Skip to content

Topics: Medicine

  • “The aim is to discover new unexpected biological patterns, which can lead to new research questions”, says Johan Henriksson. Photo: Mattias Pettersson

    New knowledge about cell division with data-driven techniques

    Research from Umeå University paves the way for a quantitative data analysis method to study the cell division process in individual cells. The improved resolution will promote advanced cell analysis in the human body, especially in cases of incorrect cell division such as in the context of cancer.

  • Jun Zhang, Laura Herzog and Yaowen Wu have found a way to control proteins in living cells. Photo: Shuang Li

    New light-tuned chemical tools control processes in living cells

    A research group at Umeå University has developed new advanced light-controlled tools that enable precise control of proteins in real time in living cells. This groundbreaking research opens doors to new methods for studying complex processes in cells and could pave the way for significant advances in medicine and synthetic biology.

  • Discovery may open new way to attack prostate cancer

    Discovery may open new way to attack prostate cancer

    A special protein can play a key role in the fight against certain types of prostate cancer. This is shown in a study by an international research group led from Umeå University, Sweden.

  • A certain protein in listeria bacteria helps them survive in food production, putting them at risk of food poisoning. Photo: Johnér Bildbyrå AB

    Research on calcium transport can fight bacteria and provide safer food

    Researchers at Umeå University have revealed details on how bacteria use calcium to regulate vital processes, in a way that differs from human cells. This breakthrough is significant in the fight against antibiotic resistance and for increasing safety in food production.

  • Rachel Feeney, PhD Student, and Björn Schröder, Docent in infection biology, the Department of Molecular Biology at Umeå University. Photo: Anna Shevtsova

    Antibiotic usage can damage the protective mucus layer in the gut

    Researchers at Umeå University and Tartu University have found that a history of repeated antibiotic use causes defects in the normally protective mucus barrier of the gut, due to antibiotic-driven alterations in the microbiota. In a further study in a different collaboration, the researchers found a bacteria-independent mechanism through which antibiotics can damage the mucus barrier directly.

  • The Umeå professors' discovery is important for understanding a variety of biological processes in cells. Photo: Mattias Pettersson

    Discovery explains the chemistry behind the cell's energy molecule

    An international research team led by Umeå professor Magnus Wolf-Watz has discovered how the magnesium atom directs the chemistry that catalyzes the production of the energy molecule ATP in a cell. ATP is a vital driving force in the cell. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

  • Postdoc Laura Herzog – sitting closest to the camera, professor Yaowen Wu. Postdoc Anastasia Knyazeva, and Postdoc Dale Corkery. Photo: Shuang Li

    Beyond recycling: new role for autophagy protein in membrane repair discovered

    Maintaining the structure of intracellular membranes is essential for preserving normal cellular function. New research by a team of biochemists at Umeå University identifies a strategy employed by cells to detect and repair membranes that have been damaged by chemical or bacterial stress.

  • Research shows how poliovirus takes over cells from within

    Research shows how poliovirus takes over cells from within

    For the first time, researchers at Umeå University, Sweden, can now show how the dreaded poliovirus behaves when it takes over an infected cell and tricks the cell into producing new virus particles. Polio was thought to be almost eradicated, but infection has now been rediscovered in London and New York.

  • Newly discovered pathway offers hope for better cancer treatment

    Newly discovered pathway offers hope for better cancer treatment

    Researchers at Umeå and Uppsala University in Sweden have discovered a new signaling pathway that makes cancer cells aggressive. The findings could lead to improved treatment for advanced prostate cancer, as well as breast and lung cancer.

  • Maintain Your Brain: The Secrets to Aging Success

    Maintain Your Brain: The Secrets to Aging Success

    Aging may seem unavoidable, but that's not necessarily so when it comes to the brain. So say researchers in the April 27th issue of the Cell Press journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences based on counterintuitive evidence that it is what you do in old age that matters when it comes to maintaining a youthful brain rather than what you did earlier in life.

  • Discovery of genes underlying fracture susceptibility and osteoporosis

    According to a study published in the journal Nature Genetics, variants in 56 regions of the genome have been discovered to influence the Bone Mineral Density (BMD) of individuals. Fourteen of these variants were also found to increase the risk of bone fracture. Three researchers at Umeå University are involved in this study.