General

An international team led by physics researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington has published a paper in the high-impact journal Bioactive Materials that describes a breakthrough method of photodynamic therapy (PDT), an emerging cancer treatment. Nil Kanatha Pandey, a doctoral student in physics Professor Wei Chen’s lab, is the first […]

The urgency to remember a dangerous experience requires the brain to make a series of potentially dangerous moves: Neurons and other brain cells snap open their DNA in numerous locations — more than previously realized, according to a new study — to provide quick access to genetic instructions for the mechanisms […]

A University of Manchester led a team of scientists has discovered that the most common form of adult blindness is probably caused by a failure of at least one of five proteins to regulate the immune system. The breakthrough could one day herald the development of transformative treatments for developing […]

Biologists are trying to figure out what makes a cell unique in form and function. But they are not certain which components are key to making similar cells behave differently. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Associate Professor Jesse Gillis and his lab are tackling this problem with a new statistical method: they […]

When a doctor gives a patient antibiotics for a bacterial infection, they usually require them to finish the entire treatment, even when symptoms go away. This is to ensure the drugs kill off any remaining bacteria. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Visiting Scientist Raffaella Sordella investigated a similar problem that occurs in […]

Altum Sequencing, a start-up in the biotechnology sector that is part of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid’s (UC3M) Incubation and Acceleration of Companies and Industrial PhD programmes, has patented a system that allows for the early identification of tumour-specific genetic markers and the quantification of cancer cells following responses […]

Antibodies induced by currently available mRNA vaccines can still neutralize the Delta and Kappa variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but do so at a reduced potency, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Delta variant, first identified in India and previously known as B.1.617.2, is […]

You’re as old as your immune system. Investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging have built an inflammatory-ageing clock that’s more accurate than the number of candles on your birthday cake in predicting how strong your immune system is, how soon […]

Intervertebral discs provide load support and motion between vertebrae in the spine, but when they start to break down and compress due to ageing, disease or injury, a person experiences significant pain and reduced mobility. An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found a way to […]

Infant boys with a higher composition of a particular gut microbiota show enhanced neurodevelopment, according to a new study. The University of Alberta-led research followed more than 400 infants from the CHILD Cohort Study (CHILD) at its Edmonton site. Boys with a gut bacterial composition that was high in the bacteria Bacteroidetes […]

The mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, are among the most powerful vaccines the world has ever seen. According to clinical trial data, they are more than 94% effective at preventing symptomatic disease, with real-world data bearing out that success. The other vaccine currently available in the […]

For 30 years, University of Tokyo Associate Professor Hisayoshi Nozaki has traveled an hour west of Tokyo to visit the Sagami River and collect algal samples to understand how living things evolved different sexes. Through new analysis of samples collected in 2007 and 2013 from dam lakes along the river, […]

New research will help doctors identify, treat and prevent potentially dangerous irregular heartbeats in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a common heart condition in which the heart thickens and strains to pump blood. These chaotic heart rhythms are known as atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation can be asymptomatic, but it can lead […]

A review of more than 9,000 U.S. patients with severe COVID-19 infection showed less than 1% contracted the illness again, with an average reinfection time of 3.5 months after an initial positive test. Those are the findings from a study conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and MU […]

A decade after scientists discovered that lab rats will rescue a fellow rat in distress, but not a rat they consider an outsider, new UC Berkeley research pinpoints the brain regions that drive rats to prioritize their nearest and dearest in times of crisis. It also suggests humans may share […]

Hidden autoimmunity may explain how the coronavirus wreaks such widespread and unpredictable harm. One of the enduring mysteries of COVID-19 is why it makes some people deathly sick but gives others only mild symptoms or none at all. We know that age matters, as do race; gender; and pre-existing medical […]

Children with a devastating genetic disorder characterized by severe motor disability and developmental delay have experienced sometimes dramatic improvements in a gene therapy trial launched at UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospitals. The trial includes seven children aged 4 to 9 born with a deficiency of AADC, an enzyme involved […]

Fruit flies have evolved an elaborate courtship ritual. Upon recognizing a suitable mate in his vicinity, a male fruit fly transforms into a dogged suitor, sometimes chasing the female for more than 26 yards, or 9 miles in human terms, singing to her all the while by vibrating his wings. […]

Anti-androgen therapy is commonly used to treat patients with advanced prostate cancer at stages where the disease has spread to the bones. However, new research reveals that anti-androgen treatment can actually facilitate prostate cancer cells to adapt and grow in the bone tumour microenvironment model, which has been developed by […]

Molecules from the same family as the anti-coagulant drug heparin may interfere with the ability of the COVID-19 virus’s spikes to bind to human cells. This could be used to treat people with severe effects of the virus and any emerging variants. New targetable site on the COVID-19 spike protein […]

Scientists have produced the first fine-detail molecular blueprints of a bacterial enzyme known as Lit, which is suspected to play a “stealthy” role in the progression of infection by reducing the immune response. Blueprints such as these allow drug designers to uncover potential weaknesses in bacterial arsenals as they seek to develop […]

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have identified rare genetic variants – carried by one in 3,000 people – that have a larger impact on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes than any previously identified genetic effect. Type 2 diabetes is thought to be driven in part by inherited […]

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and their collaborators describe a strain of giant kelp that is genetically male, but presents phenotypic features of females. Their findings shed light on the molecular basis of how sexual development is initiated in this species. Giant kelp can […]

In the United States, nearly every pediatric doctor’s visit begins with three measurements: weight, height and head circumference. Compared to average growth charts of children across the country, established in the 1970s, a child’s numbers can confirm typical development or provide a diagnostic baseline to assess deviations from the curve. Yet, […]

A 'perfect storm' of genetic mutations, toxic proteins and a defect in natural cell recycling has been uncovered in University of Queensland research that could lead to treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Researchers have found brain cells are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the triple threat, […]

Researchers at The University of Queensland, working to gain a better understanding of how brain cells work, have discovered the underlying mechanism of a rare genetic mutation that can cause epilepsy. Dr Victor Anggono from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute said his team made the ground-breaking findings while researching nerve cell communications, which are […]

Taken together, the bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes that live in our intestines from the gut microbiome, which plays a key role in the health of people and animals. In new research from the University of Minnesota, the University of Notre Dame and Duke University, scientists found that genetics […]

A diet rich in fermented foods enhances the diversity of gut microbes and decreases molecular signs of inflammation, according to researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine. In a clinical trial, 36 healthy adults were randomly assigned to a 10-week diet that included either fermented or high-fibre foods. The two diets […]

How much can a simple blood sample tell us about a person’s health? Can it give clues about whether a person will develop cardiovascular disease or leukemia? Can it predict how severe a person’s heart disease will be? John Dick, senior scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network […]

A bioengineering professor at The University of Texas at Arlington is developing a technique to diagnose tiny breast tumors that could reduce the anxiety, uncertainty and high costs often faced by patients. Biopsy results show that about 80% of very small tumors are benign; 15% are low-grade, non-life-threatening cancers; and […]