To understand why color is fading in precious artworks, the reproduction of ancient colors is a vital ingredient. This know-how was lost at the turn of the 20th century with the rise of industrially-produced synthetic dyes. Retrieving this "lost knowledge" enabled us to solve the mystery of the medieval blue named folium whose molecular structure remained elusive until now.

Stingless bee honey contains high levels of a rare special sugar called trehalulose, not normally found in in any other food. For the first time, this low glycemic index sugar has been identified as a major component in honeys from five different stingless bee species. The abundance of trehalulose is tangible evidence supporting traditional health claims attributed to stingless bee honey.

Nowadays stem cell therapies are being explored in the field of regenerative medicine in order to promote the recovery of injured tissues. For example, if a patient has heart disease, the stem cells would be injected to repair the heart. We recapitulated this therapeutic approach injecting stem cells in mice to specifically reveal how stem cell treatment of heart failure works.

All blood cells are made in the bone marrow with an estimated production of 1 million white cells per second. In response to infection white cell production increases threefold. Such a production requires energy provided by mitochondria. Our study reveals how blood stem cells acquire mitochondria from support cells, without which our immune system would not function.

We developed and tested a tool that can help researchers understand the role of gut microbes in the production of small molecules that play both helpful and harmful roles in shaping human biology.

We have learned how the wheat crop has changed through time, thousands of years back to when it was a wild grass. Equipped with this new knowledge, wheat breeders are now able to identify genes useful for durum improvement and accelerate the development of new wheat cultivars with improved yields and health properties.