https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us provides the latest news from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin A tiny antibody component could fundamentally transform the treatment of cystic fibrosis: For the first time, researchers have succeeded in developing a so-called nanobody that penetrates directly into human cells and can repair the chloride channel most commonly affected in cystic fibrosis. The innovative therapeutic approach was developed in collaboration between teams from Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP). The results have now been published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-nanobody-misfolded-cftr-cells-boosting.html Fri, 17 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news695646297 A research team at Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin has developed a test that can determine a person's chronotype based on their hair roots. It is intended to lay the foundation for circadian medicine—that is, medicine that is more closely aligned with the human body's internal clock. Applied to approximately 4,000 people, the new method also reveals that women and men differ slightly in their biological rhythms, and that lifestyle has a greater influence than previously assumed. The results have now been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-body-internal-clock-hair-sample.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:20:02 EDT news694264381 Sildenafil—an active ingredient also marketed under the name of Viagra—improves symptoms in patients with Leigh syndrome. This has now been reported in the journal Cell by researchers at Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, together with teams from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD), and the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP in Hamburg. In a pilot study involving six patients, sildenafil showed a positive effect on the course of the disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-ingredient-viagra-rare-genetic-disease.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:00:02 EDT news692453762 Climate change presents tremendous challenges, especially for people in the Global South. Two international studies led by Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin have investigated how the population in sub-Saharan Africa is coping with rising temperatures and the threat of infection—and what can be done about it. Reporting in the journals The Lancet Planetary Health and Nature Medicine, the researchers relate that women in agriculture suffer more from rising temperatures, while simple measures can improve domestic living conditions. The results are also relevant for adapting to climate change in Germany. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-global-south-people-cope.html Sun, 25 Jan 2026 18:50:01 EST news688319111 Every organism's genome contains mutations that often have unknown biological effects. In partnership with Stanford University, researchers at Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now discovered a way to predict the effects of numerous mutations in yeast. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-proteome-analysis-biological-effects-yeast.html Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:43:04 EDT news679318981 Flies too need their sleep. In order to be able to react to dangers, however, they must not completely phase out the environment. Researchers at Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now deciphered how the animal's brain produces this state. As they describe in the journal Nature, the fly brain filters out visual information rhythmically during sleep—so that strong visual stimuli can still wake the animal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-flies-inhibitory-neuronal-networks.html Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:37:03 EDT news674926621 Child sexual abuse materials are rapidly increasing online, as is their use. The STOP-CSAM EU prevention project, under the auspices of Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, has responded to these challenges by offering a novel therapeutic chat intervention. STOP-CSAM stands for Scalable Technology for Online Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse & Child Abuse Materials. Persons at risk are given the opportunity to interact with qualified therapists—anonymously and free of costs. The tool has meanwhile proved its success. Building on these achievements, a follow-up project is further expanding the perpetrator-focused prevention of child sexual abuse materials. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-chat-based-intervention-curbing-online.html Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:40:02 EDT news673014756 Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions in organisms—without which life would not be possible. Leveraging AlphaFold2 artificial intelligence, researchers at Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now succeeded in analyzing the laws of their evolution on a large scale. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-million-years-enzyme-evolution.html Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:00:03 EDT news671265301 The MRI shows a brain tumor in an inauspicious location, and a brain biopsy will entail high risks for a patient who had consulted doctors due to double vision. Situations such as this case prompted researchers at Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin to look for new diagnostic procedures. The result is an AI model. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-tumor-diagnostics-ai-cancer.html Fri, 06 Jun 2025 13:15:05 EDT news668434501 Bats in the tropics of the Americas are a reservoir for morbilliviruses—a genus of RNA viruses that includes the human measles virus. However, their role in spreading morbilliviruses to other mammalian species is unclear. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-key-players-species-morbilliviruses.html Fri, 30 May 2025 11:30:01 EDT news667823043 Chronic inflammatory bowel disease is challenging to treat and carries a risk of complications, including the development of bowel cancer. Young people are particularly affected: when genetic predisposition and certain factors coincide, diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease usually manifest between the ages of 15 and 29—a critical period for education and early career development. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-therapeutic-chronic-gut-inflammation-cancer.html Fri, 30 May 2025 11:04:05 EDT news667821841 Like the dengue and Zika viruses, Oropouche virus causes a febrile illness. There are recent indications that infections during pregnancy can cause damage to unborn babies. Researchers at Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now determined that the virus is much more widespread in Latin America than previously assumed. Their study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, also suggests that climatic conditions have a significant influence on the virus's spread. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-mysterious-pathogen-oropouche-virus-common.html Mon, 14 Apr 2025 13:18:04 EDT news663855481 Universitätsmedizin Berlin has found that a single dose of the Imvanex vaccine provides protection against mpox with 84% effectiveness. For people with HIV, however, a single dose of the vaccine fails to offer sufficient protection. All at-risk groups, and people with HIV in particular, should therefore receive the second dose of the vaccine as recommended. The results of the study have now been published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-vaccine-dose-effectiveness-mpox-insufficient.html Wed, 19 Mar 2025 13:25:05 EDT news661609502 MIS-C is a serious inflammatory shock that affects children. It can occur several weeks after a COVID infection and can be life-threatening. Until now, however, the precise cause of the condition was unknown. