June 29, 2020

How cancer drugs find their targets

In the watery inside of a cell, complex processes take place in tiny functional compartments called organelles. Energy-producing mitochondria are organelles, as is the frilly golgi apparatus, which helps to transport cellular materials. Both of these compartments are bound by thin membranes. But in the past few years, research at […]
June 29, 2020

A focused approach to imaging neural activity in the brain

When neurons fire an electrical impulse, they also experience a surge of calcium ions. By measuring those surges, researchers can indirectly monitor neuron activity, helping them to study the role of individual neurons in many different brain functions. One drawback to this technique is the crosstalk generated by the axons […]
June 29, 2020

Researchers Identify Novel Genetic Variants Linked to Type-2 Diabetes

After examining the genes of more than 200,000 people all over the world who have type-2 diabetes, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center (CMCVAMC) found hundreds of genetic variants never before linked to the disease. The study also […]
June 29, 2020

Dementia May Develop 7 Years Earlier for Adults with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Older adults with chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract may develop dementia more than seven years earlier than those without the condition, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco and Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan. A review of nearly 19,200 Taiwanese patients found that those […]
June 29, 2020

Machine learning predicts side effects from chemotherapy

In collaboration with Rigshospitalet, researchers from DTU Health Technology have developed a machine learning model that can predict chemotherapy-associated nephrotoxicity, a particularly significant side effect in patients treated with cisplatin. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men. The number of new cases is increasing worldwide. There is […]
June 29, 2020

The human brain tracks speech more closely in time than other sounds

The way that speech processing differs from the processing of other sounds has long been a major open question in human neuroscience. Researchers at Aalto University have endeavored to answer this by investigating brain representations for naturally spoken words using machine learning models and comparing them with representations of environmental […]
June 29, 2020

Genetics research produces clinical trial for ‘Childhood Alzheimer’s’

An arthritis drug is to be trialed as a treatment for children with a fatal metabolic disorder which causes neurological deterioration thanks to the University of Manchester researchers. Sanfilippo syndrome is a rare genetic disease with devastating effects on the central nervous system which affects around 1 in 70,000 children, […]
June 29, 2020

Study gives insights into how human fat cells are affected by age

Knowledge of how human fat tissue is affected by age has long been defined by numerous mouse-based studies. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now, for the first time, been able to conduct a prospective study on humans that provides novel insights into how our fat cells reduce lipid […]
June 29, 2020

"Where are My Keys?" and Other Memory-Based Choices Probed in the Brain

Most of us know that feeling of trying to retrieve a memory that does not come right away. You might be watching a romantic comedy featuring that famous character actor who always plays the best friend and finds yourself unable to recall her name (it's Judy Greer). While memory retrieval […]
June 28, 2020

A Study of Environmental Factors Correlating with the Odds of Becoming a Centenarian

The evidence to date strongly suggests that environmental factors determine longevity for the vast majority of people. If there are significant longevity-affecting gene variants out there, then they have small and unreliable effects (APOE), or are restricted to tiny lineages (SERPINE1), or both. The overwhelming majority of contributions to longevity […]
June 28, 2020

T Cells Must Work Harder to Survive in an Old Body

T cells of the adaptive immune system collectively become less functional with age. The immune system as a whole becomes more inflammatory and less effectively, a state described by the terms inflammaging and immunosenescence. Researchers here note that T cells struggle to survive in the aged environment, and are as […]
June 28, 2020

Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype Proteins as a Biomarker of Aging

In today's open access research, the authors report on the generation of a biomarker of aging from the study of proteins secreted by senescent cells. Low cost assays that map closely to biological age, the burden of damage, are a potentially useful tool for research and development of rejuvenation therapies. […]
June 28, 2020

Demonstrating a Senolytic Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies target specific surface features on other cells by providing T cells with a way to recognize that feature – the CAR. T cells so equipped will selectively destroy other cells with the target surface feature. To produce a CAR T cell therapy, a […]
June 26, 2020

U of A researchers identify more than 100 toxic chemicals in cannabis smoke

University of Alberta engineering researchers have characterized the potentially hazardous particles in cannabis smoke and have raised awareness about their potential health effects. “It's not out of line to say there's a potential health risk in marijuana smoke, and there's not nearly enough research,” said Robert Nishida, a U of […]
June 26, 2020

