General

It’s no coincidence that some of the worst viral disease outbreaks in recent years — SARS, MERS, Ebola, Marburg and likely the newly arrived 2019-nCoV virus — originated in bats. A new University of California, Berkeley, study finds that bats’ fierce immune response to viruses could drive viruses to replicate […]

Epigenetic clocks are produced by examining age-related changes in DNA methylation, finding combinations of such changes that are consistent across populations, and predict chronological age. These clocks also predict mortality, in the sense that people with higher epigenetic than chronological age tend to have a higher mortality risk, or be more burdened […]

As much as 12 percent of adults in the United States are living with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an aggressive condition that can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer. After identifying a molecular pathway that allows NASH to progress into liver cell death, University of California San Diego School of Medicine […]

Once a vague scapegoat for a variety of ills, increasing evidence suggests a condition known as “leaky gut” — in which microbes and other molecules seep out of the intestines — may be more common, and more harmful, than previously thought. Leaky gut is most often experienced by older people, […]

An anti-cancer compound developed at the University of Michigan has shown “profound” activity in mouse models against two subtypes of leukemia — representing up to 40% of patients — a U-M research team reports in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The compound, dubbed MI-3454, inhibits the protein-protein interaction between menin and Mixed Lineage […]

NSF-funded scientists reporting in the journal eLife have revealed that they are closer to understanding a risk factor for stomach cancer: how the bacterium Helicobacter pylori maintains its shape. About half the world's population is chronically infected with H. pylori, a bacterium whose helical, or corkscrew, shape allows it to burrow into the mucus lining of […]

An international team of scientists has identified a protein which is strongly linked to the commonest cause of blindness in developed countries when its levels are raised in the blood. The discovery is a major step forward in the understanding of age-related macular degeneration, which affects 1.5 million people in […]

A ‘biobank’ of pancreatic tumour samples, administered by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has contributed to the most comprehensive database of cancer genomes in the world to date. The Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative (APGI) contributed 175 genomes to the Pan-Cancer Project, a global effort that has created a resource […]

Genetically-edited immune cells can persist, thrive, and function months after a cancer patient receives them, according to new data published by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. The team showed cells removed from patients and brought back into the lab setting were […]

In a new study, researchers from DTU and the research unit for childhood asthma COPSAC have—as the first in the world—showing that immune system responses in children as young as 18 months can be used to predict the risk of them developing intermittent or persistent asthma. The method used by […]

How do some mammals postpone the development of their embryos to await better conditions for having offspring?  A recent study at the UW Medicine Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine explored this reproductive enigma, which can occur in more than 130 species of mammals as well as in some […]

An elaborate system of filaments, liquid droplet dynamics and protein connectors enables the repair of some damaged DNA in the nuclei of cells, researchers at the University of Toronto have found. The findings further challenge the belief that broken DNA floats aimlessly – and highlight the value of cross-disciplinary research […]

From plastics to pesticides, it seems like every week delivers fresh news about the dangers of endocrine disruptors—chemicals in the environment that alter the body’s hormones and can lead to reproductive, developmental, neurologic and immune problems and cancer. Industry regulation and individual consumer choice can reduce exposure to such chemicals, […]

Loud noise can damage the inner ear and cause hearing loss. Studying mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Iowa have shown that a drug compound can block damage caused by loud noise, raising the possibility of medication that prevents noise-induced hearing […]

Dementia is one of the most debilitating consequences of Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological condition characterized by tremors, stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance. Eighty percent of people with Parkinson’s develop dementia within 20 years of the diagnosis, and patients who carry a particular variant of the gene APOE are at especially […]

Clumps of proteins inside cells are a common thread in many neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. These clumps, or solid aggregates of proteins, appear to be the result of an abnormality in the process known as liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), in which individual proteins […]

From avoiding lower back pain to burning more calories and improving memory, weightlifting offers wide-ranging benefits for body and mind, say U of A experts. While research shows little or no link between exercise and any meaningful long-term weight loss, that doesn’t mean exercising, particularly resistance training, doesn’t provide a […]

Biologists identify hearing-loss receptor in mice, use drug to prevent hearing damage. Once you start to lose your hearing, you can’t get it back. But what if you could prevent hearing loss by blocking in advance the effects of loud noises? That’s a route a team of biologists at the University […]

Survival may more than double for adults with glioblastoma, the most common and deadly type of brain tumor, if neurosurgeons remove the surrounding tissue as aggressively as they remove the cancerous core of the tumor. This discovery, reported in a retrospective study headed by researchers at UC San Francisco, is […]

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 […]