General

The cerebral cortex is responsible for a large number of complex brain functions, ranging from the perception of sensory stimuli through alertness, memory and language to consciousness. Neurobiologists at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen have decoded a new regulatory principle that controls the development of the […]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) have committed $2,265,000 in prize money for “KidneyX: Redesign Dialysis,” a prize competition that challenges the public to develop better treatment options for patients with kidney failure. This prize competition is the first in […]

Type 2 diabetes is driven by many metabolic pathways—some driven by amino acids, the molecular building blocks for proteins. Harvard Medical School scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center found that one amino acid, alanine, may produce a short-term lowering of glucose levels by altering energy metabolism in the cell. “Our study […]

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Kaiser Permanente have discovered that mothers who breastfed a child or children for six months or more are at lower risk for developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) years later during mid-life. With no other current prevention options aside […]

Some drugs for heart disease might also work against brain cancer, according to an analysis by researchers from the Jackson Laboratory (JAX), Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC), and UConn Health. The researchers used a new approach to identify five heart medicines that might also be effective at fighting the most […]

The odds were stacked against Michael Champion. The 65-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a disease that requires aggressive chemotherapy designed with much younger patients in mind. Thanks to a new cancer rehabilitation program at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Champion was able to recover from the debilitating […]

The days leading up to a woman’s first mammogram can be intimidating. The screening, after all, has one purpose: to detect early signs of breast cancer. But it’s a crucial test, says Michigan Medicine radiologist Kate Klein, M.D., FACR. And it often finds no abnormalities: About 2 to 6 screenings in 1,000 test […]

With its unmistakable thick, scaly, white-and-red patches, psoriasis is a relatively common chronic skin condition that can lead to a greatly reduced quality of life. And about 30 percent of people with psoriasis go on to develop psoriatic arthritis, a painful joint inflammation that can lead to long-lasting joint damage. […]

Whether or how much the gut microbiome contributes to diseases ranging from inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer to Parkinson’s disease and diabetes was the central question scientists explored at Harvard Medical School recently as they sought to unravel some of the mysteries behind the human microbiome—a relatively unexplored frontier […]

Immune checkpoint therapy has transformed the way certain cancers are treated, but could a similar approach hold promise for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s? In a review article published in the issue of Nature Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School investigators based at Massachusetts General Hospital have proposed that targeting immune […]

The mechanisms that regulate our bodies and keep us healthy are complicated, involving critical molecular components that are still poorly understood. The prestigious journal Nature Communications has published recent research on this topic by a team led by Dr. El Bachir Affar, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine […]

She immune system is often framed as the part of our bodies responsible for fighting infection. But a key part of immunity involves restraining that battle-ready immune cell army so its artillery is only trained upon true threats. This element of immune regulation—and how it can go awry in cancer […]

You’re experiencing jaundice, abdominal pain or constipation. And by then, you may be too late. Pancreatic cancer symptoms often arrive after the cancer has already spread, making the disease one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the U.S. However, a team of researchers believes that targeting how blood […]

One afternoon in July, deep within the labyrinthine halls of the Medical Sciences Building at UC San Francisco’s hilltop campus on Parnassus Avenue, the laboratory of Alex Marson, MD, PhD, is buzzing. Doors clap. Gloves snap. Keyboards clack. Cells incubate in nutrient baths the color of Kool-Aid while machines resembling […]

As a wrestler at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, Adam Kuchnia lost a lot of pounds so he could compete in a particular weight class. And that didn’t always lead to the best nutritional choices. “I started to notice how good and bad nutrition felt when I was competing and the outcomes […]

DNA-damaging agents, or “DDAs,” make up the most widely used group of cancer drugs. Yet their therapeutic success has been curtailed by drug resistance—either present in cancer cells from the disease onset or arising during treatment. Now, biologists at the University of California San Diego have discovered a new way […]

Led by UCLA bioengineer, researchers design delivery system to guide drugs directly to cancer cells ‘hiding’ in bone marrow. Researchers led by a UCLA bioengineer have developed a therapy — based on two types of cells joined into a single unit — that could help strengthen existing treatments for acute […]

A new Florida State University College of Medicine study involving data from 12,000 participants collected over 10 years confirms the heavy toll that loneliness can take on your health: It increases your risk of dementia by 40 percent. The risk is across the board, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or […]

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have discovered a mathematical relationship that sheds new light on the rate at which cancer cells mutate and why some survive and rapidly multiply, yet others do not. The discovery by members of the laboratory of Jeffrey Townsend, Ph.D., the Elihu Professor […]

Within a few years, Jim Johnsen and Delaney Van Riper may be among the first to benefit from CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, a breakthrough that has already revolutionized biology research and promises to resurrect gene therapy. UC San Francisco doctors working closely with UC Berkeley scientists plan to edit their genomes […]

The Bristol Bone Biologists, Elizabeth Lawrence, PhD student in Dynamic Molecular Cell Biology, and Jessye Aggleton, PhD student in Anthropology and Archaeology, were one of two teams chosen to run their research with ESA Academy as part of their annual student hypergravity experiment campaign 'Spin Your Thesis!'. The students used a Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC), which ran for 48 […]

Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are a group of antibodies that target endogenous tissue, including the fat molecule cardiolipin and the plasma protein β2glycoprotein-I. Cardiolipin is found in the membranes of blood vessel and blood platelet cells, whereas β2glycoprotein-I is found in the blood and is thought to help the body rid […]

The cells in a tissue are surrounded by a net-like structure called the extracellular matrix. To attach itself to the matrix the cells have receptor molecules on their surfaces, which control the assembly of large protein complexes inside them. These so-called adhesion complexes connect the outside to the cell interior […]

A diverse group of collaborators posed a novel question over the last year: What if  seniors could test technology designed to improve their lives in residential space that doubles as a laboratory where academic researchers could get real-world, real-time data on the technology’s performance? The 2,400-square-foot Smart Living Lab was […]

Investigating the different types of cells in glioblastoma, the research team have gained a valuable insight into what fuels slow and fast dividing cancer cells, unveiling the potential to target aggressive brain cancer more effectively. Dr Florian Siebzehnrubl, European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute at Cardiff University, said: “Glioblastoma is […]

Bad vision is not a tragedy these days. You can always wear glasses and there are certain surgical procedures that can fix your eyes up pretty well. However, bad vision should be addressed early in life, because, as this new study has shown, abnormal vision in childhood can affect the […]

People at high genetic risk of stroke can still reduce their chance of having a stroke by sticking to a healthy lifestyle, in particular stopping smoking and not being overweight, finds a study in The BMJ. Stroke is a complex disease caused by both genetic and environmental factors, including diet and […]

T cells help fight off infection, but they can go overboard. A new study led by researchers at the School of Dental Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows that a subset of T cells contributes to the problematic inflammation and bone loss that is associated with periodontitis, a severe form of […]

Contrary to the advice most cancer patients receive when they go through radiation treatment, topical skin treatments, unless applied very heavily, do not increase the radiation dose to the skin and can be used in moderation before daily radiation treatments. A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine found that while […]

Breast cancer patients will soon have a better chance of fighting the disease thanks to new pathology guidelines created by University of Queensland researchers. The guidelines allow pathologists to identify which patients have more aggressive forms of breast cancer, which means they can be classified appropriately and their treatment can […]