New tool for assessing heart muscle cells helps unlock their potential

Heart muscle cells made from stem cells could be used to screen drugs or develop cell-based therapies for heart disease. But these cells, called cardiomyocytes, are often immature, disorganized, and unable to behave together like working muscle tissue. University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have created a new way to study how […]
June 26, 2020

Mapping the Molecular Health Benefits of Exercise

PNNL proteomics researchers are part of a large consortium tracing the benefits of exercise on an unprecedented scale Exercise helps our bodies and minds. It is a common prescription to build strength and help slow heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, and depression. But how does exercise change the molecular makeup of […]
June 25, 2020

Drug Discovery Seeds/Molecular Targets for the Rare Diseases Involving Bones and Growth Plate Cartilage

NineSigma, representing a Japanese pharmaceutical company with an expertise in bone-related diseases as one of their future focal areas, seeks a potential collaboration partner(s) that possess drug discovery seeds or molecular targets for rare diseases involving bones and growth plate cartilage. Through collaboration with a potential partner(s), the client ultimately aims to […]
June 25, 2020

Discovery of aggressive cancer cell types by Vanderbilt researchers made possible with machine learning techniques

By applying unsupervised and automated machine learning techniques to the analysis of millions of cancer cells, Rebecca Ihrie and Jonathan Irish, both associate professors of cell and developmental biology, have identified new cancer cell types in brain tumors. Machine learning is a series of computer algorithms that can identify patterns within enormous quantities […]
June 25, 2020

Researchers use electric fields to herd cells like flocks of sheep

Princeton researchers have created a device that can herd groups of cells like sheep, precisely directing the cells’ movements by manipulating electric fields to mimic those found in the body during healing. The technique opens new possibilities for tissue engineering, including approaches to promote wound healing, repair blood vessels, or […]
June 23, 2020

Pioneering research reveals certain human genes relate to gut bacteria

The role genetics and gut bacteria play in human health has long been a fruitful source of scientific enquiry, but new research marks a significant step forward in unraveling this complex relationship. Its findings could transform our understanding and treatment of all manner of common diseases, including obesity, irritable bowel […]
June 23, 2020

The regulation of glycemia after stroke improves neurological recovery in diabetes

In a study in mice, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a new potential therapeutic approach to facilitate neurological recovery in people with diabetes suffering from a stroke. The treatment strategy is based on the chronic normalization of hyperglycemia after stroke. The scientists hope that these new results, presented in […]
June 23, 2020

Skin cancer: men are genetically more prone

As COVID-19 restrictions loosen this summer, Canadians will spend more time outdoors and make the most of the sunshine. A new study from McGill University suggests why men may be more genetically prone to develop skin cancer. The research led by Professor Ian Watson of McGill’s Goodman Cancer Research Centre […]
June 23, 2020

In a new report, paleontologists Lauren Sallan and Jack Stack re-examine the “enigmatic and strange” prehistoric fish Tanyrhinichthys mcallisteri. (Image: Nobu Tamura

An international research team led by Dr. Tali Ilovitsh of the Biomedical Engineering Department at TAU developed a noninvasive technology platform for gene delivery into breast cancer cells. The technique combines ultrasound with tumor-targeted microbubbles. Once the ultrasound is activated, the microbubbles explode like smart and targeted warheads, creating holes in cancer cells' […]
June 22, 2020

Evolutionary key for a bigger brain

The expansion of the human brain during evolution, specifically of the neocortex, is linked to our cognitive abilities such as reasoning and language. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden have been studying a gene called ARHGAP11B for many years. This gene […]
June 22, 2020

A Sugar Hit to Help Destroy Cancer Cells

Chemical engineers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have unlocked a fatal vulnerability in many cancer cells—sugar inflexibility. Like any cells in the body, cancer cells need sugar ­– namely glucose – to fuel cell proliferation and growth. Cancer cells in particular metabolize glucose at a much higher rate […]
June 22, 2020

New image of a cancer-related enzyme in action helps explain gene regulation

New images of an enzyme in action as it interacts with the chromosome could provide important insight into how cells — including cancer cells — regulate their genes. The enzyme, LSD1, can “turn off” gene expression by removing chemical flags (methyl groups) from the nucleosome — tightly packed units of […]