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-covid-inflammatory-children.html Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:00:07 EDT news660903061 Universitätsmedizin Berlin has reduced the annual CO2 emissions originating from gases used for anesthesia by over 80% since 2018. This reduction in carbon emissions was achieved by using climate-friendly anesthetics in the operating room. As a study published in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia demonstrates, education—and in particular, fundamental decisions—were the keys to success. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-sustainable-anesthesia-room-lowers-emissions.html Thu, 27 Feb 2025 15:44:04 EST news659893442 Stressful or traumatic experiences in childhood have been shown to negatively impact an individual's health as an adult. Those affected face an increased risk of illness and often suffer from depression, anxiety disorders, and cardiovascular or metabolic diseases. Until now, little has been known about whether such experiences could contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-stressful-childhood-brain-aging.html Fri, 14 Feb 2025 13:21:04 EST news658761661 There are several strategies for the early detection of prostate cancer. The first step is often a blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA). If PSA levels exceed a certain threshold, the next step typically involves taking a tissue sample for analysis. Another option is to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to search for signs of a tumor before deciding whether a biopsy is necessary, reserving biopsies only for cases where abnormalities are detected. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-12-mri-strategy-prostate-cancer-deemed.html Thu, 19 Dec 2024 11:22:04 EST news653829721 It has been known for nearly 20 years that slow, synchronous electrical waves in the brain during deep sleep support the formation of memories. Why that is, was previously unknown. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-12-brain-neocortex-deep-memory.html Thu, 12 Dec 2024 10:38:01 EST news653222272 Not everyone responds equally well to treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). What will work for individual patients involves trial and error during the treatment process. Now, a team of researchers led by Charité—Universitätsmedizin, in collaboration with colleagues in Berlin and Bonn, has succeeded in identifying a biomarker that indicates whether or not treatment with a certain medication called an immunomodulator will be successful. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-biomarker-inflammatory-bowel-disease-treatment.html Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:37:04 EST news650219821 Universitätsmedizin Berlin is astounded by the huge improvement seen in a female patient with severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) after being treated with the cancer medication teclistamab. Not long ago, the 23-year-old was wheelchair-bound due to the autoimmune disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-case-severe-lupus-longer-cancer.html Thu, 05 Sep 2024 11:35:04 EDT news644754901 How effective medications are depends on various factors, including the time of day when they are administered. Why? Because our bodies don't always function exactly the same. Instead, they follow the cycle set by their internal clock, otherwise known as circadian rhythm. But since each person's circadian rhythm is different and depends on a number of different factors, it is difficult to tailor medication schedules to an individual patient's body clock. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-cancer-method-internal-clock-tumor.html Fri, 23 Aug 2024 11:10:06 EDT news643630201 Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary disease that so far has been incurable. Those affected have thick, viscous mucus secretions in their lungs, and lung function diminishes steadily over time. Today, triple combination therapy makes it possible to address the root causes of the defect underlying the disease. This form of treatment was recently approved for children in addition to adults. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-cystic-fibrosis-school-aged-children.html Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:08:49 EDT news639846525 Multiple myeloma is one of the most common forms of cancer of the immune cells in the bone marrow. It is considered incurable. Even when patients respond to treatment at first, the cancer comes back. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-multiple-myeloma-insights-early-aggressive.html Mon, 01 Jul 2024 12:24:05 EDT news639055441 When underwater, humans cannot determine where a sound comes from. Sound travels about five times faster there than on land. That makes directional hearing, or sound localization, nearly impossible because the human brain determines the origin of a sound by analyzing the time difference between its arrival at one ear versus the other. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-puzzle-underwater.html Fri, 21 Jun 2024 09:20:36 EDT news638180431 Having extra chromosomes is typically an issue for an organism and can disrupt development or cause disease. But some cells benefit instead. For example, cancer cells or pathogenic yeasts can use extra chromosomes to escape treatment and become drug-resistant. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-yeasts-compensate-genetic-imbalance-extra.html Wed, 22 May 2024 13:12:04 EDT news635602321 Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), a specific class of antacid drugs, are among the most widely used medications of all. They are frequently prescribed to many groups of patients, including those with rheumatism. PPIs are used to prevent the stomach problems that can arise from taking certain anti-inflammatory drugs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-cortisone-antacids-diminish-bone-density.html Thu, 16 May 2024 13:34:50 EDT news635085287 Contrary to previous assumptions, nerve cells in the human neocortex are wired differently than in mice. Those are the findings of a new study conducted by Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and published in the journal Science. The study found that human neurons communicate in one direction, while in mice, signals tend to flow in loops. This increases the efficiency and capacity of the human brain to process information. These discoveries could further the development of artificial neural networks. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-human-neuron.html Thu, 18 Apr 2024 14:38:04 EDT news632669881 Cortisone and other related glucocorticoids are extremely effective at curbing excessive immune reactions. But previously, astonishingly little was known about how they exactly do that. A team of researchers from Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Uniklinikum Erlangen and Ulm University have now explored the molecular mechanism of action in greater detail. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-body-mode-hormones-reprogram-metabolism.html Wed, 10 Apr 2024 12:35:37 EDT news631971334 Scientists still are not sure how neurological symptoms arise in COVID-19. Is it because SARS-CoV-2 infects the brain? Or are these symptoms the result of inflammation in the rest of the body? A study by Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin has now produced evidence to support the latter theory. It was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-neurological-symptoms-result-sars-cov.html Fri, 16 Feb 2024 10:48:05 EST news627302881 One shot in the arm, and the whole body is protected. But how? For one thing, the immune system produces antibodies and cells that patrol the entire organism by traveling through the bloodstream. For another, as shown by a recent Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin study of the mRNA coronavirus vaccines, the body builds local immune memory in various organs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-covid-vaccination-body-immune-memory.html Wed, 11 Oct 2023 16:43:04 EDT news616261382