General

MIT engineers have shown that they can enhance the performance of drug-delivery nanoparticles by controlling a trait of chemical structures known as chirality — the “handedness” of the structure. Many biological molecules can come in either right-handed or left-handed forms, which are identical in composition but are mirror images of […]

NK cells mean Natural Killer cells. They are part of the innate immune system. They are known primarily for their ability to recognize and kill tumor cells, cells infected by viruses and bacteria, or dying by apoptosis. Although evidence about their antitumoral capacity, how this activity occurred remained unknown. The […]

A blood test that measures the amount of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in the bloodstream – called a liquid biopsy – correlates with how patients will progress after they are diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM), the deadliest and most common primary brain tumor in adults. In a new study, researchers from the Abramson […]

There is, in Colombia, a family with a tragic legacy of forgetfulness. “People in this large family get Alzheimer’s like clockwork at age 45-50,” said UC Santa Barbara neuroscientist Kenneth S. Kosik, the campus’s Harriman Professor of Neuroscience and co-director of the Neuroscience Research Institute. Their aggressive, genetic form of the […]

Researchers have found a way to create a super-inhibitor that effectively stops the development of Parkinsons by using the Parkinson disease itself as an active building block. Various neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s are closely linked to the aggregation of individual components called monomers of a specific protein that forms […]

Inserted in the human genome thousands of years ago, the genes can produce viral proteins without activating the whole virus. Genes from a virus that was stitched into the human genome thousands of years ago are active, producing proteins in the human brain and other tissues, according to researchers at […]

A modified protein in benign-appearing meningiomas can reveal which are truly benign and which are more dangerous and require more aggressive treatment, researchers have discovered. The finding may also offer clues as to why these ‘benign’ tumors, which arise from the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord, start […]

The checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) increases the survival time of patients with advanced head and neck cancers, according to a new global study led by Yale Cancer Center (YCC). The data was published in the journal The Lancet. The findings of the phase 3 study show that, compared to the standard […]

Two Florida State University researchers are developing a high-tech material currently used in athletic equipment and prosthetics into a special tool to better develop stem cells. The work could improve drug screening, disease modeling, precision medicine, and cell therapy. FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers Yan Li, an associate professor in […]

Computational scientists, biophysicists and statisticians from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are leading a massive multi-institutional collaboration that has developed a machine learning-based simulation for next-generation supercomputers capable of modeling protein interactions and mutations that play a role in many forms of cancer. The […]

Sandia scientist pushes technology’s limits to see fundamental feature of stretched S-DNA. An advanced imaging technique reveals new structural details of S-DNA, ladder-like DNA that forms when the molecule experiences extreme tension. This work conducted at Sandia National Laboratories and Vrije University in the Netherlands provides the first experimental evidence […]

Do you know how many people in the world suffer from diabetes? About 422, according to World Health Organization, but we can’t know for certain. The issue here is that many people who are suffering from diabetes live without diagnosis. This is a huge problem, but scientists think that one […]

Researchers reveal structures of skeletal components in hair-like cilia. It’s not every day that scientists get to publish a paper on Halloween about a skeleton, but that’s what the laboratories of Alan Brown in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and Rui Zhang at Washington University in St. Louis just did. As reported […]

Finding a handful of cancer cells hiding among billions of blood cells in a patient sample can be like finding a needle in a haystack. In a new approach enabled by 3D-printed cell traps, researchers are removing the hay to expose the cancer cells. Trapping the white blood cells – […]

Between 2005 and 2015, as the opioid crisis in America came into focus, prescriptions for gabapentinoid medications — gabapentin and pregabalin — to adults with cancer saw a two-fold increase, a University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center study has found. Gabapentin, which affects voltage-gated calcium channels in the brain, was originally approved […]

The researchers from the Department of Experimental Psychology, the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN) and the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, used an MRI scanner to observe changes in parts of the brain associated with learning and learned experiences while volunteers completed tasks that involved a reward. Participants also […]

Analyzing gene expression in tumor cells from children with cancer is more likely to reveal targets for therapy than analysis of DNA mutations, according to a new study led by researchers at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, looked at 144 tumor samples from 128 […]

Neuroscientists at the University of Southampton have made a significant development in understanding how Alzheimer’s disease spreads through the brain, discovering a significant period of time where medical intervention could halt its onset. A hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease is the accumulation of tau protein in neurons which causes loss of […]

A high-salt diet may negatively affect cognitive function by causing a deficiency of the compound nitric oxide, which is vital for maintaining vascular health in the brain, according to a new study in mice from Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. When nitric oxide levels are too low, chemical changes to the protein tau […]

A set of powerful laboratory and computational techniques developed by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and two collaborating centers will enable investigators to map the capacity of tumors to develop resistance to drugs and drug combinations. The techniques – developed with researchers from the New York Genome Center (NYGC) and […]

Arthritis affects one in five Americans, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that number jumps to one in three among people with obesity. Now, new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests obesity may increase arthritis risk not only in obese people […]

Move over, apples — new research from Penn State suggests that eating one avocado a day may help keep “bad cholesterol” at bay. According to the researchers, bad cholesterol can refer to both oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and small, dense LDL particles. In a randomized, controlled feeding study, the researchers […]

Timing is everything for young cells waiting to determine their identities. Research by Rice University bioscientist Aryeh Warmflash and graduate student Sapna Chhabra shows homogenous colonies of human embryonic stem cells use dynamic molecular signaling waves that pass from cell to cell and trigger them to differentiate. Once prompted, the cells begin to organize […]

Take a deep breath. Now exhale. Congratulations! You’ve just done something completely ordinary, yet so mysterious that scientists still don’t know everything about it. How oxygen and carbon dioxide enter and leave the bloodstream is well known, but scientists are just beginning to understand what happens to respiratory tissues as […]

A new drug delivery method designed by researchers at PNNL and Washington State University (WSU) has shown it can target and kill lung cancer cells. The research, led by Chun-Long Chen, a senior research scientist at PNNL and a joint faculty fellow at the University of Washington, and research partner […]

Researchers may have found a way to press pause on spinal disc injuries, giving doctors more time to treat them before worse issues develop. The Penn Medicine-led team discovered that cells in the outer region of spinal discs become stressed and kick off a subpar healing process after injuries, which […]

Triggers in everyday life such as running into a former drinking buddy, walking by a once- familiar bar, and attending social gatherings can all cause recovering alcoholics to “fall off the wagon.” About 40 to 60 percent of people who have gone through treatment for substance abuse will experience some […]

Cancer immunotherapy drugs trigger the body’s immune system to attack tumors and have revolutionized the treatment of certain cancers, such as lymphoma, lung cancer, and melanoma. Yet, while some patients respond well to the drugs, others don’t respond at all. Cancer immunologists want to change that. A new study by […]

First evidence of immune response targeting brain cells in autism. Autism spectrum disorders affect one in 59 American children by age eight. With no known quantitative biological features, autism diagnoses are currently based on expert assessments of behavioral symptoms, including impaired social and communication skills, repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. […]

The immune system must strike an exquisite balance between vanquishing infections and cancer, while at the same time restraining its activity to avoid inadvertently attacking the body’s healthy tissues and organs. This balancing feat is accomplished by a host of regulatory genes that calibrate the immune response. When this calibration […]