Genetic variants are alternative versions of the DNA sequence that can sometimes be associated with the risk of developing a disease, including autoimmune disorders. Determining the causality between genetic variants and autoimmunity is difficult, due to technical limitations of existing mapping strategies. Blagoje Soskic and collaborators summarise how Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have contributed to […]

The outcome of the public consultation conducted over the past months to identify the perceived priorities of the national life sciences community in terms of research infrastructure, as part of the broad scientific focus of Human Technopole (HT) has been published in the Final Report.   Thanks to the participation of the scientific and research community, […]

The international research project ‘NEUROCOV’ on the long-term neurological and psychiatric effects of COVID-19 has kicked off. The five-year EU-funded project was developed by Human Technopole and the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and involves ten institutes from seven countries. Human Technopole, which will receive EUR 3.2 Million European Commission funding, will be engaged […]

Differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) has successfully been used to study tissue and organ development in vitro. Eleonora Conti and Oliver Harschnitz review the pros and cons of using human PSCs to investigate the development of placodes – embryonic structures giving rise to diverse organs – during the early steps of human embryonic development […]

Researchers at the Human Technopole and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics show how molecular cargo trains change direction in cellular micro-antennas. Cilia are antenna-like structures that protrude outwards from the surface of eukaryotic cells. Misassembled cilia in humans can cause numerous diseases from infertility to lung malfunction. The assembly and maintenance […]