Press releases

Despite the traditional view that species do not exchange genes by hybridisation, recent studies show that gene flow between closely related species is more common than previously thought. A team of scientists from Uppsala University and Princeton University now reports how gene flow between two species of Darwin’s finches has affected their beak morphology. The study is published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

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. The study has been published in Nature Communications.

In an international collaboration, researchers from Uppsala University have mapped the lymph node lymphatic vessels in mice and humans down to the level of individual cells. The results may eventually help scientists to discover new methods for strengthening the immune system against viruses and cancer. Their work has been published in the journal Frontiers of Cardiovascular Research.

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.

Under the volcanoes in the Andes where Chile, Argentina and Bolivia meet, there is a gigantic reservoir of molten magma. For several million years, it has been there without fully solidifying or causing a supervolcanic eruption. Geologists have long wondered how this is possible. Researchers from Uppsala University, among others, have now discovered that the secret may be hidden tributaries of hot magma from inside the Earth.

Patients with type 2 diabetes secrete not only too little insulin but also too much glucagon, which contributes to poor blood glucose control. A new study from Uppsala University suggests that this is because the glucagon-secreting α-cells have become resistant to insulin.

Peter J. Katzenstein , Cornell University, USA, has been named the 26th recipient of the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science. He is awarded the prize for “furthering the understanding of how history, culture, and norms shape economies, as well as national and global security policy”.

What does it actually look like deep inside our ears? This is has been very difficult to study as the inner ear is protected by the hardest bone in the body. But with the help of synchrotron X-rays, it is now possible to depict details inside the ear three-dimensionally. Together with Canadian colleagues, researchers from Uppsala University have used the method to map the blood vessels of the inner ear.

A previous study has shown that a type of squill growing in Madeira produces a chemical compound that may be useful as a medicinal drug. But a new study from researchers at Uppsala University has shown that this is probably not true: instead, the plant had likely accumulated antibiotics from contaminated soil.

Sustainable energy storage is in great demand. Researchers at Uppsala University have therefore developed an all-organic proton battery that can be charged in a matter of seconds. The battery can be charged and discharged over 500 times without any significant loss of capacity. Their work has been published in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie.

The European large-scale research initiative BATTERY 2030+ presents the long-term research roadmap that outlines the actions needed to invent the sustainable batteries of the future.

The University will switch to distance teaching and assessment from 18 March 2020 onwards.

Cancer cells grow and divide in an uncontrolled manner. A new study from Uppsala University now shows how alterations in a cell’s degradation hubs, called lysosomes, can cause abnormal cell growth. The results are published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Males that face tougher competition for females risk having offspring with a greater number of harmful mutations in their genome than males without rivals. Researchers at Uppsala University have discovered this correlation in the beetle species Callosobruchus maculatus. Their study is published in the scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Could the ability of cancer cells to quickly alter their genome be used as a weapon against malignant tumours? Researchers at Uppsala University have succeeded in developing a substance that has demonstrated promising results in experiments on both animal models and human cancer cells. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Scientists at Uppsala University have proposed an addition to the theory of evolution that can explain how and why genes move on chromosomes. The hypothesis, called the SNAP Hypothesis, is presented in the scientific journal PLOS Genetics.

In a future where most things in our everyday life are connected through the internet, devices and sensors will need to run without wires or batteries. In a new article in Chemical Science, researchers from Uppsala University present a new type of dye-sensitised solar cells that harvest light from indoor lamps.

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.

Researchers at Uppsala University and the University of Leeds presents a new mathematical model of patterns of diversity in the fossil record, which offers a solution to Darwin’s “abominable mystery” and strengthens our understanding of how modern groups originate. The research is published in the journal Science Advances.

The new EU research project PAVE (Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism through Community Resilience in the Balkans and MENA) aims to tackle the global issue of radicalisation by examining its root causes and driving factors. Uppsala University is one of the partners in this new project.

Bad News, a game devised to make players better at spotting fake news and misinformation, has the intended effect in Sweden, Greece, Germany and Poland. This is evident from a new academic study from the Universities of Uppsala and Cambridge. The assessment shows an improvement in players’ ability to detect fabricated news reports while retaining their trust in real news.

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.

An improved method for reading and interpreting genomes from organisms that are difficult to investigate has been developed at Uppsala University. A team of researchers, led by Dr Anna Rosling, has applied this method to decipher the genetic information of fungi present in the environment, which can be relevant, for example, for plant growth.

Antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis is a common and serious problem globally. In a new article, researchers from Uppsala University describe how tuberculosis bacteria that carries a mutation that in theory should kill them manages to stay alive. The researchers discovered that the same trick that kept the bacteria alive also made them resistant to a very important type of antibiotic.

A preliminary study by researchers at Uppsala University has found that when young, healthy men were deprived of just one night of sleep, they had higher levels of tau – a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease – in their blood than when they had a full, uninterrupted night of rest. The study is published in the medical journal Neurology.

For over a hundred years, researchers have suggested that the inscription on the Rök stone – the world’s most famous Viking Age runic monument – is about battles and heroic deeds in war. Now a new interpretation of the inscription is being presented. The study shows that it deals with an entirely different kind of battle: the conflict between light and darkness, warmth and cold, life and death.

