General

Getting five or fewer hours of sleep a night is associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) and higher odds of osteoporosis, according to the findings of the largest study of sleep and BMD to date among U.S. postmenopausal women. “Our study suggests that sleep may negatively impact bone health, […]

A multidisciplinary team of experts has developed a ground-breaking ‘smart needle’ probe that uses light to pinpoint cancerous tissues or cells almost instantaneously. This optical biopsy uses a technique called Raman spectroscopy, which measures the light scattered by tissues when a low-power laser is shone onto it. Light is scattered […]

USC researchers have completed a detailed deconstruction of the kidney, revealing for the first time an intimate portrait of sexual differences and more in the organ. The findings could benefit 37 million Americans suffering from kidney disease by helping to distinguish how it affects men and women differently. They can […]

A protein that is linked with Alzheimer’s Disease has been found to be more likely to affect certain parts of brain cells that send messages than other parts of the cells. In a new study published in Scientific Reports, the team observed how amyloid beta (Aβ), a protein which accumulates […]

For decades, a transcription factor known as STAT3 has been a major therapeutic target in the treatment of cancer. But STAT3 has largely been considered “undruggable” due to the difficulty of developing compounds to effectively inhibit its activity. Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have taken a promising […]

A new type of clinical trial for dementia that aims to accelerate treatments for neurodegenerative disease by adapting one of the precision medicine approaches that have defined 21st-century cancer therapy has been developed by clinician-scientists at the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center (MAC). Cancer researchers, realizing that seemingly different cancer […]

Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have developed a better way to determine what our genes do, allowing scientists to better probe the genetic causes of diseases and more efficiently determine whether new drugs will act on the intended target exactly as needed. The researchers believe the […]

Ergothioneine is a natural amino acid with antioxidative properties. It prevents cellular stress, which can lead to brain diseases, neurological damage, and cancer. In rats and roundworms, research shows that ergothioneine has promising effects in preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Also, it has been reported that patients […]

Triple-negative breast cancer is aggressive cancer, one that’s likely to recur and to metastasize. It’s also quite diverse at the molecular level, and doctors currently don’t have a good method for determining which drugs are likely to work against each patient’s unique cancer. Sometimes a drug will work well against […]

The ability to synchronize behavioral, morphological and other transitions with the seasons is integral to the life cycle of most insects. A research team led by biologists at Tufts University has found two genes that may allow some insect species to survive climate change by adjusting their biological annual clocks, while others […]

A Rutgers-led team has created better biosensor technology that may help lead to safe stem cell therapies for treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and other neurological disorders. The technology, which features unique graphene and gold-based platform and high-tech imaging, monitors the fate of stem cells by detecting genetic material (RNA) […]

The human brain has some remarkable capabilities – including the ability to block cancer drugs from effectively reaching cancer cells in the brain. The greatest obstacle when it comes to treating cancer that has spread to the brain is the blood-brain barrier, the brain’s natural defense mechanism that is a […]

Mitochondria burn oxygen and provide energy for the body. Cells lacking oxygen or nutrients have to change their energy supply quickly in order to keep growing. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing have now shown that mitochondria are reprogrammed under depleted oxygen and nutrients. Tumours of […]

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) work on the principle that measurable changes in electrical brain activity occur just by thinking about performing a task. Signals can be read, evaluated, and then converted into control signals via a machine learning system, which can then be used to operate a computer or a prosthesis. […]

Hard-to-study mutations in the human genome, called short tandem repeats, known as STRs or microsatellites, are implicated in the expression of genes associated with complex traits including schizophrenia, inflammatory bowel disease and even height and intelligence. That’s the conclusion of a study published in the journal Nature Genetics by a […]

The protein adipsin helps protect insulin-secreting cells called pancreatic beta cells from destruction in type 2 diabetes, according to a new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. The study, published in Nature Medicine, may have implications for the future development of type 2 diabetes therapies that target and […]

A newly-discovered molecular mechanism that allows damaged adult liver cells to regenerate could pave the way for drugs to treat conditions such as cirrhosis or other chronic liver diseases where regeneration is impaired. The mechanism, identified in mice, was discovered by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute. It […]

New preclinical research reported in animal models shows that exposure to compounds found in marijuana called cannabinoids (CBs), which includes cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), during early pregnancy can cause malformations in the developing embryo. The research also demonstrated that co-exposure to CBs and alcohol increased the likelihood of birth […]

In neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s disease, a specific group of neurons start to die one by one, causing movement problems and other symptoms. Scientists have long focused on finding out why these neurons die. Now it turns out, they might not even be dead. Researchers at The Rockefeller University found […]

The Kidney Project, a national effort to develop an implantable bioartificial kidney that could eliminate the need for dialysis, announced a key milestone in the presentation at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2019 conference in Washington, DC. The project team reported that UC San Francisco scientists successfully implanted […]

Supplements of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids (often sold as fish oil) do not help people with type 2 diabetes stave off chronic kidney disease, according to findings from the largest clinical study to date of the supplements in this patient population. The paper was published in JAMA and presented concurrently […]

Whole-genome sequencing can be used to diagnose intellectual disability more accurately than other methods of genetic analysis, researchers at Karolinska Institutet report in the scientific journal Genome Medicine. Whole-genome sequencing using analytical tools developed by the researchers will now be introduced for first-line clinical diagnosis at Karolinska University Laboratory in […]

Fujitsu has announced the results of a joint research project it has been conducting with the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo since April 2018. As part of this joint research, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has successfully developed and verified AI technology to improve the efficiency of treatment […]

Researchers at McMaster who examine the impact of exercise on the brain have found that high-intensity workouts improve memory in older adults. The study, published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, has widespread implications for treating dementia, a catastrophic disease that affects approximately half a million Canadians and […]

Genetically editing a cancer patient’s immune cells using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, then infusing those cells back into the patient appears safe and feasible based on early data from the first-ever clinical trial to test the approach in humans in the United States. Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of […]

The biomedical and public health advances of the past century have increased human longevity around the globe. These great strides notwithstanding, the increase in life expectancy has resulted in the growth of an aging population worldwide, posing a set of medical, public health and socioeconomic challenges. The aging population has […]

In the 1970s, with the help of electron microscopy, scientists discovered that human RNA can also be circular. However, it was far from clear what this actually meant – and how it might be understood. And up to a few short years ago, it was widely assumed in scientific circles […]

The discovery of the UM171 molecule, by Dr. Guy Sauvageau and Anne Marinier, made headlines in 2014 following an article in Science. Hailed by some as a revolution, even a miracle, in the field of blood stem cell transplantation, the UM171 molecule is delivering on its promise. After the two-year clinical […]

With CAR T cell therapy, a patient’s own immune cells are genetically modified and inserted back into the body to find and kill cancer. This form of immunotherapy has already revolutionized some cancer treatments, but once the CAR T cells are inside a patient, where do they go? How do […]

Given the amount of wear and tear it’s subjected to on a daily basis, the skin has a phenomenal ability to replenish itself. Spread throughout it are small reservoirs of stem cells, nested within supportive microenvironments called niches, which keep a tight rein on this repair process. Too much tissue […]