General

In recent years, researchers all over the world have been seeking a deeper understanding about the impact of people’s gut bacteria—their so-called microbiome—on their health and risk of developing different diseases. Researchers from the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), in cooperation with Rigshospitalet, have investigated the microbiome […]

For most of our evolutionary history — for most of the time anatomically modern humans have been on Earth — we’ve shared the planet with other species of humans. It’s only been in the last 30,000 years, the mere blink of an evolutionary eye, that modern humans have occupied the […]

The progression of cancer has been studied extensively, and the key steps in this journey have been well mapped, at least in some solid tumors: Lesions to genes that confer risk of cancer accumulate and alter normal cell behaviors, giving rise, scientists believe, to early-stage cancer cells that eventually swamp […]

It starts off small, just a skin blemish. The most common moles stay just that way — harmless clusters of skin cells called melanocytes, which give us pigment. In rare cases, what begins as a mole can turn into melanoma, the most serious type of human skin cancer because it […]

According to Samuel Tisherman, spokesperson from the University of Maryland, his team of researchers have successfully placed at least one human in suspended animation for the first time in history. The goal of this ground-breaking achievement is to enable medical professionals to fix traumatic injuries such as gunshot or stab […]

Teenage girls who experience clinical levels of anxiety could be at greater risk of eating disorders, according to associations identified in a study completed by researchers at the University of Bristol with UCL. Published in European Eating Disorders Review, the new research looked at anxiety disorder pathology and engagement with […]

With a $2.75 million, three-year grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) Foundation, researchers from Case Western Reserve University will lead a community-wide initiative to create and apply innovative methods to prevent and detect lung cancer in underserved residents in Northeast Ohio. The Community Collaborative for Lung Health Equity, directed by […]

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as free radicals and peroxides, are produced in cells under oxidative stress. Whilst present in healthy cells in small amounts, excessive ROS in cells is damaging and can lead to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease. The scientists at Bath, collaborating with researchers […]

Hydrogels for healing, synthesized from the molecules up by Rice University bioengineers, are a few steps closer to the clinic. Rice researchers and collaborators at Texas Heart Institute (THI) have established a baseline set of injectable hydrogels that promise to help heal wounds, deliver drugs and treat cancer. Critically, they’ve analyzed […]

In a new paper, researchers at North Carolina State University lift the veil on the “conductor” plant root stem cell gene that helps orchestrate and coordinate stem cell division of different root stem cell types, ensuring the harmonic communication necessary for plant growth and maintenance. Ross Sozzani, an NC State associate […]

One of most potent drugs for treatment of glioblastoma, the most deadly type of brain tumor, can’t be used in patients because of two problems. First, it can’t reach its target because it’s blocked by the blood-brain barrier, a microscopic structure that protects the brain from toxins in the blood. […]

Four months after treating them, Yasuhiro Shiga, MD, PhD, checked on his rats. Walking into the lab, he carried minimal expectations. Treating spinal cord injuries with stem cells had been tried by many people, many times before, with modest success at best. The endpoint he was specifically there to measure […]

By combining RNA sequencing, bioinformatics and mathematical modeling, University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center researchers identified a sudden transcriptomic switch that turns healthy liver tissue cancerous. The finding was used to develop a quantitative analytical tool that assesses cancer risk in patients with chronic […]

A recent study shows that people at low genetic risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are not only less likely to have the disorder, they also have better than expected economic, health and behavioral outcomes in later life. The results, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, “capture far more than just […]

A team of researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine and Université de Montréal has discovered a new mechanism involved in a common congenital disease of the aortic valve. The findings of the study, conducted in collaboration with the Hadassa Hebrew University Medical Center, were published in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics. Valve disease […]

The largest study of its kind so far shows that the eight most common psychiatric disorders have a common genetic structure. Researchers from iPSYCH and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium are behind the new results, which could help to develop more precise diagnoses and improved treatment. Over the course of a […]

Mathematicians at the University of Alberta have developed a model that explains how the immune system interacts with cancer—and in some cases, may help cancer spread to other areas of the body. “Past research has shown that sometimes, the immune system has the opposite effect of what we might expect,” […]

A new study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests there is a link between bacteria that live in the upper airway and the severity of asthma symptoms among children with mild to moderate asthma. The study raises the possibility that the airway’s microbiome could have […]

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) are launching a clinical trial to test the safety of a novel patient-specific stem cell-based therapy to treat geographic atrophy, the advanced “dry” form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss among people age 65 and older. The geographic […]

Investigators at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine discovered that blocking interleukin-1α (IL1α), a protein that controls inflammation in the gut markedly decreases the severity of intestinal inflammation in a mouse model of Crohn’s disease (CD). The anti-inflammatory effects of the biological therapies used to neutralize IL1α were […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and from the Netherlands have developed a simple tool that shows the survival probability of a person with dementia disease over three years. This, they hope, will facilitate dialogue with the most seriously affected and help doctors and others plan the necessary care. The study is […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method for identifying which proteins are affected by specific drugs. The tool and the results it has already generated have been made freely available online. The method is described in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Every cell contains a vast number of […]

Scientists have developed a new gene-therapy technique by transforming human cells into mass producers of tiny nano-sized particles full of genetic material that has the potential to reverse disease processes. Though the research was intended as a proof of concept, the experimental therapy slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival in […]

It’s estimated that there are approximately 80,000 industrial chemicals currently in use, in products such as clothing, cleaning solutions, carpets, and furniture. For the vast majority of these chemicals, scientists have little or no information about their potential to cause cancer. The detection of DNA damage in cells can predict […]

While the rate of death from cancer has been declining since the 1990s, an estimated 9.6 million people died from cancer in 2018, making it the second-leading cause of death worldwide [1]. According to the NCI Cancer Trends Progress Report, in the United States, the incidence and death rates of some […]

When do cancer-prone cells turn into full-blown cancer? A Rice University scientist and his colleague believe there’s a way to know. It may become possible for biomarkers in the blood to reveal whether mutated cells have turned a corner toward forming tumors, and how long the process — depending on […]

Fragmented sleep in older people with and without Alzheimer’s disease may have an effect on the brain’s immune cells and impact people’s cognitive abilities, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers. The study by Dr. Andrew Lim, an associate professor in neurology at U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, […]

New study, led by Penn Medicine, reveals that this genetic cause of heart failure, which is now treatable, is significantly underdiagnosed. A genetic variant in the gene transthyretin (TTR)—which is found in about 3 percent of  individuals of African ancestry—is a more significant cause of heart failure than previously believed, […]

Chemotherapy drugs have been used to treat cancer since the 1950s. While the drugs are often lifesaving for cancer patients, they are also linked to reproductive problems, breast cancer, and other health issues in the medical staff who work with the medications. To help protect health care workers, the University […]

New findings published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggest that specific immune T cells from people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) show disruptions in the way they produce energy. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. “This research gives us additional evidence for the role […]