General

Cystic fibrosis is caused by an inherited mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Due to this mutation, the CFTR protein doesn’t embed in cell membranes to form a channel for chlorine ions the way it should. As a result, mucus-producing cells secrete a thicker-than-normal mucus that can create […]

The concept of meaning as it pertains to human lives has been one of the cornerstones of philosophy for millennia. During the past three-or-so decades, however, it has also emerged as an important data point in medical research, especially when it comes to aging populations. As it turns out, far […]

New findings from a clinical trial show that treatment with the immunotherapy drug blinatumomab is superior to standard chemotherapy for children and young adults with high- or intermediate-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) that has relapsed. Those treated with blinatumomab had longer survival, experienced fewer severe side effects, had a […]

Participants who ate a diet high in red and processed meat, fried food, refined grains and high-fat dairy were three times more likely to develop an eye condition that damages the retina and affects a person’s central vision, according to the results of a study from the University at Buffalo. […]

The antibiotic vancomycin alters the gut microbiome in a way that can help prime the immune system to more effectively attack tumor cells after radiation therapy. A new study in mice from researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania found giving a dose of the common antibiotic not […]

A new study led by the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre and the University of Montreal, along with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has found that transfusions using fresh red blood cell units—containing red cells that have spent seven days or less in storage—are no more beneficial […]

Lancaster University researchers have discovered, for the first time, how a genetic alteration that increases the risk of developing Autism and Tourette’s impacts on the brain. Their research published in the journal Cerebral Cortex also suggests that ketamine, or related drugs, maybe a useful treatment for both of these disorders. Autism affects […]

Sleep can impact an individual’s health in many ways. University of Minnesota researchers were interested in how much teens sleep at night is related to their weight, eating habits and physical activity. Their findings were published in the journal Childhood Obesity. Using survey data from approximately 2,000 Twin Cities area ninth […]

University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have developed a computational tool that can accurately predict the three-dimensional interactions between regions of human chromosomes. The predictive tool is a boon for researchers studying how cells control the activity of genes. The fine-tuned interaction between regulatory signals and the three-dimensional architecture of chromosomes helps […]

UCLA researchers find differences in maternal and paternal X chromosomes. UCLA scientists have discovered one reason why autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in women than in men. While males inherit their mother’s X chromosome and father’s Y chromosome, females inherit X chromosomes from both parents. New research, which shows differences […]

Sometimes, unexpected research results are simply due to experimental error. Other times, it’s the opposite — the scientists have uncovered a new phenomenon that reveals an even more accurate portrayal of our bodies and our universe, overturning well-established assumptions. Indeed, many great biological discoveries are made when results defy expectation. […]

Patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) often suffer from type 2 diabetes. This phenomenon has since long remained mechanistically enigmatic. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a molecular mechanism linking these two diseases. The study is published in the scientific journal PNAS. The researchers found that immunoglobulin […]

The National Institutes of Health awarded a $2.9 million grant to Tulane University neuroscientist Dr. Stacy Drury to lead a research network that will set methodological standards for studying a part of the chromosome that scientists increasingly recognize as an important biological marker of aging and age-related diseases. Drury will launch the Telomere Research Network […]

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University has been granted formal approval from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to realign the four research programs funded by its NCI Cancer Center Support Grant. The benefit to patients will be significant because these research programs go to the core of how scientific discovery […]

If your DNA is a cookbook, a single gene is a recipe. But it’s a flexible recipe that if edited one way can make a pie; edited another way can make a cake. And a cake made the wrong way can mean cancer, as a team of researchers who looked […]

Women who have C-sections are no more likely to have children who develop obesity than women who give birth naturally, according to a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal PLOS Medicine. The findings contradict several smaller studies that did find an association between […]

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects over 70 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. An estimated three to four million Americans have chronic HCV infection, with many of them being baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965. However, the second wave of HCV […]

Reprogramming enables regeneration of inner-ear cells A team led by Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers may bring scientists a step closer to developing treatments that regrow the missing cells that cause hearing loss. In a new study published online in Nature Communications, scientists report a new strategy […]

Combining light and a protein linked to cancer, researchers at Princeton University have created a biological switch to conduct an unprecedented exploration of cellular development in the embryo. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, promises to help experts map precise cause and effect relationships in […]

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered why a specific genetic mutation causes intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder in children. “We have solved an important piece of the puzzle in understanding how this mutation causes intellectual disabilities and mental illness,” said lead author Peter Penzes, director of the new Center for Autism […]

A mutated gene found in people with intellectual disabilities that could be targeted for treatment has been identified by an international team including University of Queensland researchers. The gene, USP9X, regulates a network of genes underlying Intellectual Disability (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). UQ School of Biomedical Sciences Associate Professor Michael Piper said focussing […]

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK*, yet we still don't know all of its causes. The largest ever study to use genetics as a measurement for physical activity to look at its effect on prostate cancer, reveals that being more active reduces the risk […]

For more than a decade, researchers have used glowing nanoparticles called Cornell dots, or C dots, to illuminate cancer cells, target tumors and even induce cell death. Now, a new iteration of C dots is expanding their impact through fluorescence-based multiplexing, a process in which multiple C dots are dispatched to […]

A new technique reported in Science overcomes several limitations of typical high-throughput chemical screens conducted on cell samples. Such screens are commonly used to try to discover new cancer drugs, and in many other biomedical applications. Most current screens of this nature offer either a coarse readout, such as of cell […]

Writing in a paper published on Wednesday, 04 December 2019, in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a group of researchers from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and Ben-Gurion University report a breakthrough in the treatment of dementia. According to the researchers, the aging brain is commonly treated as a […]

Scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have shown that chaperone proteins dynamically bind to the Parkinson protein α-​synuclein. If this interaction is disturbed, it leads to cell damage and the formation of aggregates typical for the disease. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the progressive death of […]

Research on immune cells “exhausted” by chronic viral infection provides clues on how to refine cancer immunotherapy. The results were published in Immunity. Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center, led by Rafi Ahmed, PhD, have learned about exhausted CD8 T cells, based on studying mice with chronic viral infections. In the […]

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health found that women who use permanent hair dye and chemical hair straighteners have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who don’t use these products. The study published online in the International Journal of Cancer and suggests that breast cancer risk […]

Colorectal cancer is the second most common type of cancer worldwide, with about 90% of cases occurring in people 50 or older. Arising from the inner surface, or muscosal layer, of the colon, cancerous cells can penetrate through the deeper layers of the colon and spread to other organs. Left […]

Drugs that tamp down inflammation in the brain could slow or even reverse the cognitive decline that comes with age. In a publication appearing in the journal Science Translational Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, and Ben-Gurion University scientists report that senile mice given one such drug had fewer signs of […]