General

Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have developed a tool to monitor communications within the brain in a way never before possible, and it has already offered an explanation for why Alzheimer’s drugs have limited effectiveness and why patients get much worse after going off of them. The […]

PNNL bioinformatics experts tease out link to DNA repair signaling Night shift work disrupts the natural 24-hour rhythms in the activity of certain cancer-related genes, making workers more vulnerable to damage to their DNA while at the same time causing the body’s DNA repair mechanisms to be mistimed to deal with […]

Being active and fit slows the impact of aging on the brain. A diverse set of mechanisms are involved, and, as is often the case in these matters, it is far from clear as to which of these mechanisms are the most important. Fitness helps to maintain the vascular system […]

For cancer cells to metastasize, they must first break free of a tumor’s own defenses. Most tumors are sheathed in a protective “basement” membrane — a thin, pliable film that holds cancer cells in place as they grow and divide. Before spreading to other parts of the body, the cells […]

Scientists at ETH Zurich are working to develop information-​processing switching systems in biological cells. Now, for the first time, they have developed an OR switch in human cells that reacts to different signals. Biological cells might one day be equipped with artificial genetic programs that work in much the same […]

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have implicated a type of immune cell in the development of chronic lung disease that sometimes is triggered following a respiratory viral infection. The evidence suggests that activation of this immune cell — a type of guardian cell called a […]

Managing single risk factors like blood pressure rather than looking at overall risk may be wasting scarce resources in countries where cardiovascular disease (CVD) is on the rise, according to a new study. Researchers looked at country-specific levels of cardiovascular risk, associations with socio-demographic factors and whether WHO guidelines on the […]

The ambitious project aims to preserve humankind – and animal-kind, plant-kind and fungi-kind – in the event of a global crisis. University of Arizona researcher Jekan Thanga is taking scientific inspiration from an unlikely source: the biblical tale of Noah's Ark. Rather than two of every animal, however, his solar-powered […]

Melanoma is the most aggressive and deadliest form of skin cancer. Effective treatments are elusive because one type of this cancer develops resistance to available inhibitors, and in another type, no effective drug treatment has yet been found. But a promising pathway to effective drug treatment of both types of […]

Powerful new genetic engineering methods have given scientists the potential to revolutionize several sectors of global urgency. So-called gene drives, which leverage CRISPR technology to influence genetic inheritance, carry the promise of rapidly spreading specific genetic traits throughout populations of a given species. Gene-drive technologies applied in insects, for example, […]

COVID-19 has been with us for more than a year already. But do you remember how little we knew about it just one year ago? We didn’t know what this viral disease can do to children. It turned out, they are more immune to COVID-19 than adults are. But why? […]

Incorporating social and behavioral factors alongside biological mechanisms is critical for improving aging research, according to a trio of studies by leading social scientists. A trio of recent studies highlight the need to incorporate behavioral and social science alongside the study of biological mechanisms in order to slow aging. The […]

Human population in the world is growing. And we will need to feed all these people. How can we do that without limited resources and farming capabilities, not putting even more damage on the wildlife. Scientists at the University of Melbourne have put their ears on the clock the plants […]

Using cellular genomics, Garvan-led researchers have uncovered new links between DNA variants and cell gene activity. Researchers led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have made a crucial step forward in the understanding of how our own DNA information influences our personal disease risk, thanks to cutting-edge cellular genomics […]

A newly announced grant from the MS Society is helping researchers at the University of Alberta to better understand the underlying cause of chronic pain that afflicts an estimated half of people with multiple sclerosis, and how to eradicate it. Bradley Kerr and his team are looking in particular at the peripheral nervous […]

It looks like science fiction: A machine dips into a shallow vat of translucent yellow goo and pulls out what becomes a life-sized hand. But the seven-second video, which is sped-up from 19 minutes, is real. The hand, which would take six hours to create using conventional 3D printing methods, […]

Taking the first deep dive into how the immune system is behaving in patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that children with this condition have highly activated immune […]

Study reveals details of how coronavirus infects heart; models of tissue damage may help develop potential therapies. Since early in the pandemic, COVID-19 has been associated with heart problems, including reduced ability to pump blood and abnormal heart rhythms. But it’s been an open question whether these problems are caused […]

An international team of bioethicists and scientists, led by a researcher at Case Western Reserve University, contends it may be justified to go beyond the standing 14-day limit that restricts how long researchers can study human embryos in a dish. Going beyond this policy limit could lead to potential health […]

New treatments for Alzheimer’s disease are desperately needed, but numerous clinical trials of investigational drugs have failed to generate promising options. Now, a team at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital has developed an artificial intelligence-based method to screen currently available medications as possible treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The method could […]

Concussion linked to short- and long-term risk for overall health. While chronic neurological effects from concussion have been widely studied, little is known about possible links between concussion and long-term medical and behavioural comorbidities. A retrospective analysis published in the Journal of Neurotrauma found that people who had a concussion also […]

Cancers subvert the immune system in order to survive, but also to accelerate their growth. Macrophages are a part of the innate immune system, and have roles in wound healing. They become engaged by a tumor; tumor-associated macrophages assist in the rampant growth of tumor cells by supporting them in […]

Have you been eating well during the lockdown? It is likely that you’ve been ordering a lot of junk food, which is not only making you overweight – it is also slowly killing you. Scientists at the University of Toronto found that consuming lots of poor-quality carbohydrates increases the risk […]

There is no stronger risk factor for cancer than age. At the time of diagnosis, the median age of patients across all cancers is 66. That moment, however, is the culmination of years of clandestine tumor growth, and the answer to an important question has thus far remained elusive: When […]

A human genetics investigator discusses new RNA research developments that may aid in treating and preventing rare genetic diseases. Altogether, over 6,800 rare diseases affect an estimated 25 million to 30 million Americans. A rare disease is defined in the U.S. as one that affects less than 200,000 people in […]

One of the most significant genetic risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease is a gene called APOE4, which is carried by almost half of all Alzheimer’s patients. A new study from MIT shows that this gene has widespread effects on brain cells’ ability to metabolize lipids and respond to stress. […]

Berkeley Lab researchers propose model for early pathology of this debilitating disease. Subtle memory deficits are common in normal aging as well as Alzheimer disease (AD), the leading cause of dementia in older adults. This makes AD difficult to diagnose in its early stages. As there is currently no effective […]

Brain cells called astrocytes derived from the induced pluripotent stem cells of patients with bipolar disorder offer suboptimal support for neuronal activity. In a paper in the journal Stem Cell Reports, researchers show that this malfunction can be traced to an inflammation-promoting molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is secreted by astrocytes. The […]

Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases are both very common neurodegenerative disorders affecting millions in our world. These diseases are incurable, debilitating and completely devastating for the patients and their families. They are also in the cards for many, because they are related to the aging process. Now there is a little […]

Scientists have used a technique to grow bile duct organoids – often referred to as ‘mini-organs’ – in the lab and shown that these can be used to repair damaged human livers. This is the first time that the technique has been used on human organs. The research paves the way […]