When did the enamel that covers our teeth evolve? And where in the body did this tissue first appear? In the latest issue of Nature, researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden and the IVPP in Beijing, China arrive at an unexpected answer to this question: enamel originated in the skin and colonized the teeth much later.
A new smart research robot accelerates research on cancer treatments. The new robot system finds optimal treatment combinations. Today Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) is publishing an article about the robot, authored by Dr Mats Gustafsson, Professor of Medical Bioinformatics at Uppsala University.
Children with cancer want honest but hopeful information. But giving appropriate information is difficult and improvements are needed for the sake of the child, the siblings and the parents. In a dissertation from Uppsala University, Li Jalmsell stresses the need for a family perspective and involvement at the end of the child’s life.
For the first time a high-resolution map over the ground below the Greenland ice sheet is available. Researchers at Uppsala University have developed the map that will be of great importance for future possibilities to predict how the Greenland ice sheet melts and moves and that in turn has an impact on rising sea levels as a result of climate change.
The title of Alumnus of the Year 2015 at Uppsala University is being awarded to IT entrepreneur Niklas Zennström, current CEO of the investment firm Atomico. He receives the award for his work in climate change and his entrepreneurship.
A new study shows that variation in genome size may be much more important than previously believed. It is clear that, at least sometimes, a large genome is a good genome. The study is led by Göran Arnqvist, Professor of Animal Ecology at Uppsala University and is published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.
Future computers will require a magnetic material which can be manipulated ultra-rapidly by breaking the strong magnetic coupling. A study has been published in Nature Communications today in which Swedish and German scientists demonstrate that even the strongest magnetic coupling may be broken within picoseconds (10 raised to -12 s). This will open up an exciting new area of research.
An international team led by researchers at Uppsala University reports a surprising discovery from the genomes of eight Iberian Stone-Age farmer remains. The analyses revealed that early Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to modern-day Basques, in contrast previous hypotheses that linked Basques to earlier pre-farming groups.
New species evolve whenever a lineage splits off into several. Because of this, the kinship between species is often described in terms of a ‘tree of life’, where every branch constitutes a species. Now, researchers at Uppsala University have found that evolution is more complex than this model would have it, and that the tree is actually more akin to a bush.
Clinical trials are an important part of cancer research. Future patients depend on the severely ill to test drugs to improve treatment. But in her dissertation from Uppsala University, Tove Godskesen shows that some of these patients have a limited understanding of the purpose of the studies they enroll in.
IgA deficiency is one of the most common genetic immunodeficiency disorders in humans and is associated with an insufficiency or complete absence of the antibody IgA. Researchers from Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet have now performed the first comparative genetic study of IgA deficiency by using the dog as genetic disease model. The results are published in PLOS ONE.
New research from Uppsala University shows promising progress in the use of anti-inflammatory cytokine for treatment of type 1 diabetes. The study, published in the open access journal Scientific Reports, reveals that administration of interleukin-35 to mice with type 1 diabetes, reverses or cures the disease by maintaining a normal blood glucose level and the immune tolerance.
It is known that sleep facilitates the formation of long-term memory in humans. In a new study, researchers from Uppsala University now show that sleep does not only help form long-term memory but also ensures access to it during times of cognitive stress.
Previous studies have led researchers to believe that individuals with social anxiety disorder/ social phobia have too low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. A new study from Uppsala University, however, shows that the situation is exactly the opposite. Individuals with social phobia make too much serotonin. The more serotonin they produce, the more anxious they are in social situations.
40 armed conflicts were active in 2014, the highest number of conflicts since 1999 and an increase of 18% when compared to the 34 conflicts active in 2013. New data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) shows an increase in both the number of active conflicts but also in the number of battle-related deaths in these conflicts.
A new technique to study proteins, which does not require advanced equipment, specialized labs or expensive reagents, has been developed at Uppsala University, Sweden. The technique could be further developed to be used in point of care devices, for instance for diagnostic purposes.
New research from Uppsala University shows promising progress in the use of stem cells for treatment of spinal cord injury. The results, which are published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports, show that human stem cells that are transplanted to the injured spinal cord contribute to restoration of some sensory functions.
Researchers from Uppsala University have studied the dynamics of active swarms using computer simulations and experiments on unicellular algae. The team not only found full analogy of the active motion in a field to magnetic hysteresis but also managed to quantify the controllability of the swarm and identify the signatures of collective behavior of the active agents.
In many animal species, the chromosomes differ between the sexes. The male has a Y chromosome. In some animals, however, for example birds, it is the other way round. In birds, the females have their own sex chromosome, the W chromosome. For the first, researchers in Uppsala have mapped the genetic structure and evolution of the W chromosome.
Researchers from Uppsala University have studied the risk of dying over the next five years. They have developed a unique health-risk calculator by using one of the world’s largest study material, UK Biobank, containing data from nearly half a million people. The results are expected to have large areas of application both in the clinical setting, public health policy and in research.