Darmstadt, 09th September 2022
The groundbreaking research of Svante Pääbo and his team, for which the Swedish researcher was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Medicine, gives us a completely new insight into the evolution of the human brain compared to Neanderthal man. In their work, the scientists identified the protein TKTL1 as a central building block that contributed significantly to the development of the human brain.
While the brains of Neanderthals and modern humans hardly differ in size, there are significant differences in their shape. However, the exact functional significance of these differences has been unclear until now, especially with respect to the neocortex. This is precisely where the work of Pääbo and his team comes in.
The researchers focused on a specific change in amino acids in the gene TKTL1 that played a key role in the production of basal radial glial cells – those cells that contribute significantly to the formation of the neocortex.
The research results show that the human variant of TKTL1 causes a remarkable increase in the production of neuroprogenitor cells in organoids or non-human brains compared to the archaic one. An indication that we modern humans have an expanded neocortex due to this genetic change.
The work of Svante Pääbo and his team provides a deeper understanding of the evolution of human intelligence and leaves us eagerly anticipating more such findings.
You can view the full research paper here.
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Zyagnum AG
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64293 Darmstadt
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E-mail: presse@zyagnum.de
About Zyagnum: The Darmstadt-based biotechnology company Zyagnum AG develops diagnostic solutions for human medicine. Zyagnum has a profound understanding of immunological processes and their connection with diseases. For example, the EDIM® technology developed by Zyagnum can be used in blood tests to detect specific antigens in immune cells that may play a role in tumour development. Today, the company employs more than 40 people and was founded by Zyagnum CEO Ralf Schierl together with Johannes Coy in 2007.
About EDIM®: When the human organism derails and runs towards disease, the immune system is often the first to recognise this, often before any symptoms. The platform technology we have developed, EDIM® (Epitope Detection in Monocytes), uses the mechanisms of the immune system to detect such derailments. The EDIM® technology examines macrophages for antigens that have previously been taken up into the cell interior by these immune cells through phagocytosis – this is why we also call EDIM® an immunological biopsy.
About PanTum Detect®: PanTum Detect® is a cancer screening blood test for the early detection of tumors. By means of a simple blood sample, it can provide indications of almost all tumor types in early, symptom-free stages – even for tumor types for which there are currently no established statutory early detection examinations. PanTum Detect® is based on EDIM® technology and detects the enzymes TKTL1 and DNaseX (Apo10), which both are increasingly produced in many tumors. PanTum Detect® does not diagnose cancer but provides indications of a potential cancer to be localized and confirmed in follow-up examinations (e.g. by imaging procedures such as MRI or PET/CT and histopathological procedures). PanTum Detect® has a sensitivity of 95.2% and a specificity of 99.5%.