October 6, 2020

Imaging technique could replace tissue biopsies in assessing drug resistance in breast cancer patients

Imaging techniques could replace the need for invasive tissue biopsies in helping rapidly determine whether cancer treatments are working effectively, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. In a study published in the journal Cancer Cell, researchers at the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Institute have shown how a new […]
October 6, 2020

Is it true that younger people find learning new languages easier?

Being able to talk in several languages is an important skill to have. The world is shrinking and if you want to do business or build a career in other international organizations you will have to speak at least one foreign language. But is it true that younger people pick […]
October 6, 2020

Novel Dual CAR T Cell immunotherapy Holds Promise for Targeting The HIV Reservoir

A recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine, led by researchers James Riley, PhD, a professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Todd Allen, PhD, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Group Leader at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and […]
October 6, 2020

UVA Improves Care for Cancers that Have Spread to the Brain

Ambitious efforts at the UVA Cancer Center to improve care delivered to patients with cancer that has spread to the brain have yielded important insights and tools that can benefit other hospitals, a new publication reports. The tools include the first set of metrics to assess care provided for these […]
October 6, 2020

Using AI to improve heart-transplant outcomes

The team of biomedical researchers at the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD) has tackled various aspects of lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer and more since the centre was launched at Case Western Reserve University in 2012 by bioengineering pioneer Anant Madabhushi. Now, Madabhushi’s lab and partners in the Perelman […]
October 6, 2020

Circadian rhythm: liver gene helps body keep working smoothly after late nights and midnight snacks

Every living human is controlled by an internal “clock” which drives our circadian rhythm – the natural internal process that regulates our sleep-wake cycle during a 24-hour period. This internal clock controls most of our body processes over this period, including our sleep cycle, digestion, metabolism, appetite and immunity. External […]
October 6, 2020

Mutations that affect ageing – more common than we thought?

The number of mutations that can contribute to ageing may be significantly higher than previously believed, according to new research on fruit flies. The study by scientists at Linköping University supports a new theory about the type of mutation that can lie behind ageing. The results have been published in […]
October 6, 2020

Nanoparticles can turn off genes in bone marrow cells

Using specialized nanoparticles, MIT engineers have developed a way to turn off specific genes in cells of the bone marrow, which play an important role in producing blood cells. These particles could be tailored to help treat heart disease or to boost the yield of stem cells in patients who […]
October 6, 2020

SMART researchers receive Intra-CREATE grant for personalized medicine and cell therapy

Researchers from Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (CAMP), an interdisciplinary research group at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, have been awarded Intra-CREATE grants from the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore to help support research on retinal biometrics for glaucoma progression and neural cell […]
October 5, 2020

Tiny brain “tweezers” could hold the key to treating Parkinson’s Disease

A collaborative study led by the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre's Dr Nora Bengoa-Vergniory has shown that compounds known as molecular tweezers could become a promising disease modifying therapy for Parkinson’s. A team of researchers has shown that tiny compounds known as molecular “tweezers” could become a promising therapy to slow […]
October 5, 2020

Millimetre-precision drug delivery to the brain

Focused ultrasound waves help ETH researchers to deliver drugs to the brain with pinpoint accuracy, in other words only to where their effect is desired. This method is set to enable treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders and tumours with fewer side effects in the future. Researchers at ETH Zurich […]
October 5, 2020

Nanotechnology experts meet to share new ideas

The 13th annual NanoFlorida conference was hosted by the University of Miami last Friday and about 500 people tuned in virtually to learn about advances in the field from two pioneers. Imagine being able to tint the windows of your car or office from bright sunlight within seconds of tapping […]
October 5, 2020

How Cells Build Organisms

Under a microscope, the first few hours of every multicellular organism’s life seem incongruously chaotic. After fertilization, a once tranquil single-celled egg divides, again and again, quickly becoming a visually tumultuous mosh pit of cells jockeying for position inside the rapidly growing embryo. Yet, amid this apparent pandemonium, cells begin […]
October 5, 2020

Timing the life of antimatter particles may lead to better cancer treatment

Experts in Japan have devised a simple way to glean more detailed information out of standard medical imaging scans. A research team made up of atomic physicists and nuclear medicine experts at the University of Tokyo and the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) has designed a timer that can […]
October 5, 2020

