Lichtgedanken 05

Rubrik 54 Useful properties of honey fungus Jena pharmacists working with Prof. Dr Oliver Werz and Prof. Dr Dirk Hoffmeister have discovered a hitherto unknown process in immune cells during the formati- on of inflammatory messengers—and they did so using an unusual tool. They used melleolide, a highly effective substance which is made of honey fungus (photo above: fungi in petri dish) (DOI: 10.1016/j. chembiol.2018.10.010). The research teams were able to show that the fungus material reacts specifically with the enzyme 5-Lipoxy- genase in the immune cells, thus inhibiting the forma- tion of Leukotrienes. Leukotrienes play a crucial role in a variety of inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases. These findings could lead to new drug develop- ment strategies.  sh Recognizing faces even in old age Psychologists at the University Jena have developed a training to improve face memory, and it even works at an advanced age (DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsycholo- gia.2018.08.010). Senior citizens between 61 and 76 years had to memorize various faces, as well as names and other information, twelve times within a period of four weeks for the study. The scientists used photo-realistic caricatures for the training. »Caricatures highlight spe- cific characteristic features on a face which make it easier to remember«, explains Prof. Dr Stefan Schweinberger, who was in charge of the study. The psychologists took an electroencephalogram (photo above) of the subjects before and after the weeks of training to measure the success of the programme.  sh Sea lettuce genome decoded An international team of scientists has sequenced the complete genome of a large green marine algae for the first time (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.08.015). The genome from the sea lettuce »Ulva« consists of 98 million base pairs and 12,900 genes. »The decoded sea lettuce genome gives us new insights into biological developmental processes and furthers our understanding of algae growth and repro- duction«, explains Dr Thomas Wichard from the Univer- sity Jena (photo above), who is part of the research team. The sea lettuce is valuable both in terms of its ecological importance and its commercial value. It is able to grow extremely quickly and is, therefore, a very important food source. Sea lettuce is successfully grown as animal feed, but is also ideally suited for human consumption.  PM Carbon makes sulphur amorphous As part of their mission to find the battery of the future, chemists and materials scientists are testing metal-sul- phur combinations, which they consider will one day be able to compete with lithium-ion batteries that are com- monly used today. Prof. Dr Philipp Adelhelm’s team in Jena and Chemnitz has now discovered a phenomenon for this type of battery, which could significantly affect its operation (DOI: 10.1002/anie.201807295). The poor con- ductivity of sulphur means that it needs to be combined with conductive carbon. The two substances interact in an unexpected manner: after just a few days, the sulphur lo- ses its structure and becomes amorphous. The researchers assume that this phenomenon will impact on all types of metal-sulphur batteries.  sh