General

The immune response to infections is a delicate balance. We need just enough action to clear away the offending bacteria or viruses, but not so much that our own bodies suffer collateral damage. Macrophages are immune cells at the front line, detecting pathogens and kicking off an inflammatory response when […]

The big sea change of the past 10 to 15 years in aging research is that the scientific community is now near entirely behind the idea that aging is a viable target for therapy, and that we should be working towards greater healthy human longevity. Prior to this time, aging […]

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from The University of Manchester have developed a new graphene-based testing system for disease-related antibodies, initially targeting a kidney disease called Membranous Nephropathy. The new instrument, based on the principle of a quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) combined with a graphene-based bio-interface, offers a cheap, fast, simple and sensitive […]

Many people think of new medicines as bullets, and in the pharmaceutical industry, frequently used terms like “targets” and “hits” reinforce that idea. Immuneering co-founder and CEO Ben Zeskind ’03, PhD ’06 prefers a different analogy. His company, which specializes in bioinformatics and computational biology, sees many effective drugs more […]

Researchers at University Health Network and the University of Toronto have identified silent and ancient DNA elements buried in our genomes that, when reactivated, can initiate a powerful immune response to kill colorectal cancer cells. The researchers also discovered a key enzyme that human cancer cells use to prevent that […]

People with cancer who exercise generally have a better prognosis than inactive patients. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found a likely explanation of why exercise helps slow down cancer growth in mice: Physical activity changes the metabolism of the immune system’s cytotoxic T cells and thereby improves […]

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question it seems like every child gets asked. A few precocious ones might answer “a doctor” or “an astronaut,” but most will probably smile and shrug their shoulders. But well before a child could comprehend the question or […]

The immune response is a balancing act: Too much can lead to inflammatory or autoimmune disease; too little could lead to a serious infection. Regulatory T cells, or Tregs, are important players in striking this balance, acting as “brakes” on the immune response so it doesn’t go overboard. Consequently, controlling […]

NineSigma, representing a Japanese pharmaceutical company, seeks novel drug seeds that can be applied to the treatment of intractable and refractory autoimmune diseases. While proposals for a drug candidate compound are preferred, those with novel unique mechanisms, concepts, or ideas are also welcome to participate. The client, specializing in autoimmune diseases […]

Cancer remodels the architecture of our chromosomes so the disease can take hold and spread, University of Virginia researchers have revealed. This remodelling is important because the arrangement of the components in our chromosomes actually affects the workings of our genes. With these renovations, cancer begins making a comfortable home […]

In a study published in the journal Cell,  UC Berkeley Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology professor Anders Näär led a group of researchers from 12 institutions in the United States and Europe, to better understand a region on the second human chromosome previously linked to both the digestion of milk and metabolic disorders. They […]

According to the World Health Organization, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of senile dementia that affects dozens of millions of people worldwide, with numbers expected to double every 20 years if more effective treatments are not forthcoming. It has long been thought that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by […]

A Vanderbilt cancer systems biology team has identified the enzymes that keep tumor cells growing in the presence of drug treatment, opening the door to stopping these cells dead in their tracks. An article, “An Integrative Gene Expression and Mathematical Flux-Balance Analysis Identifies Targetable Redox Vulnerabilities in Melanoma Cells,” was published […]

As early as 1975, biologists discovered that the protein-coding parts of the chimpanzee and human genomes are more than 99 percent identical. Yet, chimpanzees and humans are clearly different in significant ways. Why? The answer lies in the fact that how DNA is used is as important as what it […]

Doctors and biostatisticians at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have led the development and validation of a staging system to better predict outcomes and inform treatment decisions for men diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer. Although it is one of the most common cancers worldwide, prostate cancer remains one of the […]

An international team of researchers has identified a direct molecular link between meat and dairy diets and the development of antibodies in the blood that increase the chances of developing cancer. This connection may explain the high incidence of cancer among those who consume large amounts of dairy products and […]

Actin is among the most abundant proteins in cells, and it has many jobs—from giving the cell its very shape and structure to managing networks of proteins crucial to numerous cellular functions. Without it, the fragile fundamental unit of life would crumble. A good deal of actin’s activity is based […]

Imagine your young son has a rare disease that makes him susceptible to infections. If he catches the measles, will he be able to successfully fight it off? A researcher at Université de Montréal has discovered how to ensure he will: by getting him vaccinated. For people generally, vaccination is […]

University of Oregon biologists have used a model organism to identify molecular mechanisms that produce DNA damage in sperm and contribute to male infertility following exposure to heat. In humans, the optimal temperature for sperm production is just below body temperature, in a range of about 90-95 degrees F. Human […]

Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have developed a new method to isolate specific cells, and in the process found a more robust fluorescent protein. Both the platform and the protein could be highly useful to synthetic biologists and biomedical researchers. They often need to single out […]

The Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Consortium – Down Syndrome (ABC-DS), a multi-institution research team, co-led by members from the University of California, Irvine, has been awarded an unprecedented five-year, $109 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to expand research on the biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome. UCI principal investigators Elizabeth […]

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found evidence that neutrophil immune cell activity is the missing link connecting periodontal disease with heart disease, cancer and other inflammatory conditions – possibly including COVID-19. The link between periodontal (gum) disease and other inflammatory conditions such as heart disease and diabetes has long been established, […]

Humans are born with a part of the brain that is prewired to be receptive to seeing words and letters, setting the stage at birth for people to learn how to read, a new study suggests. Analyzing brain scans of newborns, researchers found that this part of the brain – […]

In a new study published in the journal Cell, Death & Differentiation researchers at Karolinska Institutet have conducted a translational study that identified a new mechanism for controlling the breakdown of glucose in several different cancer forms. The discovery could lead to new therapeutic strategies aimed to reduce cancer growth. […]

NIH-funded therapy will now be tested in humans. A newly developed light-sensing protein called the MCO1 opsin restores vision in blind mice when attached to retina bipolar cells using gene therapy. The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, provided a Small Business Innovation Research grant to […]

The prescription of potentially inappropriate medications to older adults is linked to increased hospitalizations, and it costs patients, on average, more than $450 per year, according to a new University at Buffalo study. The research, which sought to determine the impact of potentially inappropriate medications on health care utilization and […]

How life works may come down to dumbbell-like bits of DNA. Rice University scientists on a long quest to study the structure and function of chromosomes have found that amid the apparent chaotic state of DNA during interphase, when cells are between divisions, there are pockets of order in the configuration […]

For people with multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system, exercise is a proven way to hold off symptoms of fatigue and loss of mobility. But those same symptoms of the disease can cause such mobility issues in some people with MS that even getting started with exercising is […]

An electronic nudge to clinicians—triggered by an algorithm that used machine learning methods to flag patients with cancer who would most benefit from a conversation around end-of-life goals—tripled the rate of those discussions, according to a new prospective, randomized study of nearly 15,000 patients from Penn Medicine and published in […]

According to the Mayo Clinic, about 15% of couples are infertile, and male infertility plays a role in over one-third of these cases. Often, problems with sperm development are to blame. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have found a way to deliver a protein important for sperm cell production directly to […]