A variant typical of the Finnish population that protects against heart diseases was identified in the FinnGen genomic study coordinated by the University of Helsinki. The risk of developing heart diseases is roughly one-fifth lower in carriers of the variant compared to the population on average.

Meet new NCMM Group Leader, Charlotte Boccara, and learn about her plans for interdisciplinary sleep and systems neuroscience research at NCMM, and how she sees her science in the context of society.

Dr. Andrea Puhar and her team at The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) at Umeå University, discovered that gut cells sense harmful bacteria through the mechanical force exerted on their cell surface during bacterial invasion. A protein called PIEZO1, which is able to sense mechanical signals, is necessary to detect invading bacteria. Activation of PIEZO1 during infection triggers a protective immune response. The study is now published in the scientific journal Cell Reports.

Meet BICU Director and MIMS Team Leader Richard Lundmark and BICU Facility Manager Irene Martinez Carrasco, and learn about BICU’s expertise and approaches in light and correlative microscopy and in the study of biomolecule affinities.