General

Researchers have harnessed the power of electronic health records to gain insight in the potential of inflammation-controlling medications to reduce a patient’s Alzheimer’s disease risk. Rong Xu, professor of Biomedical Informatics and director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery at Case Western Reserve University; Mark Gurney, chairman […]

Before CRISPR became a household name as a tool for gene editing, researchers had been studying this unique family of DNA sequences and its role in the bacterial immune response to viruses. The region of the bacterial genome known as the CRISPR cassette contains pieces of viral genomes, a genomic […]

Despite centuries-long efforts to develop cures for cancer, various forms of the disease will kill about 630,000 people in the U.S. in 2020. But hopes are rising for cell therapies – sometimes called “living medicines” – that can boost and adapt the natural cancer-fighting potential of the immune system in ways […]

The conclusion to today's open access paper opens with the following declaration: “There is still no agreement among gerontologists as to the main aging-related issue: whether it is an accidental accumulation of damage in the organism or a result of the operation of a specially evolved program.” This is true in the […]

The CellAge database was announced last year, a repository of information on genes linked to cellular senescence. Cells become senescent in response to a variety of stresses, or upon reaching the Hayflick limit. A senescent cell ceases replication and secretes inflammatory and pro-growth signals. The process serves a useful function when such cells are present for […]

The size of the contribution of stochastic nuclear DNA damage to aging is debated. It causes cancer, when rare combinations of cancerous mutations occur and suppression of those early cancerous cells fails, but can it give rise to a meaningful degree of tissue dysfunction otherwise? The present consensus is that most such […]

When adult brain cells are injured, they revert to an embryonic state, according to new findings published in the journal Nature by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues elsewhere. The scientists report that in their newly adopted immature state, the cells become capable of re-growing […]

Object recognition and facial recognition may seem like similar abilities, but new research finds that these behaviors are on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to physical signatures in the brain. According to a new study, published by a team of scientists at Vanderbilt, both recognition abilities […]

Researchers have discovered a technique for directly reprogramming skin cells into light-sensing rod photoreceptors used for vision. The lab-made rods enabled blind mice to detect light after the cells were transplanted into the animals’ eyes. The work, funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), published in Nature. The NEI is […]

With nearly $290M of new funding for seven years to research institutions around the country, the National Institutes of Health renewed its commitment to the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study(link is external), the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States. Launched in […]

A class of experimental cancer drugs called BET inhibitors have shown promise for treating cancers of the blood but can induce toxic side effects. Now Yale researchers have found a new inhibitor that in animal studies demonstrates greater potency against a wider variety of cancers, as well as against solid […]

Cardiovascular disease is often the result of blood vessels becoming clogged by plaques—buildups of fat, calcium, and other substances that may restrict blood flow. Not every plaque is created equal, however; some are more likely to induce a heart attack or stroke than others. Now a new three-dimensional imaging technique […]

According to a recent analysis of data from two major eye disease studies, adherence to the Mediterranean diet – high in vegetables, whole grains, fish, and olive oil – correlates with higher cognitive function. Dietary factors also seem to play a role in slowing cognitive decline. Researchers at the National […]

A study by Vanderbilt researchers has identified genomic alterations in early-stage adenocarcinomas of the lung that may indicate whether the lesions develop into aggressive tumors. The study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine is the largest analysis of in situ and early adenocarcinomas lesions using targeted sequencing. […]

In the largest study to date of proteins related to Alzheimer’s disease, a team of researchers has identified disease-specific proteins and biological processes that could be developed into both new treatment targets and fluid biomarkers. The findings suggest that sets of proteins that regulate glucose metabolism, together with proteins related to […]

Immunotherapies have revolutionized treatment for people with a variety of cancers. But when given to those with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a particularly aggressive form of the disease, less than 20% respond. “A big question in the field has been, Why are the rest not responding?” says Rumela Chakrabarti, an assistant […]

A new study identifies some of the most critical genes that may drive a rare but deadly liver cancer, providing a road map for developing drugs that target those genes. The cancer, fibrolamellar carcinoma, accounts for 1-5% of all liver cancers, and disproportionately affects children and young adults. By the […]

A pioneering study has shed new light on how a group of novel organelle-based disorders affect cells. The study led by Professor Michael Schrader from the University of Exeter, and featuring an international, multi-disciplinary team of scientists, has explored on peroxisome alterations and their contribution to the disease. Organelles are the functional units […]

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed tiny sensors that measure oxygen transport in bovine lung tissue. The study – which establishes a new framework for observing the elusive connection between lung membranes, oxygen flow and related disease – was published in the […]

Researchers trying to turn off a gene that allows cancers to spread have made a surprising U-turn. By making the gene overactive and functional in the hearts of mice, they have triggered heart cell regeneration. Since adult hearts cannot usually repair themselves once damaged, harnessing the power of this gene […]

Timing is everything. A fresh example supporting the old saying has been found in connection with the systems regulated by biological clocks. Research on circadian rhythms, our internal 24-hour patterns that affect sleep-wake and metabolic cycles, has shown that timing is key for human health. When our activities and internal […]

A new technique makes it possible to track changes in gene activity across a cell’s entire genome over time in more detail than has been possible before, researchers in Seattle report. “We hope this method will improve our understanding of normal cell physiology and as well as of cell dynamics […]

Lung cancer spreads to the brain in about one-quarter of patients with an advanced form of the disease. To date, radiation has been the only treatment option, but it comes with toxic side effects. Researchers at Yale Cancer Center (YCC) have found that the use of the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in […]

Autoimmunity, a condition in which the body’s immune system reacts with components of its own cells, appears to be increasing in the United States, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators. In a study published in Arthritis and Rheumatology, the researchers found that the prevalence […]

For patients with malignant brain tumors, the prognosis remains dismal. With the most aggressive treatments available, patients are usually only expected to live about 14 months after diagnosis. This is because, chemotherapy, the most common form of treatment for cancer, is uniquely challenging for brain tumor patients. The delicate organ […]

This open access paper is an example of one of the less well known connections between processes of aging. Loss of efficiency of the cellular maintenance processes of autophagy is a characteristic of cells in old tissues. Here, researchers note that this dysfunction in the hematopoietic cells responsible for creating blood and immune […]

In most cell therapies, the transplanted cells do not survive for long, or in large numbers. They produce beneficial effects, such as reduced inflammation or enhanced regeneration, via signaling that changes the behavior of native cell populations. Considerable effort is going into finding ways to make cells used in therapy survive for […]

A prospective “PARP inhibitor” drug that has struggled to show effectiveness in clinical trials against cancers can be structurally modified to greatly increase its power to kill tumor cells, researchers from Penn Medicine report in Science. The team also showed that PARP inhibitor compounds can be “tuned” in the opposite […]

From early prenatal development through childhood, the prefrontal cortex of the human brain undergoes an avalanche of developmental activity. In some cases, it also contains seeds of neuropsychiatric illnesses and conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, according to a new genetic analysis led by researchers at Yale University […]

People with celiac disease have increased risk of dying prematurely, despite increased awareness of the disease in recent years and better access to gluten-free food. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Columbia University in the U.S. published in the prestigious journal JAMA. Celiac […]