General

Almost eight years ago, Stanford University bioengineer Manu Prakash was looking for a way to watch every cell in an adult living, behaving animal in elaborate detail. He searched the catalog of life and happened upon the simple marine animal Trichoplax adhaerens – or Tplax, as Prakash has come to call it. This ultra-flat […]

A new blood test for children with brain tumors may offer a safe way to allow doctors to measure the effectiveness of treatment even before changes are identified on scans, according to research led by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals and Children’s National Health System. Unlike a standard brain biopsy, which entails […]

A detailed new review of nutritional science argues that most American diets are deficient in a key class of vitamins and minerals that play previously unrecognized roles in promoting longevity and in staving off chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and, potentially, neurodegeneration. In the review, published as a […]

Only a small proportion of cases of dementia are thought to be inherited – the cause of the vast majority is unknown. Now, in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Cambridge believe they may have found an explanation: […]

If you have a family history of breast cancer, you may also be at higher risk of developing the disease. This knowledge can boost surveillance and prevention efforts. One in 8 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Among all cases, about 10 percent are caused by the […]

How does the body renew itself? How do cancer cells use the same or similar processes to form tumors and spread throughout the body? How might we use those processes to heal injuries or fight cancer? A new research program at MIT is tackling fundamental biological questions about normal adult […]

Our cognitive abilities come down to how well the connections, or synapses, between our brain cells transmit signals. Now new study by researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has dug deeply into the molecular mechanisms that enable synaptic transmission to show the distinct role of a protein that, when mutated, […]

Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center found that they could identify significantly more mutations through liquid biopsy instead of a solid tissue biopsy alone—and patients responded favorably to targeted therapies. The findings, published in in JAMA Oncology, show that the addition of liquid biopsy nearly doubled the number of mutations detected compared to what […]

Young adults classified as obese in Australia can expect to lose up to 10 years in life expectancy, according to a major new study. New modelling from The George Institute for Global Health and the University of Sydney also predicts that 36.3 million years of life will be lost over […]

For the first time, scientists have developed a computer simulation of how clumps of defective proteins in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s spread through the brain, much of the time in stealth mode, over as long as 30 years. “We hope the ability to model neurodegenerative disorders will inspire better diagnostic […]

With today’s technology, we can 3-D-print sculptures, mechanical parts, prosthetics, even guns and food. But a team of University of Utah biomedical engineers have developed a method to 3-D-print cells to produce human tissue such as ligaments and tendons, a process that will greatly improve a patient’s recovery. A person […]

UC San Francisco researchers, in collaboration with the unique Brazilian Biobank for Aging Studies (BBAS) at the University of São Paulo, have shown that the earliest stages of the brain degeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are linked to neuropsychiatric symptoms including anxiety, depression, loss of appetite, and sleep disturbances. […]

Research to prevent vision loss from glaucoma will be aided by a project funded through a major National Eye Institute effort in regenerative medicine. The lab of Tom Reh, professor of biological structure at the UW School of Medicine, will join with scientists at other institutions to look at a possible cell-replacement […]

A team of physicists has devised a novel strategy that uses naturally occurring motions inside the human cell nucleus to measure the physical properties of the nucleus and its components. The method, which reveals that human nucleoli behave as liquid droplets, offers a potential new means for illuminating the physical […]

Premature birth is the leading cause of infant death and disability in the U.S., and costs billions in dollars and heartache every year. Now, University of Connecticut researchers reported in Reproductive Sciences a potential treatment that could stop many cases of premature labor and birth in their tracks. UConn Health’s Christopher Nold, […]

For all the good they do, eye drops and ointments have one major drawback: It’s hard to tell how much of the medication is actually getting to the eye. Now in a study appearing in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, scientists report that they have developed a contact lens that changes […]

Scientists at UCSF and Boston Children’s Hospital have developed a new technique for making mice with brains that combine the genetics of two different mouse strains. The authors aim to use this technique to learn more about how brain cancers form, about how genetic alterations in different parts of the […]

Since he took the reins of the Abramson Cancer Center in July 2017, there hasn’t been one day where Robert H. Vonderheide hasn’t felt a thrill. “This place is on fire,” he says. “Drugs are being approved, there are new discoveries, we are excited by all the Nature, Science, and Cell papers. People are flocking here to find […]

About 15 percent of breast cancers are classified as triple-negative, lacking receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and Her2. These cancers do not respond to targeted hormonal therapies, and they tend to be particularly aggressive, often resisting systemic chemotherapy and metastasizing to other tissues. Researchers had observed that triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) […]

A newly developed light seeks to reduce degradation of the brain in patents with Alzheimer’s disease. The technology has been approved, a company has been founded, and clinical trials await. A dramatic breakthrough in the treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s may be underway at DTU. For 18 months, a group […]

Even though we know the benefits of physical activity, many of us would rather watch TV than exercise. The reason we avoid working out may stem from our childhood experiences. Iowa State University researchers are working to understand how the emotional connection we develop with physical activity as children influences […]

Scientists at UC San Francisco have painstakingly assembled a searchable database of normal human immunity that researchers can now use as an instant comparison group in studies of the immune system and immune dysfunction. The new open-access data tool, called the 10,000 Immunomes Project (10KIP), pieces together the results of […]

The new cell-based immunotherapy, which has not yet been tested in humans with pancreatic cancer, led to mice being completely cancer-free, including cancer cells that had already spread to the liver and lungs. Each year around 9,800 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The disease is particularly […]

An oral therapy called ibudilast significantly reduced the rate of brain tissue loss in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), according to the results of a recent phase II trial. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, support further study of the drug to determine if they might also translate […]

Car accidents, sports injuries, even too much typing and texting can injure the peripheral nerves, leaving people with numbness, tingling and weakness in their hands, arms or legs. Recovery can take months, and doctors have little to offer to speed it along. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine […]

Nobody knows why some children’s backs start to curve to one side just as they hit puberty. Most children diagnosed with scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, have no known risk factors. A new study suggests that the body’s inability to fully utilize the essential dietary mineral manganese might be […]

In multiple sclerosis, a defective response of the body’s own immune system leads to brain tissue damage. Gastrointestinal microbiota could play a far greater role in the pathogenesis of the disease than previously assumed, researchers at the University of Zurich have now found. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in […]

Researchers say they have discovered a gene mutation that slows the metabolism of sugar in the gut, giving people who have the mutation a distinct advantage over those who do not. Those with the mutation have a lower risk of diabetes, obesity, heart failure, and even death. The researchers say […]

The results of a study led by Harvard Medical School researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital support evidence from previous studies suggesting the regular use of aspirin can reduce the risk of developing primary liver cancer, also called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Analyzing data from two long-term epidemiologic studies, the team […]

Genetic testing after a breast cancer diagnosis can offer clues to individualized treatment decisions for a patient and her treatment team. But many patients aren’t aware it exists and could be missing out on that opportunity, according to a new study published in Cancer. A team at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer […]