Neurotransmitters are released through the fusion of synaptic vesicles, which contain large amounts of neurotransmitters. Scientists around JARA-BRAIN and JARA-SOFT member Prof. Christoph Fahlke have shown, how synaptic vesicles accumulate the neurotransmitter glutamate and developed a mathematical model of the synaptic vesicle that describes these processes. The results have now been published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.
RWTH scientists Max Hohenschutz, Carlos G. Lopez and Professor Walter Richtering (JARA-SOFT) from the Chair of Physical Chemistry II are involved in researching a gelation mechanism. Beate Förster from Forschungszentrum Jülich and Pierre Bauduin from the Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule in France are also part of the team.
More than 550,000 euros have been donated for the aid campaign “RWTH and Uniklink RWTH Aachen Help Ukraine” so far. Several trucks can be sent out fully loaded with medical supplies every week. When JARA-SOFT member Prof. Andrij Pich accompanied the first large aid convoy as part of the “RWTH and Uniklink RWTH Aachen Help Ukraine” campaign, the doctors there told him they had to close wounds with their bare hands during operations due to the lack of equipment. “It was very moving to see the doctors’ joy as they accepted the supplies,” Pich recounts.
The first aid transport as part of the fundraising campaign "RWTH and Uniklinik RWTH Aachen help in Ukraine" is already on its way to the east. Within a week, around 380,000 euros in donations were received into the special account that had been set up. JARA-SOFT scientist Andrij Pich initiated the aid campaign together with the university and the hospital to help the people in Ukraine.
Polymers are a class of materials with great potential. Equipped with different characteristics, they can be used in a wide variety of applications. A research team led by JARA-SOFT scientist Prof. Stephan Förster has now demonstrated thermal writing and storage of information in a responsive polymer for the first time. This enables the production of thermal data storage and carrier materials that release active pharmaceutical ingredients in a temperature-controlled manner.
The Alzheimer drug candidate PRI-002 developed at the Institute of JARA-SOFT member Prof. Dieter Willbold in Jülich has successfully completed Phase I of clinical research involving healthy volunteers. When administered daily over a period of four weeks, the active substance proved to be safe for use in humans. The next milestone will be the proof of efficacy in patients in clinical Phase II.
A team from DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, and the University of Bonn has now developed a foliar fertilization system based on biocompatible microgels that adhere selectively to leaves for a long period and slowly deliver nutrients in a controlled fashion.