Using a computer algorithm, scientists at Uppsala University have identified a promising new treatment for neuroblastoma. This form of cancer in children, which occurs in specialised nerve cells in the sympathetic nervous system, may be life-threatening. In the long term the discovery, described in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature Communications, may result in a new form of treatment for children in whom the disease is severe ...

Materials 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. This has been shown in a recent article published in the research journal Nature.

COMBINE will support the coordination of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Accelerator Programme to progress a pipeline of medicines for the treatment or prevention of resistant bacterial infections.

An international team led by Alexander Suh at Uppsala University has sequenced a chromosome in zebra finches called the germline-restricted chromosome (GRC). This chromosome is only found in germline cells, the cells that hold genetic information which is passed on to the next generation. The researchers found that the GRC is tens of millions of years old and plays a key role in songbird biology, having collected genes used for embryonic devel...

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, whose research has now been published in the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell.

A new study from Uppsala University shows that whole-genome sequencing increases the precision of genetic studies, which in turn can improve our understanding of how to use biomarkers to discover disease. The results are published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

In species with sexual reproduction, no two individuals are alike and scientists have long struggled to understand why there is so much genetic variation. In a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, a team of researchers from the University of Uppsala in Sweden now show that a genetic tug-of-war between the sexes acts to maintain variation.

Uppsala researchers have developed a new method for investigating dynamic processes in large genetic libraries. By using this method to study cell cycle regulation, they help paint a clearer picture of the elusive control mechanism. The study is published in the journal Nature Methods.

A cache of 118 million-year-old fossilized dinosaur and bird feathers has been recovered from an ancient lake deposit that once lay beyond the southern polar circle.

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.

How variable are gene transcripts and proteins, the molecules of life, across the tissues and organs of the human body? Furthermore, how variable are they within the same tissue type from different people? Understanding this variability will be key for the realisation of personalised medicine. These questions are the focus of a new study led by researchers from Uppsala University, which is published in NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics.

Superbly preserved fossils from Russia, excavated with support of a grant from the National Geographic Society and described today by an international team in the leading scientific journal Nature, cast new and surprising light on one of the earliest tetrapods – the group of animals that made the evolutionary transition from water to land and ultimately became the ancestors not just of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, but of ourselves.

Much of our modern technology relies on the use of rare earth elements (REEs), and a key to finding more of them is to understand the processes that concentrate them in the Earth’s crust. In the ancient Bergslagen ore province of central Sweden lies a zone of ‘Bastnäs-type’ rare earth element deposits, and in a new study, scientists from Uppsala University and the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) show how these deposits originally formed.

In an interdisciplinary study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, an international research team has combined archaeological, genetic and stable isotope data to understand the demographic processes associated with the iconic Battle Axe Culture and its introduction in Scandinavia.

Before the French Revolution, family trees were reserved for the feudal upper classes, who used them to consolidate their social status. While feudalism broke down and family trees lost their old roles, the trees gained new functions as scientific models. This is shown by a new thesis in the history of science and ideas.

An international experimental research team led by Professor Ho-Kwang Mao and Dr Cheng Ji from HPSTAR, China and a theory team led by Professor Rajeev Ahuja, Uppsala University, have used experimental research as well as theory to understand high-pressure structural phase transitions in hydrogen which could give rise to metallisation and could even result in superconductivity. The findings were published this week in the online edition of Nature.

Researchers from Uppsala University have revealed for the first time a mechanism for how new blood vessels are formed and have shown the importance of this mechanism for embryo survival and organ function. The results could be developed to control the formation of new blood vessels in different diseases. The new study is published in the journal EMBO Reports.

In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University have identified a previously unknown mechanism that regulates release of insulin, a hormone that lowers blood glucose levels, from the β-cells (beta cells) of the pancreas. This mechanism is disrupted in type 2 diabetes. The scientists hope this finding will be used to develop new treatments against the disease.

Physicists at Uppsala University have identified how to distinguish between true and ‘fake’ Majorana states in one of the most commonly used experimental setups, by means of supercurrent measurements. This theoretical study is a crucial step for advancing the field of topological superconductors and applications of Majorana states for robust quantum computers. New experiments testing this approach are expected next.

Patients who attend ‘Heart School’, as almost every patient in Sweden is invited to do after a first heart attack, live longer than non-participating patients. This is shown in a new study, by researchers at Uppsala University, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Densification of cities causes increased traffic and less space for playgrounds, schoolyards and spontaneous play. This has a negative effect on children’s health and development. Even though the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified by most countries, the child perspective is often missing in the planning process. The high-level international meeting Uppsala Health Summit is focusing on urban planning from a child health ...

A comprehensive study from Uppsala University, with over 325,000 participants, shows that deep belly fat is a major contributing risk factor for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The study also shows that deep belly fat is a larger risk factor in women compared to men. Moreover, the scientists investigated how our genes affect the accumulation of fat and present a new, simpler method to estimate the amount of deep belly fat.

Reference reagents are important in diagnostics and care of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In a new study, an international team of researchers presents a new WHO autoantibody reference reagent that will help to align autoantibody analyses and thus to optimise diagnosis and treatment to patients irrespective of where they live. The findings are published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

A new study examines the historical and genetic origins of the White Plymouth Rock chicken, an important contributor to today’s meat chickens (broilers). Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, The Livestock Conservancy and Virginia Tech in the USA have used genomics to study breed formation and the roots of modern broilers.