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Credit: Sheng-Kai Sun / Nature Communications
The agricultural cultivation of the staple food of rice harbours the risk of possible contamination with arsenic that can reach the grains following uptake by the roots. In their investigation of over 4,000 variants of rice, a Chinese-German research team under the direction of Prof. Dr Rüdiger Hell from the Centre for Organismal Studies (COS) of Heidelberg University and Prof. Dr Fang-Jie Zhao of Nanjing Agricultural University (China) discovered a plant variant that resists the toxin. Although the plants thrive in arsenic-contaminated fields, the grains contain far less arsenic than other rice plants. At the same time, this variant has an elevated content of the trace element selenium.
CoCID project aims to develop soft X-ray microscope for visualizing cellular origin of diseases
CoCID (Compact Cell Imaging Device), a €5.7 million, four-year, pan-European research and innovation project, funded through Horizon 2020, has officially commenced. CoCID is focused on the development of a soft X-ray-based methodology that enables fast and inexpensive three-dimensional imaging of whole internal structure of intact biological cells.
The objective of CoCID is to develop a lab-scale, soft X-ray microscope, which can be used as a research tool to help scientists to understand the cellular origin of diseases.
The benefits of this compact imaging device will be demonstrated through a series of virology use cases that enable researchers to decipher critical changes in cell morphology induced by viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, in their host cell with the aim to identify possible targets for therapy suppressing virus replication and/or cellular responses of relevance to the virus
European soft x-ray microscopy project begins at UCD
The project aims to develop a soft x-ray microscope that can help scientists to understand the cellular origin of diseases.
A four-year research project focused on the development of a soft x-ray microscope has officially commenced today (2 February).
Compact Cell Imaging Device (CoCID) is a €5.7m pan-European research and innovation project, which will use soft x-ray-based methodology to enable fast and inexpensive three-dimensional imaging of whole internal structures of intact biological cells.
This could provide valuable information for researchers to understand the disease pathways of viruses and aid the development of novel therapeutics. The project team hopes to achieve this by developing a lab-scale, soft x-ray microscope.