Real progress in oral health doesn’t come from expensive gadgets, but from better daily habits. That is the conclusion of dentist- periodontist Tim Thomassen in his dissertation Oral Disease Prevention, which he will defend on 12 December at the University of Amsterdam. In his research, he examines how effective different types of toothbrushes are and how much impact the actual time people spend brushing has on oral health.

A study from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, indicates that the high expression of the estrogen receptor is the main factor preventing the most common type of breast cancer, luminal breast cancer, from responding to immunotherapy.

The high presence of the estrogen receptor sequesters the LCOR molecule, whose action on tumor cells is necessary to make tumors visible to the immune system. In experimental models, the researchers found that combining immunotherapy with endocrine therapy allows LCOR to function and the immune system to attack the tumor.

At the same time, they have generated a modified version of the LCOR molecule that sensitizes tumors to immunotherapy, including those with hormone receptors. The next goal is to study this molecule combined with immunotherapy in clinical trials.

A team at CABIMER has developed PLAMseq, a technique that for the first time enables the simultaneous identification of chromatin-associated proteins and their precise genomic locations within a single experiment, overcoming limitations of traditional methods like ChIP-seq and mass spectrometry that require complex workflows and specific antibodies. By leveraging rapid TurboID-mediated biotinylation, PLAMseq uncovers previously unknown molecular interactions—such as SETDB1 binding to SUMO-modified histones—and demonstrates strong performance on key genome regulators including CTCF, RNA polymerase II, and modified H1 histones. This integrated proteogenomic approach opens new avenues for investigating epigenetic mechanisms underlying cancer and neurological or developmental disorders, potentially accelerating the discovery of therapeutic targets and biomarkers while positioning Andalusian research groups at the forefront of chromatin biology innovation.

An international research team led by Aalborg University with contributions from the University of Vienna has systematically mapped the microbiome of an entire country for the first time. In the study "Microflora Danica," published in the renowned journal Nature, over 10,000 environmental samples from across Denmark were analyzed - on average at intervals of only around 4 square kilometers. The result is an atlas of Danish environmental microbiomes with unprecedented spatial resolution and functional depth. Michael Wagner, Daan Speth, and Andrew Giguere from the Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna played a key role in the evaluation of nitrifiers, a key group in the global nitrogen cycle.