July 31, 2018

Research into cell-to-cell signalling mechanism may lead to new cancer treatments

Pioneering new research into the way in which cells communicate with each other could hold the key to unlocking new, improved treatment for life-threatening diseases, including cancer. Various mechanisms exist for cells to communicate with each other, and many are essential  for development. A team of international researchers looked at […]
July 31, 2018

Multiple pregnancies might make women’s cells ‘age’ faster

Multiple pregnancies might make women’s cells age more quickly, a new Northwestern University study suggests. Led by Calen Ryan and Christopher Kuzawa of Northwestern and Dan Eisenberg at the University of Washington, the research could help explain why women with many children tend to show signs of accelerated aging. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, […]
July 30, 2018

How do jumping genes cause disease, drive evolution?

Almost half of our DNA sequences are made up of jumping genes—also known as transposons. They jump around the genome in developing sperm and egg cells and are important to evolution. But their mobilization can also cause new mutations that lead to diseases, such as hemophilia and cancer. Remarkably little […]
July 30, 2018

Targeted Gene Editing Cures Blood Disorder in Fetal Mice

A team of researchers, including UConn assistant professor of pharmaceutics Raman Bahal, has, for the first time, corrected a genetic mutation in a mammalian fetus using a targeted gene editing technique. The approach offers a potential new pathway for treating inherited genetic disorders during the earliest stages of development. Every year, […]
July 30, 2018

USC study shows role of enzyme in prostate cancer growth

A new USC School of Pharmacy study led by University ProfessorJean Chen Shih offers new evidence that the monoamine oxidase-A enzyme (MAO-A) pathway could be an important target in treating prostate cancer. Pioneering work previously conducted by Shih revealed the role the MAO-A gene plays in depression and other mental illnesses, as […]
July 30, 2018

First study of its kind observes the power struggle of chromosomes to survive

Biology researchers from the University of Southampton have brought us a step closer to fully understanding how we inherit our chromosomes from our parents and grandparents. In a study, published in the journal Nature Communications, Professor Keith Jones and colleagues from the School of Biological Sciences have observed, for the very first time, a power […]
July 26, 2018

Newly Identified Target May Help with Drug Discovery for Chronic Inflammatory Diseases

Inflammation is part of the body’s natural healing process. But when it becomes chronic, inflammation can lead to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. Inflammasomes — protein-based molecular machines — trigger inflammation in response to different signals generated by cell stress, tissue injury or infectious organisms. In a study published […]
July 24, 2018

Reviving Dormant Nerves

Most people with spinal cord injury are paralyzed from the injury site down, even when the cord isn’t completely severed. Why don’t the spared portions of the spinal cord keep working, allowing at least some movement? A study published online in Cell provides insight into why these nerve pathways remain quiet. Most […]
July 24, 2018

Giant neurons in the brain may play similarly giant role in awareness and cognition

There is no shortage of wonders that our central nervous system produces—from thought and language to movement to the five senses. All of those dazzling traits, however, depend on an underappreciated deep brain mechanism that Donald Pfaff, head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, calls generalized arousal, or […]
July 24, 2018

How Experience Changes Basics of Memory Formation

We know instinctively that our experiences shape the way we learn. If we are highly familiar with a particular task, like cooking for example, learning a new recipe is much easier than it was when we were a novice. New research from the University of California, Davis, shows that experience […]
July 24, 2018

Antipsychotics may prove effective in killing drug-resistant cancer cells

Two current drugs used to treat psychosis and depression showed anti-cancer activity in mice by blocking the movement of cholesterol within drug-resistant cancer cells, according to Penn State Cancer Institute researchers. Certain types of cancers need high levels of cholesterol to survive. In this study, 42 drugs, anti-psychotics or anti-depressants, were compared […]
July 23, 2018

