ETH ZuricH - ETH - Finanzen und Controlling - ETH Zürich

16 Core duties – Research
17
Preventing and permanently eradicating gout
Diabetes diagnosis with no finger-pricking
About one per cent of the population of industrialised countries
suffers from the metabolic disorder gout. In this illness,
uric acid forms crystals when it occurs in too high a concentration
in the blood. Painful deposits accumulate in the joints,
or crystals form in the kidneys, which can cause damage. The
excessively high uric acid content in the blood is caused partly
by genetic predisposition or an unbalanced diet.
Lost during evolution
People suffer from gout because during the process of evolution
– unlike other mammals – they lost an important
enzyme which controls uric acid levels naturally. Now researchers
at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering
have developed a method giving hope to anyone
who may be at risk of suffering from gout or already does.
While many medical problems can be solved by drugs
being introduced into the body from outside, the researchers
led by ETH Professor Martin Fussenegger are directly correcting
the faulty metabolic pathway which leads to gout
and so are helping the body to treat itself. The scientists
have developed a synthetic network of specially prepared
genes which are infiltrated into the cells. Once implanted in
the body, this gene network called UREX regulates the level
of uric acid in the blood and thus assumes the role of the
lost enzyme. If UREX detects that the uric acid level is too
high, this information is relayed to a switching circuit which
controls another component. This then dispenses the correct
dose of the enzyme to regulate the uric acid.
The complete gene network is incorporated in a single
cell of which two million are enclosed in perforated 0.2 millimetre
capsules made of seaweed gelatine. When the encapsulated
cells are implanted in the body, they automatically
Using nano research to combat iron deficiency
About 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from the consequences
of iron deficiency. Fatigue, anaemia and developmental
problems are just some of the symptoms. Women
are particularly frequently affected. One solution is to add
iron to food. Often elementary iron is used but this is not
water-soluble and is not easily digested in the intestinal
tract. Iron sulphate, on the other hand, is water-soluble and
is easily processed by the body, but it changes the colour
and taste of the food.
Now researchers led by Florentine Hilty and Michael
Zimmermann at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health
have found another promising solution: when reduced to
nano size and mixed with the right metals, elementary iron
The metabolic illness gout leads to painful deposits in the joints.
attach themselves to the circulatory system and release
their therapeutic effect. Thanks to this biological gene network,
the cause of gout can be permanently eliminated to
prevent the illness. UREX has already been tested successfully
on mice and the patent has been applied for.
Y www.ethz.ch/human_therapy
can be easily absorbed by the body. Most effective is a mixture
of iron zinc oxide and magnesium. Tests have shown
that the body can use the iron much better in this form. The
combustion technique deployed to produce the nano structures
has been known about for some time. It was used
on food for the first time three years ago by ETH scientists.
However, more tests are required before nano-structured
food of this kind can go on sale.
Ywww.ilw.agrl.ethz.ch
Researchers in the group led by Sotiris Pratsinis, Professor
of Particle Technology at the Institute of Process Engineering,
have developed a sensor that can instantly measure
acetone in the breath. That is an easy way to diagnose Type
1 diabetes or the symptoms of ketoacidosis, a complication
of diabetes where there is a total lack of insulin. This is because
in the breath exhaled by Type 1 diabetes patients the
acetone concentration, at about 1800 ppb (parts per billion),
is twice as high as it is in healthy people. During ketoacidosis,
the proportion is even higher. The sensor can measure
an acetone concentration of as little as 20 ppb and works
very accurately even in very high humidity, such as occurs
in exhaled breath.
To manufacture the sensor, the scientists coated a carrier
which had gold electrodes with a semiconductor film
made of tungsten oxide nanoparticles mixed with silicon.
The mixture was produced in a flame at a temperature of
over 2200° C. The nanoparticles rose up and were collected
on the carrier substrate, which was then cooled with water.
Through this rapid heating and cooling, a vitreous layer
formed on the electrodes that is sensitive to acetone.
Non-invasive methods of diagnosing illnesses are becoming
more and more important. Analysis of people’s
breath is key to this, as it is fast, cheap and easy to perform.
Professor Sotiris Pratsinis hopes in future to be able to use
similar sensors to test the breath for other illnesses.
Y www.ptl.ethz.ch
Epigenetically inherited ailments
Brain researchers in the group led by Isabelle Mansuy, a professor
at both ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, have
proved in mice that negative environmental influences at
an early stage in life may not only have a negative effect
on the behaviour of the individual in question throughout
their life, but that the individual can pass on their changed
behaviour to their descendants – even down to the third
generation.
Such negative environmental influences include, for example,
chronic severe stress or traumatic experiences. Young
animals which are unexpectedly separated from their mother
and are put under severe stress during the period of separation
can show behaviour types later in life which could be
interpreted as depression. Furthermore, the animals cannot
control their impulses and are unable to deal appropriately
with new or difficult situations.
Mansuy’s research team was able to show that these behavioural
changes are not due to mutations but to changes
An innovative sensor can detect even small concentrations of
acetone in exhaled breath.
in what is called the methylation of certain genes in the
brain and in the sperm. In this process, the small molecule
methyl is, in certain genes, attached to or removed from one
of the four basic components of DNA. This change to the
methylation controls the activity of the affected genes and
thus has an impact on important bodily functions.
In mice, scientists have identified a number of genes
which are affected by methylation due to earlier stressful
experiences. However, not all these genes are altered to
the same extent. It depends where and how many methyl
groups are altered.
It has long been believed that such behavioural information
could be passed on epigenetically, but Mansuy’s working
group is the first to succeed in demonstrating this at molecular
level in several generations. Since the symptoms displayed
by the disturbed mice are also very pronounced in borderline,
depressive or schizophrenic patients, the results from the trials
with mice could perhaps be transferable to humans.