The study of proteins (which are found throughout every cell and tissue in the body) is of specific interest to scientists, as they are an integral part of most biological processes. Proteins are composed of amino acids chemically linked together, while shorter stretches of amino acids are commonly referred to as peptides.

For some time, research has focused on looking for synthetic peptides in an attempt ...

Almost 200 scientists worldwide including key European teams conducted research on the pig genome: their results helped pinpoint genes that are useful in pork production, and increased our knowledge of the health, science and history of the pig.

This research is published in the scientific journal Nature this month. It is funded by a variety of grants: the advanced European Research Council (ERC) project ...

Scientists led by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) are developing sophisticated techniques to understand vision-language mapping across the lifespan in typically and atypically developing populations. The LANPERCEPT ('Language and perception') project has received a Marie Curie Initial Training Network grant worth more than EUR 4 million under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme ...

According to a European research project, cities may be able to reduce their energy consumption by 30 % by leveraging information and communication technologies (ICTs). This breakthrough was made by the ENERSIP project, which is formed by 10 partners from 5 European countries, and has received EUR 3.99 million in funding from the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under the theme for ICT support to ...

The joint Baltic Sea research and development programme BONUS is providing EUR 38 million to support top research projects targeting the protection of the Baltic Sea. Two main areas are covered: EUR 31 million is being provided to research supporting the management of a viable Baltic Sea ecosystem, while EUR 7 million will target innovative technological solutions. BONUS is funded by the EU Commission's ...

Rocks dated at 3.4 billion years old, found in Greenland's south-west Isua mountain range, have given up valuable information regarding the structure of Earth during its earliest stages of development. This discovery was made by a French-Danish team led by researchers from the 'Magmas and Volcanoes' Laboratory, a joint research unit of Blaise Pascal University, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ...

Scientists at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC) in Spain have succeeded in eliminating infectious bacteria from medical textiles by using an enzymatic pre-treatment combined with simultaneous deposition of nanoparticles and biopolymers under ultrasonic irradiation. This was an outcome of the SONO ('A pilot line of antibacterial and antifungal medical textiles based on a sonochemical ...

European and African countries have agreed to fund collaborative research projects in the new year. The announcement of this first joint initiative was made during a visit by EU Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn to Cape Town, South Africa, on 6 November. The visit marked the 15th anniversary of the European Union's first science and technology agreement with South Africa.

The ...

Huntington's disease is an inherited, neurodegenerative disorder that usually appears in mid-adult life and leads to uncoordinated body movements and cognitive decline. The disease is due to multiple repetitions of a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence (i.e. the nucleotides CAG) in the gene encoding the 'Huntingtin' protein. This sequence is present more than 35 times in patients suffering from this disease, ...

The EU reports around one million cases of stroke each year, and stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide, just after cardiac disease. EU data show that about 25 % of men and 20 % of women will likely suffer a stroke if they reach 85 years of age. Despite the fatal characteristics of stroke, triggered by disturbances in the blood supply to the brain and then rapid loss of brain function, researchers ...