New species discovered!
The Pioneer Fund supports promising projects at TU Darmstadt
2021/05/20
Research projects at TU Darmstadt receive a total of 600,000 euros of funding each year from the joint “Pioneer Fund” programme from TU Darmstadt and the ENTEGA NATURpur Institute. Two future-oriented projects in the fields of medicine and energy technology are due to start soon.
More than twelve million people in Germany alone suffer from osteoarthritis, an inflammatory joint disease in which the body’s own cells destroy bone substance. “There has not yet been a medicine released on the market that inhibits bone loss and at the same time prevents the associated joint pain”, explains Dr. Meike Saul , head of a research group in the Department of Biology. She is working on the development of RNA substances to combat osteoarthritis and related diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The starting point for this innovative therapy is a microRNA called miR-574-5p. This small piece of RNA is involved in two important processes related to arthritic pain: pain mediation and the development of bone-eating cells.
