Stefania Barca, from the University of Coimbra in Portugal, is to be Uppsala University’s fourth Zennström Professor of Climate Change Leadership. In her research, she focuses particularly on issues of justice connected with environmental and climate change.
Uppsala University has joined the Leap Health Breakthrough Network, a global group of 21 leading academic and research institutions committed to solving the world’s most serious health challenges — such as cancer and infectious diseases — at record speed. Wellcome Leap is a US-based non-profit organisation founded by the Wellcome Trust to accelerate innovations that benefit global health.
An adverse upbringing often impairs people’s circumstances and health in their adult years, especially for couples who have both had similar experiences. This is shown by a new study, carried out by Uppsala University researchers, in which 818 mothers and their partners filled in a questionnaire one year after having a child together. The study is now published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
Until now, the reason why the drug levodopa (L-Dopa), which reduces the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, declines in efficacy after a few years’ use has been unknown. A side effect that then often occur is involuntary movements. A Swedish–French collaboration, led from Uppsala University, has now been able to connect the problems with defective metabolism of L-Dopa in the brain.
Today, the Swedish Government decided to assign to Uppsala University the task of setting up a new national knowledge centre for research on nuclear disarmament. With an interdisciplinary approach and researchers in fields including peace and conflict research and nuclear physics, the incipient Alva Myrdal Centre will conduct research with the goal of contributing to a safer world for humankind.
The Order of Freemasons’ meticulous archives are fundamental to their identity. The unique structure of the masonic archives reinforces the secrecy and mystique of the self-image that has been fashioned by the Order — and characterises it in the eyes of others. This is shown in a recent thesis from Uppsala University, which focuses on the Masons’ archives in the 18th and 19th centuries.
You might need a microscope to witness the next agricultural revolution. New research, published in the journal Science Advances, demonstrates how microfluidic technologies can be used to identify, isolate and propagate specific single photosynthetically active cells for fundamental industry applications and improved ecosystem understanding.
Researchers have discovered a new group of Chlamydiae, Anoxychlamydiales, living under the ocean floor without oxygen. These have genes that allow them to survive without oxygen while making hydrogen gas. The researchers found that our single-cell ancestors ‘caught’ these hydrogen-producing genes from ancient Chlamydiae up to two-billion years ago – The results are published in Science Advances.
Scientists at Uppsala University have discovered a hitherto unknown function of blood platelets in cancer. In mouse models, these platelets have proved to help preserve the vascular barrier which makes blood-vessel walls selectively impermeable, thereby reducing the spread of tumour cells to other parts of the body. The study is published in the journal Cancer Research.
A research team at Uppsala University has resurrected several billion-year-old enzymes and reprogrammed them to catalyse completely different chemical reactions than their modern versions can manage. The method can be used to develop sustainable solutions within biotechnology, such as for enzyme bioreactors or to chemically degrade environmental toxins.
Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a method for identifying functional mutations and their effect on genes relevant to the development of glioblastoma – a malignant brain tumour with a very poor prognosis. The study is published in Genome Biology.
Patients taking part in clinical trials do not receive better treatment than other patients. This is the conclusion of a new study led from Uppsala University and published in peer-reviewed journal BMC Cancer, which confirms the results of an earlier study from 2004.
Artificial intelligence (AI) may be an aid to interpreting ECG results, helping healthcare staff to diagnose diseases that affect the heart. Researchers at Uppsala University and heart specialists in Brazil have developed an AI that automatically diagnoses atrial fibrillation and five other common ECG abnormalities just as well as a cardiologist.
Individuals with social anxiety disorder have markedly different personality traits than others. Emotional instability and introversion are hallmarks, according to a new study from Uppsala University published in PLOS ONE.
Pool frogs infected with the parasitic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis range over shorter distances. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers at Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), who have investigated how the fungus affects the mobility of the red-listed pool frog along the Uppland coast.
The quicker someone completes the long distance cross-country ski race Vasaloppet, the lower the risk of them developing high blood pressure. This is the conclusion of a new study conducted by researchers at Uppsala University published in the online scientific journal Circulation.
The balance between the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine may affect whether a person develops social anxiety disorder. Previous research has mainly focused on either the serotonin or the dopamine system individually. Now researchers at Uppsala University have demonstrated the existence of a previously unknown link between the two. The results are published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Researchers at Uppsala University have made a breakthrough in the understanding of energy storage in sodium ion batteries by using ultra-high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. These findings will aid the development of new materials for future battery generations with significantly higher and more stable voltages than previously, shows an article published in the research journal Nature.
Medication prescribed for a certain type of epilepsy may offer a new method for treating malignant infantile brain tumours. A specific mTOR inhibitor has the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier to both reach and attack the tumour at source. This has been demonstrated by researchers from Uppsala University, in collaboration with US and UK colleagues, and is published in Cell Stem Cell.
What is consciousness? What does it mean to be ‘aware’, and how is our consciousness connected to the physical brain? A recent thesis from Uppsala University explores the philosophical aspects of the issue, and proposes a solution: the ‘intrinsic consciousness’ theory.
“We need to combine empirical and conceptual work to assess the significant issues raised by these developments in brain resear