General

The molecular mechanism used by many bacteria to kill neighboring cells has redundancy built into its genetic makeup, which could allow for the mechanism to be expressed in different environments, say researchers at Penn State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A paper online in the Journal of Bacteriology provides insights into the molecular mechanisms of competition […]

Researchers from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College have shown in the largest study to date that lower levels of specific dietary vitamins and antioxidants are associated with frailty. Their findings have been published in the prestigious Journal of American Medical Directors Association. Frailty is a common chronic […]

Omega-3 fats have little or no effect on risk of Type 2 diabetes according to new research from the University of East Anglia. Increased consumption of omega 3 fats is widely promoted globally because of a common belief that it will protect against, or even reverse, conditions such as diabetes. […]

Tree-like branching structures are everywhere in the human body, from the bronchial system in the lungs to the spidering capillaries that supply blood to the extremities. Researchers have long worked to understand the cellular signaling needed to build these intricate structures, but new research suggests that simple physics may play […]

Environmental conditions influence our body mass index (BMI) by increasing or decreasing the effect of inherited genetic variations, University of Queenslandresearchers have discovered. A team led by Huanwei Wang and Professor Jian Yang from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience found the opposite for human height – that the genetic effects that influence it are very stable […]

Research into the self-destruction of cells in humans and plants could lead to treatments for neurodegenerative brain diseases and the development of disease-resistant plants. A study co-led by The University of Queensland’s Professor Bostjan Kobe identified the role certain proteins play in cellular suicide. “To sustain life, diverse organisms like humans and […]

Every day, people are exposed to myriad chemicals both natural and synthetic, some of which may affect human physical development. Testing them has proven challenging, but researchers from Boyce Thompson Institute have come up with a way. Using Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), a soil roundworm, the researchers have shown that […]

A gene that can become mutated and cause a rare balance disorder also regulates the behavior of an enzyme that increases the risk for Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study by Harvard Medical School researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital published in Cell. This discovery may help to identify new […]

Even when taking in fewer calories and nutrients, humans and other mammals usually remain protected against infectious diseases they have already encountered.  This may be because memory T cells, which are located throughout the body and required to maintain immune responses to infectious agents, according to scientists at the National […]

Immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of cancer in the last decade, yet many tumors do not respond to these new therapies. A new genome-wide screen of 20,000 human genes in T cells have turned up several new candidates to unleash the immune system’s ability to attack a variety of tumor […]

Scientists from the University of California, Irvine School of Biological Sciences have discovered how to forestall Alzheimer’s disease in a laboratory setting, a finding that could one day help in devising targeted drugs that prevent it. The researchers found that by removing brain immune cells known as microglia from rodent […]

It was long believed the FMR1 premutation — an excessive number of trinucleotide repeats in the FMR1 gene — had no direct effect on the people who carry it. Until recently, the only recognized effect on the carriers of the flawed gene was the risk of having offspring with fragile […]

We are shaped by our environment and our genes. If your parents are tall, you are likely to grow tall yourself. On the other hand, if you eat a lot of junk food, you are also likely to grow fat. But how do the genetic and environmental factors interact? How […]

The interior of a human cell consists, in part, of a complex soup of millions of molecules. One way these biological compounds stay organized is through membrane-less organelles (MLOs) — wall-less liquid droplets made from proteins and RNA that clump together and stay separate from the rest of the cellular stew. […]

Every year, more than 250,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer. When detected early, patients with the most common form—which tests positive for hormone receptors (HR+) and negative for the HER2 receptor—usually respond well to treatment. But for those in advanced stages, few treatment options existed until […]

When it comes to protecting the newborn brain, taking steps to mitigate risk before birth may be critical. Some newborns, such as those with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), are at heightened risk. Being able to intervene before birth to aid in protecting the newborn brain may prevent the often-devastating effects […]

You are just billions of different cells interacting between themselves in order to maintain this big beautiful organism that is you. Sometimes this includes cells committing suicide – they have to vacate their place for the benefit of others. The self-destruction of cells in humans and plants, however, is not […]

In The Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man famously sang, “If I only had a heart . . . “ Although the Tin Man had to be satisfied with a heart-shaped clock, researchers reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters have now created a miniature cyborg heart that produces electrical signals like the human version. […]

Epithelial cancers, such as cancers of the lung and pancreas, use the ανβ3 molecule to gain drug resistance to standard cancer therapies and to become highly metastatic. In a paper published in Cancer Research, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers identified a new therapeutic approach in mouse models […]

Cells in the body proliferate at different rates. Some divide constantly and throughout life, like the ones that line the gut. Others divide only rarely, sometimes resting for several years in a non-dividing state. Now, a study led by scientists at MIT's Whitehead Institute sheds light on the molecular mechanisms […]

MIT biologists have discovered an unexpected effect of a ketogenic, or fat-rich, diet: They showed that high levels of ketone bodies, molecules produced by the breakdown of fat, help the intestine to maintain a large pool of adult stem cells, which are crucial for keeping the intestinal lining healthy. The […]

Cytokines are a type of proteins that are important to the signaling between cells in the body's immune system, for example in the case of an infection or injury. A new study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Lund University, is now […]

Fat-soluble statins can prevent liver cancer and reduce mortality in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. These are findings from a study conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, among others. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Chronic viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and C) are severe conditions […]

It’s well established that chronic inflammation can lead to colon cancer, but the molecular mechanisms behind this association aren’t fully understood. Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center into the role that the signaling protein SMAD4 plays in this process has received funding from the National Cancer Institute. The co-principal investigators […]

Vitamin D deficiency in middle childhood could result in aggressive behavior as well as anxious and depressive moods during adolescence, according to a new University of Michigan study of school children in Bogotá, Colombia. Children with blood vitamin D levels suggestive of deficiency were almost twice as likely to develop […]

As you age your blood pressure is likely to change. That is a normal part of life, which is predictable and can be easily addressed with our current medication. Blood pressure is not to be taken lightly, because it is a major indicator of cardiovascular health. Now a UCL-led research […]

Developing new medicines is notoriously challenging and expensive — especially in cancer. And for academic researchers, there’s limited funding available to advance new ideas to the point where they’re ready to compete for the large-scale federal or foundation funding needed to fully develop them. That’s why the University of Michigan […]

Researchers at University of Utah Health have identified a link between autism and steroid hormone changes detected in the mother’s blood. These changes, which suggest increased estrogen activity, can be seen early in the second trimester. The pilot study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, opens a new direction in […]

Brain metastases are among the deadliest tumor metastases, with a median survival period of less than one year, and the incidence of brain metastasis is rising. A new Tel Aviv University study finds that melanoma brain metastasis occurs when tumor cells “hijack” an inflammatory pathway in the brain. Blocking this pathway could […]

Some cases of the flu are so severe they cause lasting injury to the lungs. New research from the University of Pennsylvania now points to a strategy that may one day offer protection against this damage. The scientists found that transplanting a certain type of lung cell from healthy mice to […]