Wiener of the week

Four researchers, two studies and a higher goal

(Bild: bidala)

MedUni once again lays the foundations for tomorrow's medical sensation

Scientists get in their own way: the more demanding their work becomes, the more difficult it is to understand. After all, who wants to hear about the influence of "Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor Alpha" on pediatric high-grade gliomas? Or that semi-synthetic bile acid supports the formation of T-cells in the intestine?
Johannes Gojo and Lisa Mayr and Michael Trauner and Wilfried Ellmeier at MedUni Vienna have recently been working on precisely this - and have achieved breakthroughs.

Johannes Gojo, University Department of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine(Bild: feelimage/Matern)

Lisa Mayr, pediatric intensive care physician at Vienna General Hospital(Bild: PID / David Bohmann, Krone KREATIV)

Michael Trauner, Clinic for Gastroenterology Vienna(Bild: feelimage/Matern)

Wilfried Ellmeier, Institute of Immunology Vienna(Bild: feel image - Fotografie Fotos: Felicitas Matern)

The significance of the two studies from Vienna becomes clearer when you know that the first is about the most insidious type of brain tumor in children and the second is about intestinal inflammation, including the widespread Crohn's disease.

Important research
Gojo and Mayr have discovered that it is largely due to the aforementioned alpha receptor that radiation rarely works on the most aggressive childhood brain tumors in particular, and how it could be tricked. Trauner and Ellmeier, on the other hand, have discovered that semi-synthetic bile acid not only weakens "bad" TH17 cells in the liver, but also in the intestine, and strengthens "good" T cells.

Diseases not yet conquered
Does this mean that brain tumors and intestinal diseases have been defeated? Not yet. But to make it possible, we need the kind of building blocks of knowledge that researchers are unthinkingly piling up day after day - reason enough to make four of them our Wieners of the week.