news 2022

A molecular machine is a series of molecules that can conduct different mechanical movements as a response to a stimulus. This is a key structure for the development of different cellular functions. Professor Lluïsa Pérez-García, from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the UB, took part in an international research led by the University of Nottingham, which has created a light-controlled artificial molecular machine.

Social networks are used more often in poor neighbourhoods than in affluent neighbourhoods, while the latter tend to consume more information from traditional online media. This is one of the conclusions of a scientific study undertaken by researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the IMDEA Networks Institute, and Orange Innovation which analyses the relationship between internet usage and variables such as education, income, or inequality in a specific area.

A new study led by teams of the Faculty of Biology , the Biodiversity Research Institute ( IRBi o) of the UB, and the Institute of Marine Sciences ( ICM-CSIC ) of Barcelona has revealed that marine heatwaves associated with the climate crisis are bringing down the populations of coral in the Mediterranean, the biomass of which in some cases has been reduced by 80 to 90%.

A team of the UB and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) identified a mechanism involved in the movement of cholesterol inside the cells. The study, published in the Journal of Cell Biology , shows how the SNX13 protein plays a key role when transporting this lipid outside the liposomes, organelles that conduct cellular digestion.

The Src protein takes part in the regulation of many physiological processes such as the survival, migration or cell adhesion as a response to stimuli received from several receptors of the membrane. Although it is demonstrated that its deregulation is involved in the proliferation of cancer in humans, many aspects of this function are still unknown, especially regarding its disordered region.

Researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and other entities have designed a new biochip, a device that simplifies the process of manufacturing in vitro skin in the laboratory and other complex multi-layer tissues. Human skin modelled using this device could be used in medicine and cosmetic testing, which would reduce the cost of these preclinical trials.