Spontaneous mutations of a single gene are likely to cause serious developmental disorders of the excretory organs and genitalia. This is shown in an international study led by the University of Bonn and published in the journal "Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology". The researchers also owe their findings to an unusual model organism: the zebrafish.

Contrary to what has been generally assumed so far, a severe course of COVID-19 does not solely result in a strong immune reaction – rather, the immune response is caught in a continuous loop of activation and inhibition. Experts from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the University of Bonn, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), along with colleagues from a nationwide research network, present these findings in the scientific journal "Cell".

Asterids comprise around 100,000 flowering plants, from heather to tomatoes. Up to now, their family relationships had not yet been fully clarified. A new study by the University of Bonn, Pennsylvania State University (USA) and Fudan University (China) has now somewhat closed this knowledge gap. It is the world's most detailed phylogenetic analysis ever conducted for asterids. The results of the study have been published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Scientists are increasingly trying to use the body's own immune system to fight cancer. A new study by the University of Bonn and research institutions in Australia and Switzerland now shows the strategies tumor cells use to evade this attack. The method developed for this work contributes to a better understanding of the "arms race" between immune defense and disease. The results could help to improve modern therapeutic approaches. They have been published in the journal "Immunity".

Have you ever wondered why our hands have five fingers? And what about amphibians? They usually only have four. Until now it was assumed that this was already the case with the early ancestors of today's frogs and salamanders, the Temnospondyli. However, a new find of the crocodile-like Temnospondyl Metoposaurus krasiejowensis from the late Triassic (about 225 million years old) in Poland shows five metacarpal bones and thus five fingers. As the researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Opole (Poland) note, this finding is very important, because until now, fossil animal tracks may have been wrongly assigned. The results have now been published in the "Journal of Anatomy".

Major gain for international cooperation as the European Commission forms a European University Alliance with the University of Bonn as member. A consortial alliance devoted broadly to the field of neuroscience entitled “The European University of Brain and Technology (NeurotechEU)” is being formed with initial three-year funding of five million euros.

Launched in 2016, the international Research Training Group of the Universities of Bonn and Melbourne will now continue to receive funding until 2025. This was confirmed by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The joint project facilitates the training of young researchers in an excellent academic environment at two globally distinguished research locations.

The summer semester 2020 is coming to an end next Friday, and with it the first lecture period in the history of the University that has been carried out almost entirely online. In a new video message to all members of the University, Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch looks back at the soon-to-end semester and presents the University’s plans for the coming winter semester, which currently include a comeback of teaching on site.