HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged 
The overwhelming majority of our biological knowledge stems from the study of organisms found in our immediate surroundings or from within our own bodies. This holds true for bacteria as well, as the most well-studied species are from environments inhabited by humans or from within the human body itself. However, there are numerous conditions where the majority of these species are unable to survive but other bacteria are able to survive and even thrive. One such example are species belonging to the genus Psychrobacter, which can be found living in the icy terrain of Antarctica.
The Systems Immunology Research Group at HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged led by Máté Manczinger is participating in a HORIZON-HEALTH-2023-DISEASE-03 project named ID-DarkMatter-NCD.
The Algae4IBD project (https://algae4ibd.eu/) brings together 21 researcher institutes and companies from 11 countries to unify their expertise in different fields to help patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Chronic inflammation of the digestive tract is a very complex disease for which there is no universally applicable treatment. Since algae are known to produce specific bioactive molecules, they are a promising source when looking for new therapeutic agents.
Ten life scientists from seven countries (Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Turkey) have been awarded EMBO Installation Grants, that support group leaders who will move or have recently moved to countries participating in the scheme. In the four years prior to their application, they have spent at least two consecutive years outside the country where they are now setting up their laboratory. The ten funded applications span a broad range of biological processes including aging, tumor biology, gut-brain axis communication, microbiota, and gene editing tools.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet announced that Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19"
On October 13, 2023, BRC celebrates its 50th anniversary in the building located at 62. Temesvári körút.
Important new insights into the early evolution of fungi have been published by Zsolt Merényi, László Nagy and their colleagues. The study, published on 22 June in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, revealed the genetic milestones of fungal evolution by comparing 123 complete fungal genomes.
Áron Szabó and his colleagues from the Institute of Genetics of the ELKH Biological Research Centre (BRC) conducted a study on glial degradation pathways in a model organism, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in the laboratory led by Gábor Juhász. The researchers discovered that certain proteins of the autophagy pathway, the machinery responsible for the lysosomal degradation of intracellular material, regulate the degradation of axonal debris produced in abnormal circumstances, e.g., brain injury, neurodegenerative disease, or stroke. This process is known as LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP). Since LAP is already known to be involved in debris clearance in astrocytes in the mammalian brain, it could also serve as a potential therapeutic target in the future. The study presenting the results was published in Nature Communications.
The immune system deploys effectors that are able to limit or kill pathogens, in turn, invaders developed various counteractive mechanisms. This host-pathogen coevolution resulted in the development of various forms of immune defenses and virulence factors in both hosts and pathogens. The evolved molecular networks that regulate immune responses are the result of this constant fight and their basic components are inherited across generations via vertical gene transfer.
Szilvia Veszelka, senior research associate of the Institute of Biophysics, has been elected as a member of the Hungarian Young Academy (HYA) for the period of 2023-2028. With this appointment, the BRC is now represented by two members in the 60-member organisation, together with Imola Wilhelm, senior research associate of the Institute of Biophysics, who has been elected as the co-chair of the HYA for two years.