General

Chronic inflammation, which results when old age, stress or environmental toxins keep the body’s immune system in overdrive, can contribute to a variety of devastating diseases, from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to diabetes and cancer. Now, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified a molecular “switch” that controls the […]

The phrase “Pavlov’s dogs” has long evoked images of bells, food and salivating dogs. Even though this tried-and-true model of repetitive patterns mimics a variety of learning processes, what happens on a cellular level in the brain isn’t clear. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire took a closer look […]

Scientists suggest a new strategy that uses induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to regulate immune reaction to transplanted tissues. The team, led by Professor Ken-ichiro Seino of Hokkaido University’s Institute for Genetic Medicine, found that thymic epithelium cells derived from mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can regulate immune response […]

The patch significantly prolonged survival, inhibited growth of tumors in mice. An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has developed a medicated patch that can deliver immune checkpoint inhibitors and cold plasma directly to tumors to help boost the immune response and kill cancer cells. […]

Cancer’s genetic causes are more diverse than previous scientific studies have indicated – a conclusion reached by researchers from ETH Zurich and University Hospital Zurich. Through their participation in an international research collaboration, they helped compile the most comprehensive catalogue to date of gene alterations associated with cancer. Their work […]

A new study finds that one side effect of lupus could also make patients with the autoimmune condition more vulnerable to a skin infection, or spreading the infection to others. In the paper, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, researchers found that 50% of skin rashes in patients with lupus contained an […]

A merger of math and medicine may help to improve the efficacy of immunotherapies, potentially life-saving treatments that enhance the ability of the patient’s own immune system to attack cancerous tumors. By creating mathematical models that represent the complex interactions within the tumor microenvironment (TME), the nonmutated cells, connective tissues […]

Using sophisticated algorithms to explore regions of the genome whose roles in cancer have been largely uncharted, an international team of researchers has opened the door to a new understanding of the disease’s genetic origins. The discovery involves areas of DNA that do not directly code for the proteins that […]

Therapeutic solutions for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) could be on the horizon thanks to unexpected findings by University of Arizona researchers. Disease-prompting bundles of proteins found within cells are cleared by unexpected processes. ALS is the progressive degeneration of motor neurons that causes people to lose […]

A single cell contains the genetic instructions for an entire organism. This genomic information is managed and processed by the complex machinery of chromatin — a mix of DNA and protein in chromosomes whose function and role in disease are of increasing interest to scientists and engineers. Using mathematical modeling […]

A new treatment for stimulating the growth of new blood vessels in the heart will be investigated by researchers at the University of Bristol thanks to the funding of over £100,000 from national charity Heart Research UK. A heart attack is caused by a blockage of one or more coronary […]

A new technique could offer a targeted approach to fighting cancer: low-intensity pulses of ultrasound have been shown to selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. Ultrasound waves—sound waves with frequencies higher than humans can hear—have been used as a cancer treatment before, albeit in a broad-brush approach: […]

Can staph microbes lead to cancer? Microbes are known to affect digestion, mood and overall health, and now Princeton researchers have shown that a shift in the microbiome is linked to cancer — at least in a threatened subspecies of foxes found only on one island off the California coast. Their […]

In a pair of related studies, a team of Yale researchers has found a way to reverse type-2 diabetes and liver fibrosis in mice, and has shown that the underlying processes are conserved in humans. The studies appear in the edition of Cell Reports and Nature Communications. In the earlier […]

For over a century, Alzheimer’s disease has confounded all attempts to treat it. But in recent years, perplexing experiments using flickering light have shown promise. Now, researchers have tapped into how the flicker may work. They discovered in the lab that the exposure to light pulsing at 40 hertz – […]

New simulations by Rice University scientists tell a tale of two taus and how they relate to neurological disease. Their work suggests tau proteins take either of two paths to form aggregates suspected of promoting, and perhaps causing, Alzheimer’s and Pick’s (aka frontotemporal dementia) diseases. Precisely why remains a mystery, but figuring it out offers the […]

Epigenetic clocks are a topic of considerable interest in the research community. They are perhaps the most promising of the present techniques for assessing biological age, the closest to becoming a useful biomarker of aging. Epigenetic clocks are weighted algorithmic combinations of the DNA methylation status of various sites on the genome, reflecting changes that […]

A team of researchers led by the University of California San Diego has created a device that measures how “sticky” cancer cells are, which could improve prognostic evaluation of patient tumors. The device is built with a microfluidic chamber that sorts cells by their physical ability to adhere to their […]

Some cancer cells refuse to die, even in the face of powerful cellular immunotherapies like CAR T cell therapy, and new research from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania is shedding light on why. In a new study, researchers describe how a death receptor pathway in the cancer cell […]

From fragile ice fish deep in the Antarctic Ocean to flying fish gliding above the Caribbean Sea, fish have evolved a fascinating variety of skeletal traits. These traits not only help them adapt to their environments, but they also provide genetic insights into rare human skeletal disorders. Fish are not […]

Scientists have identified specific regions of chromosome 21 which cause problems in memory and decision-making in mice with Down’s syndrome. They say it is the first time the areas have been determined – and suggest the findings may provide new insight into the condition in humans. Most people have 46 […]

Babies born with low birth weights are more likely to have poor cardiorespiratory fitness later in life than their normal-weight peers. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal JAHA. The findings underscore the importance of prevention strategies to reduce low […]

Women who have prophylactic mastectomies to stay ahead of a BRCA2 mutation may have made a wise choice, according to findings of a study just published in Science Advances. I’m amazed at the bravery of these women who go the Angelina Jolie route. Inheriting a BRCA2 mutation brings a 50 to 80 percent lifetime risk of developing […]

The deadly nature of cancer stems from its ability to spread and grow inside the host. Tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) are host macrophages recruited by the tumor, which promote tumor progression. A team of researchers from Tokyo University of Science and other institutes have discovered that the protein FROUNT may […]

A new study by researchers at McGill University has measured the dynamic physical properties of the human aorta, laying the foundation for the development of grafts capable of mimicking the native behavior of the human body’s largest artery. Marco Amabili, a Canada Research Chair professor in McGill’s Department of Mechanical […]

MYC is a family of three related proteins that are overexpressed in cancer and which contribute to an estimated 100,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States. Efforts to block MYC directly have failed. Fortunately, these proteins have an Achilles’ heel — a chromosome-binding cofactor called WDR5. Understanding how MYC […]

New brain networks come ‘online’ during adolescence, allowing teenagers to develop more complex adult social skills, but potentially putting them at increased risk of mental illness, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Adolescence is a time of major change in life, with […]

Using genetically engineered human pluripotent stem cells, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers created a new type of cancer model to study in vivo how glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, develops and changes over time. “We have developed stem cell models that are CRISPR-engineered […]

Writing in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine, an international research team, led by physician-scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, describe a new method for delivering neural precursor cells (NSCs) to spinal cord injuries in rats, reducing the risk of further injury and boosting the propagation of […]

On Monday, 27 January 2020, researchers from Osaka University in Japan have announced the first-ever successful physician-initiated clinical trial whereby heart muscles grown using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) have been transplanted into a human patient. Induced pluripotent stem cells – derived from the blood cells of healthy adult donors […]