Human Health
Read more at: Human Health
New catalysts for pharmaceutical companies
In partnership with Roche, PSI scientists are developing new, potentially more efficient catalysts for manufacturing active substances for drug therapies.
Proton therapy: a success story that started 25 years ago
25 November 1996: a world first for PSI’s Center for Proton Therapy in treating a cancer patient using the spot-scanning technique.
A first for Switzerland: proton therapy to treat lung cancer
On 9 November 2021 a lung cancer patient was given proton therapy at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI for the first time in Switzerland.
New active agent against parasites
PSI researchers identify potential active agent against several unicellular parasites – including the pathogens that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis.
Protein distancing
PSI researchers have developed a new method to attach proteins to the surface of virus-like particles.
Novel and emerging medical radionuclides
Better treatment for disseminated cancer.
Tracking down unreported Coronavirus cases
The University Hospital of Zurich uses proteins made at PSI for Europe’s first large-scale serology study on coronavirus prevalence in Switzerland.
PSI: advancing in the fight against Covid-19
Crystal structure analysis, computer models, cell cultures – to pursue research on Sars-CoV-2, PSI is exploring many avenues. An overview.
How immune cells are activated
A research consortium has deciphered the mechanism of CCR5 receptor activation, providing insights for the development of CCR5 drug antagonists for AIDS, cancer, and inflammatory diseases.
How remdesivir works against the coronavirus
Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt, in cooperation with the PSI have probably discovered another, previously unknown mechanism of action of the antiviral remdesivir.
Cell cytoskeleton as target for new active agents
Using a combination of computer simulations and laboratory experiments, PSI researchers have identified new binding sites for active agents on the vital protein tubulin.
Watching receptor proteins changing shape
In our bodies, G protein-coupled receptors mediate countless processes. PSI researcher Ramon Guixà talks about how he brings those receptor molecules to life on the computer screen.
"Ultimately, we aim to understand how diseases start in single cells"
Imaging and sequencing techniques combined with machine learning offer researchers countless opportunities to look inside cells with greater precision than ever before. G.V. Shivashankar, lab head at PSI, describes how such information can be used to find answers to pressing questions.
Which particulate air pollution poses the greatest health risk?
The composition of particulate matter can influence its harmfulness to human health just as much as the amount, PSI researchers show in a newly published study. Experiments and computational modelling showed that in Europe high concentrations of particulate matter harmful to human health occur mainly in metropolitan areas.
Wait and see, and grow crystals
At PSI, researchers decipher the structure of the proteins in bacteria and viruses. This knowledge can aid, for example, in the development of drugs against infectious diseases. But before the investigation can begin, an extremely tricky problem has to be solved: the crystallisation of the molecules.
A protein's unexpected "doming"
Researchers have coaxed a secret out of the vital protein cytochrome c that it kept well-hidden up to now. Measurements at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL reveal structural changes that science had previously ruled out for this kind of biomolecule.
More effective treatment of thyroid cancer
PSI researchers have found a more effective treatment for a form of thyroid cancer – and with fewer side effects – by increasing the uptake of the cancer drug in tumour cells. The results have been published in the medical journal Theranostics.
Mites in the spotlight
The world of microbes and viruses is extremely old and exceedingly diverse. With the large research facilities at PSI, researchers are peering deep inside this alien cosmos and investigating, above all, the proteins of these exotic beings.
New technique for ultrafast tumour therapy
For the first time, researchers at the Centre for Proton Therapy at PSI have tested ultrafast, high-dose irradiation with protons. The new, experimental FLASH technique could revolutionise radiation therapy for cancer.
A question of binding
At PSI, researchers are screening molecule fragments to see if these bind to important proteins of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and thus have the potential to disable it. They are hoping the many individual pieces of information will yield an answer as to what an effective drug might look like.
