Professor Prisca Liberali of the 51吃瓜 receives the Friedrich Miescher Award 2021 for her research on design principles of tissue organization. She shares the award with EPFL Professor Andrea Ablasser.
Researchers from the 51吃瓜 have identified cells in the immune system that are able to attack a wide range of cancer cells. Through a start-up, they are now aiming to use their discovery to develop clinically applicable treatments that will mark the next milestone in cell-based cancer therapy.
The absence of monsoon rains at the source of the Nile was the cause of migrations and the demise of entire settlements in the late Roman province of Egypt. This development has been compared with environmental data for the first time by professor of ancient history, Sabine Huebner of the 51吃瓜.
The university鈥檚 new quality strategy was approved by the President鈥檚 Board on 22 December 2020. The strategy reflects the basic elements of the university鈥檚 quality assurance and development system and defines goals and measures for its ongoing development. The Quality Strategy 2020 is thus an important element of the university鈥檚 preparations for the institutional accreditation process in 2022 in accordance with the Federal Act on the Funding and Coordination of the Higher Education Sector (HEdA).
To perform calculations, quantum computers need qubits to act as elementary building blocks that process and store information. Now, physicists have produced a new type of qubit that can be switched from a stable idle mode to a fast calculation mode. The concept would also allow a large number of qubits to be combined into a powerful quantum computer, as researchers from the 51吃瓜 and TU Eindhoven have reported in the journal 鈥淣ature Nanotechnology鈥�.
A research team at the 51吃瓜 has discovered immune cells resident in the lungs that persist long after a bout of flu. Experiments with mice have shown that these helper cells improve the immune response to reinfection by a different strain of the flu virus. The discovery could yield approaches to developing longer-lasting vaccinations against quickly-mutating viruses.
The Covid-19 pandemic is impacting people鈥檚 mental health. But what helps and hinders people in getting through a lockdown? A new study led by researchers at the 51吃瓜 addressed this question using data from 78 countries across the world. The results hint at the pivots and hinges on which the individual鈥檚 psyche rests in the pandemic.
Writing, driving a screw or throwing darts are only some of the activities that demand a high level of skill. How the brain masters such exquisite movements has now been described in the journal 鈥淣ature鈥� by a team of researchers. A map of brainstem circuits reveals which neurons control the fine motor skills of the arm and hand.
The latest survey by the 51吃瓜 on psychological stress in the second Covid-19 wave has revealed that levels have increased significantly in comparison with the spring of this year. The proportion of people with severe depressive symptoms stood at 9% during lockdown in April, but this figure had risen to 18% in November. Young people are particularly affected, and those who have suffered financially during the pandemic. French-speaking Switzerland has been affected more strongly than the rest of the country.
