thus, a sale and import both cosmetics as well as their ingredients and additives that have been tested on animals, is no longer permitted.

Brain researchers from Tübingen and Münster have "treated" a common variant of Parkinson's disease using a human stem cell culture thus gaining new insights in the field, without using animals.

USA: Human brain to be mapped

Tuesday, 19 February 2013 19:03

In the United States, a multi-billion dollar project named “Brain Activity Project” has been launched, with the goal of creating a detailed map of the human brain.

Researchers at the Universität Regensburg, colleagues at the Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena – University of Applied Sciences led by Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Feller and four industrial partners have developed a microfluidic chip system for measuring the skin-friendliness of cosmetics.