General

The search for effective biological tools is a marathon, not a sprint, even when the distances are on the microscale. A discovery at Rice University on how engineered communities of cells communicate is a long step in the right direction. The Rice lab of synthetic biologist Matthew Bennett has designed […]

Many people are looking forward to their retirement. You have so much spare time once you stop working and can finally dedicate yourself to the things you love doing the most. But did you know that the time you spend retired actually differs if you earn more or less? Scientists […]

Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego are a step closer to making CAR T-cell therapy safer, more precise and easy to control. They developed a system that allows them to select where and when CAR T cells get turned on so that they destroy cancer cells without harming […]

Discovery of a type of immunity that protects koalas’ DNA from viruses has importance for the survival of koalas and our fundamental understanding of evolution. A team of scientists from The University of Queensland and University of Massachusetts Medical School are studying tissue samples from koalas to understand how a […]

New research from King’s College London has found that maternal stress before and during pregnancy could affect a baby’s brain development. In their study published in Biological Psychiatry, MRC Doctoral Researcher in Perinatal Imaging and Health, Alexandra Lautarescu and Head of Advanced Neuroimaging, Professor Serena Counsell, for the first time looked at the relationship between […]

A unique type of immune cell has been discovered in human breast tissue, and breast cancer patients with more of these cells are more likely to survive, finds new research from the King's College London and the Francis Crick Institute. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine and led by Professor Adrian Hayday, […]

A new, interdisciplinary muscle research center is celebrating its opening at its main location at UW Medicine South Lake Union. With collaborating labs across the University of Washington campus and at other Seattle-area institutions and beyond, the Center for Translational Muscle Research will encompass a myriad of muscle science and […]

Today, the University at Buffalo officially launched the UB Biorepository, a critical new facility in the Clinical and Translational Research Center that will be a powerful resource regionally and throughout the state in driving biomedical innovation in academia and industry. From molecular profiling of samples to integration with clinical data […]

In a new study, UC San Francisco scientists used maps of brain connections to predict how brain atrophy would spread in individual patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), adding to growing evidence that the loss of brain cells associated with dementia spreads via the synaptic connections between established brain networks. The […]

When chemotherapy was first invented, its premise seemed relatively simple: to curb the growth of tumors by stopping their cells from proliferating. Today, many of these drugs are known to act through different mechanisms and have turned out to be useful only in certain tumor types and patients. Consider the […]

A new liquid-cell technology allows scientists to see living biological materials and systems in three dimensions under an electron microscope, according to researchers at Penn State, Virginia Tech and Protochips Inc. “With this technology that we developed in collaboration with Protochips, scientists could analyze host-pathogen interactions, see a virus being […]

Using a fluorescent probe that lights up when brain cells are electrically active, MIT and Boston University researchers have shown that they can image the activity of many neurons at once, in the brains of mice. This technique, which can be performed using a simple light microscope, could allow neuroscientists […]

A novel nanosystem developed by Anil Kishen, a professor in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry, shows promising results in promoting healing and regeneration by host tissues following root canals. Kishen’s research was published recently in the medical journal Nanomedicine: Nanotechology, Biology and Medicine. The current treatment for root canals focuses on […]

Not all patients feel the same way about medical treatment. Some are “minimizers,” preferring to see a doctor as little as possible and to give health issues a chance to resolve on their own. Others are “maximizers” who want to treat a disease to the fullest extent possible, even if […]

As research involving the transplantation of human “mini-brains”—known as brain organoids—into animals to study disease continues to expand, so do the ethical debates around the practice. One concern is the possibility, however minute, that the grafted organoids may one day induce a level of consciousness in host animals, as models […]

A genetic link has now been found for some instances of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,  or SIDS. The new UW Medicine research study is the first such to make an explainable link tracking the mechanism between a genetic anomaly and some forms of the devastating syndrome, which claims the lives of […]

Connor Harris, a science-minded teenager from Hudson, Ohio, wants to know why African-Americans die from colorectal cancer at a higher rate than other racial groups. His curiosity, fueled by his own family history of cancer, led to a 2018 summer internship program at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCCC) to engage […]

Some of the most important players on a cancer patient’s health care team are people they typically never meet or interact with — the pathologists who evaluate their tissue samples to determine the type and stage of disease they have. And as interest in patient-pathologist consulting programs has gained momentum […]

The phrase “like clockwork” suggests that clocks never go haywire. But they do. So do the internal clocks that are supposed to keep ticking to the beat of Earth’s 24-hour circadian rhythms. When our own rhythms are disrupted, one result is often a sleep disorder — which, over time, can […]

After hearing a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer, a rush of questions emerges. But often, it’s not until long after leaving the doctor’s office. Metastatic means the cancer has spread beyond the breast and immediate lymph nodes to other organs or tissues in the body, most often the bones, brain, lungs […]

The fight against liver disease could be helped by the discovery of cells that cause liver scarring. Scientists have identified new sub-types of cells that, when they interact, accelerate the scarring process in diseased livers. Experts hope that by understanding more how these cells behave, new treatments can be developed […]

Most people can continue to eat red and processed meat as they do now. A major study led by researchers at McMaster and Dalhousie universities has found cutting back has little impact on health. A panel of international scientists systematically reviewed the evidence and have recommended that most adults should […]

To do a total or partial hip replacement for older adults who have a hip fracture has been the question. Now a large clinical study of almost 1,500 patients in 10 countries world-wide has found those who had a total hip arthroplasty have modestly better function after two years, but […]

Cells that scientists have largely ignored when studying multiple sclerosis are actually key contributors to MS development, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine shows. The discovery suggests new avenues for devising treatments and is a vital step toward finding a cure. Understanding Multiple Sclerosis Scientists had assumed […]

A gene therapy being developed at Penn Medicine to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) successfully and safely stopped the severe muscle deterioration associated with the rare, genetic disease in both small and large animal models, according to a first-of-its-kind study from Penn Medicine researchers. The findings, published online in Nature Medicine, puts […]

NSF-funded researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed new guidelines for fabricating nanoscale gel materials, or nanogels, that can deliver therapeutic remedies to treat cancer in a precise manner. In addition to enabling the delivery of drugs to tumors, the nanogels can target malignant cells and degrade into nontoxic […]

Nutrition scientist  Maryam Hamidi, PhD, conducted research recently which required her to repeatedly stay awake from 8 a.m. until 5 a.m. the next day. As part of the study, she also needed to keep supplies of both healthy and unhealthy snacks stacked in her office. Then, somewhere along the line, […]

Brain organoids created from human embryonic stem cells offer scientists a powerful way to study the developing brain in three dimensions. However, organoids need nutrients and oxygen carried in blood to thrive, just as a developing fetal brain does. Now Yale researchers have developed a method to induce growth of […]

Every tissue in the human body has an immune cell in it called a macrophage. Macrophages play important roles in the immune system’s initial response to bacteria, viruses and wounds. But beyond that, each tissue macrophage also has specialized functions, tuned to the needs of that particular tissue. For example, […]

The brains of people with congenital deafness may be rewiring themselves in ways that affect how those people learn, suggesting a need to develop new teaching techniques tailored toward those who have never been able to hear. Published in Nature Scientific Reports, the findings by an Oregon State University research […]