Researchers Discover A Rare Genetic Form of Dementia

A new, rare genetic form of dementia has been discovered by a team of Penn Medicine researchers. This discovery also sheds light on a new pathway that leads to protein build up in the brain — which causes this newly discovered disease, as well as related neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s […]
October 5, 2020

Cancer Immunotherapy ‘Uniquely Suppressed’ by Liver Tumors

Though cancer immunotherapy has become a promising standard-of-care treatment – and in some cases, perhaps a cure – for a wide variety of different cancers, it doesn’t work for everyone, and researchers have increasingly turned their attention to understanding why. For example, doctors have noticed that patients who initially respond […]
October 5, 2020

Don’t blame ‘beer belly’ on beer

In many people, ageing makes it harder to burn fat, which accumulates in the abdomen as a “beer belly.” Now, a team led by Christina Camell, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics of the U of M Medical School and College of Biological Sciences, […]
October 5, 2020

Element in blood is part of stress response

A new study published in the journal Critical Care Explorations shows for the first time that part of the stress response in people and animals involves increasing the levels of a naturally circulating element in the blood. The discovery demonstrates a biological mechanism that rapidly responds to severe physiologic stress and […]
October 4, 2020

Scientists uncovered how biological cells get and maintain their shapes

Biological cells can be all kinds of shapes and sizes, even though they don’t have skeletons or other rigid structures to maintain that shape. Different forms help different types of cells accomplish different functions. How do they do that? Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich discovered […]
October 3, 2020

Difficulty learning new things may be one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. And millions of people are going to get it, even though not everyone will hear the diagnosis. There are, however, some therapies that can slow down the progression of this neurodegenerative condition, but it has to be spotted early. Now scientists at the […]
October 2, 2020

Cancer researchers collaborate, target DNA damage repair pathways for cancer therapy

Cancer therapies that target specific molecular defects arising from mutations in tumor cells are currently the focus of much anticancer drug development. However, due to the absence of good targets and to the genetic variation in tumors, platinum-based chemotherapies are still the mainstay in the treatment of many cancers, including […]
October 2, 2020

How local forces deform the lipid membranes

ETH Zurich researchers have been able to show why biological cells can take on such an astonishing variety of shapes: it has to do with how the number and strength of local forces acting on the cell membrane from within. This knowledge feeds into the development of better minimal model […]
October 1, 2020

Stanford scientists solve secret of nerve cells marking a form of schizophrenia

When nerve cells aren’t busy exchanging information, they’re supposed to keep quiet. If they’re just popping off at random, like in a noisy classroom, it obscures the signals they’re supposed to be transmitting. But in the most common genetic cause of schizophrenia, it seems that nerve cells won’t shut up, Stanford […]
October 1, 2020

Cancer cells use nerve-cell tricks to spread from one organ to the next

Tumors come in many shapes and forms—curable or deadly, solid or liquid, lodged inside the brain, bone, or other tissues. One thing they all have in common, however, is a knack for molecular deceit. It is often by posing as normal cells, or by hijacking them, that cancer cells advance […]
October 1, 2020

The heat is on for building 3D artificial organ tissues

Bioengineers are devising a hot new technology to remotely control the positioning and timing of cell functions to build 3-dimensional, artificial, living tissues. The labs of Kelly Stevens at the UW Medicine Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine in Seattle, and Jordan Miller at Rice University in Houston, are collaborating to develop bio-printed, organ-like tissues, […]
September 30, 2020

Persistent immune memory of COVID-19 found in recovered patient T cells

Oxford University researchers have found that natural infection with COVID-19 produces a robust T cell response, including inducing T cell ‘memory’ to potentially fight future infections. The results, published in Nature Immunology, are a joint effort from the Oxford COVID-19 immunology group, led by the Medical Research Council Human Immunology […]
September 30, 2020

Gene expression altered by direction of forces acting on cell

Tissues and cells in the human body are subjected to a constant push and pull – strained by other cells, blood pressure and fluid flow, to name a few. The type and direction of the force on a cell alters gene expression by stretching different regions of DNA, researchers at […]