Microbial communities form complex ecosystems, built on networks of interactions. Gut bacteria, inside our bodies are an example, and we depend on them to help us digest food, to control our mood, or to protect us from infection. Nasopharyngeal multi-strain bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae are another example, often carried asymptomatically but sometimes causing trouble to the host. Depending on underlying diversity, microbial community dynamics can lead to different outcomes between health and disease, and display different stability or resistance to invasion.

Researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have created a mathematical model and simulated numerically the progression of age-related macular degeneration, one of the main causes of blindness. This model can be used to better understand how this disease appears and assess the most effective treatments.

Researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, have discovered that in the developing retina, and important part of the central nervous system, the divisions leading to the first differentiating neurons are asymmetric and that this asymmetry is necessary to generate the correct types of neurons in the right numbers and proportions. The study, published in the scientific journal eLife, is the first to report this asymmetry and the molecular processes underlying it, opening new paths for understanding how the complex brain develops its architecture and function.

The study led by Luís Ferreira Moita, principal investigator at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, and published in the journal Immunity, reveals that tetracyclines (broad spectre antibiotics), by partially inhibiting cell mitochondria activity, induce a compensatory response on the organism that decreases tissue damage caused during infection. This finding opens new doors in the field of disease tolerance and positions this group of antibiotics as potential adjuvant treatment for sepsis, due to their effects that go beyond the control of bacterial burden.

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Platelets not only play a key role in blood clotting, but can also significantly intensify inflammatory processes. This is shown by a new study carried out by scientists from the University of Bonn together with colleagues from Sao Paulo (Brazil). In the medium term, the results could open up new ways to treat autoimmune diseases. They have now been published in the renowned journal Cell Reports.

A team of Spanish researchers have designed and validated a simulator to enable study of the evolution of the COVID-19 illness in Spain and in all Europe, based on parameters such as climate, social distancing policies and transportation. This research work has been carried out by scientists and technologists from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the Centro Nacional de Epidemiología (CNE) and the Consorcio Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), in conjunction with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS).

The complete isolation of the population in the face of an epidemic such as COVID-19 is a strategy that requires subsequently adopting active measures in order to maximise its effectiveness, such as conducting large scale diagnostic tests, isolating people with symptoms and identifying those with whom they have had contact. This is one of the main conclusions from a study conducted by a team of researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the University of Zaragoza, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the ISI Foundation in Italy.

Researchers have identified a genetic signature with prognostic value for certain kinds of breast cancer. The discovery also contributes to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of pathological angiogenesis, the aberrant proliferation of blood vessels that occurs during cancer and other diseases.