Compound identified that protects against neurodegeneration

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have identified a new compound that protects against neurodegeneration in nematode worms. The discovery may enable novel treatments for human neurodegenerative diseases to be developed in the future. With the predicted growth of the global ageing population, cases of age-associated neurodegenerative diseases such as […]
July 23, 2018

Genomic Landscape of Metastatic Prostate Cancer Unveiled in New Study

A comprehensive genetic analysis of metastatic prostate cancer has, for the first time, revealed a number of major ways in which abnormal alterations of the genome propel this aggressive form of the disease. As reported in the issue of Cell, a team led by investigators at UC San Francisco has discovered […]
July 23, 2018

Research Brief: Deriving muscle stem cells from teratomas

Researchers in the University of Minnesota Medical School have developed a process to regenerate skeletal muscle cells in animal models with muscular dystrophy. The unlikely source of those cells is a type of benign tumor called a teratoma that produces cells of all types, including glands and hair follicles. Michael Kyba, Ph.D., […]
July 23, 2018

Virginia Tech graduate student pursues innovative microbe-based cancer therapy

Over 1.7 million new cancer cases and more than 600,000 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States in 2018. Could that number be reduced if microbes were used to treat cancer? Katherine Broadway, a Virginia Tech graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences is researching a […]
July 23, 2018

Yale scientists probe “magical” royal jelly for possible clues to control cancer

Royal jelly, or milky-white “bee milk,” has long been known for its mysterious growth effects on future queen honey bees, while also hailed by some as an anti-aging, cholesterol-lowering super supplement. But how this “queen magic” actually happens, and its potential benefit to humans, has remained a mystery to scientists. […]
July 23, 2018

Why internal scars won’t stop growing

Normal scar tissue forms to heal an internal wound and quietly retreats when the job is done. But in many common diseases — kidney, liver and lung fibrosis — the scar tissue goes rogue and strangles vital organs. These diseases are largely untreatable and ultimately fatal. A new Northwestern Medicine […]
July 23, 2018

Breakthrough could impact cancer, ageing and heart disease

A team of Sydney scientists has made a ground-breaking discovery in telomere biology, with implications for conditions ranging from cancer to ageing and heart disease. The research project was led by Dr Tony Cesare, Head of the Genome Integrity Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) at Westmead, in collaboration […]
July 20, 2018

Massive genome havoc in breast cancer is revealed

In cancer cells, genetic errors wreak havoc. Misspelled genes, as well as structural variations—larger-scale rearrangements of DNA that can encompass large chunks of chromosomes—disturb carefully balanced mechanisms that have evolved to regulate cell growth. Genes that are normally silent are massively activated and mutant proteins are formed. These and other […]
July 20, 2018

Low- or no-calorie soft drinks linked to improved outcomes in colon cancer

Drinking artificially sweetened beverages is associated with a significantly lower risk of colon cancer recurrence and cancer death, a team of investigators led by a Yale Cancer Centerscientist has found. The study was published in PLOS ONE. “Artificially sweetened drinks have a checkered reputation in the public because of purported health risks […]
July 20, 2018

Complementary medicine for cancer can decrease survival

People who received complementary therapy for curable cancers were more likely to refuse at least one component of their conventional cancer treatment, and were more likely to die as a result, according to researchers from Yale Cancer Center and the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center (COPPER) at Yale School of Medicine. The […]
July 19, 2018

Scientists discover a mechanism of drug resistance in breast and ovarian cancer

There is a highly sophisticated way to treat some breast and ovarian cancers—a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors, designed to exploit the very defects that make tumors with certain mutations especially deadly. Yet this targeted approach to cancer therapy sometimes fails, and scientists have anxiously sought to understand why. […]
July 19, 2018

Gut's 'Taste Buds' Help School the Immune System in the Thymus

UC San Francisco researchers were recently surprised to discover fully formed gut and skin cells in the thymus, a lemon-sized organ that sits in front of the heart and is responsible for training the T cells of the immune system not to attack the body’s own tissues. The finding, based on […]