General

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are powerful weapons our body’s immune systems count on to fight infection and combat diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis, and lupus. Finding ways to spark these potent cells into action could lead to more effective cancer treatments and vaccines. While several chemical compounds have […]

One of the major side effects of chemotherapy is a sharp drop in white blood cells, which leaves patients vulnerable to dangerous infections. MIT researchers have now developed a portable device that could be used to monitor patients’ white blood cell levels at home, without taking blood samples. Such a device could […]

Most of the human genome — 98 percent — is made up of DNA but doesn’t actually encode genes, the recipes cells use to build proteins. The vast majority of genetic mutations associated with cancer occur in these non-coding regions of the genome, yet it’s unclear how they might influence […]

It took eight long years of research, but now an international team led by neuroscientists at Université de Montréal has discovered a basic molecular mechanism that better helps understand how Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), works. And that basic science could someday lead to new therapy for […]

Many patients receiving chemotherapy following surgery for bowel cancer may only need three months treatment rather than the six months currently given, new research published in Lancet Oncology has shown. An international clinical trial, funded by an NIHR and MRC partnership, has evaluated the effectiveness of a three-month course of adjuvant […]

Cancer patients always say that cancer is pain. People suffer from pain every day and sometimes it can be difficult to manage. It significantly deteriorates the quality of life of these people, leaving no choice but to resort to medicine. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh together with health practitioners […]

Scientists have long known that restricting calories can fend off physiological signs of aging, with studies in fruit flies, roundworms, rodents and even people showing that chronically slashing intake by about a third can reap myriad health benefits and, in some cases, extend lifespan. From a public health perspective, that […]

Ever notice how a cut inside the mouth heals much faster than a cut to the skin? Gum tissue repairs itself roughly twice as fast as skin and with reduced scar formation. One reason might be because of the characteristics of gingival mesenchymal stem cells, or GMSCs, which can give […]

The skeleton, discovered in a leather pouch behind an abandoned church, was pristine: a tiny figure, just six inches long, with a cone-shaped head, 10 pairs of ribs, and bones that looked like those of an 8-year-old child. Found in the Atacama Desert of Chile and later affectionately nicknamed “Ata,” […]

By the time he died in 1973, Harry Eastlack had two skeletons; the one he was born with, and the one that grew around it, gradually encasing him in a prison of his own bone. Forty-five years later, UConn researchers have shown in the journal Nature Communications that a certain type of […]

Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered a new combination of cancer immunotherapy treatment that could improve patients’ survival rates. The pre-clinical study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, by Dr Sarah Buchan and colleagues, combined antibodies targeting PD-1/PD-L1, a type of immunotherapy known as checkpoint blockade that overcomes the resistance […]

In July 2015, 86-year-old Douglas Waters developed severe age-related macular degeneration (AMD). He struggled to see things clearly, even when up close. A few months later, he became part of a clinical trial that used stem cell-derived ocular cells developed in part by researchers at UC Santa Barbara. His retinal […]

Kinesin family member 5A (KIF5A), a gene previously linked to two rare neurodegenerative disorders, has been definitively connected to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by an international team from several of the world’s top ALS research labs. The findings identify how mutations in KIF5A disrupt transport of key proteins up and […]

Harvard Medical School researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have identified a neural circuit mechanism involved in preserving the specificity of memories. They also identified a genetic “switch” that can slow down memory generalization, the loss of specific details over time that occurs in both age-related […]

We are as old as our arteries, the adage goes, so could reversing the aging of blood vessels hold the key to restoring youthful vitality? The answer appears to be yes, at least in mice, according to a new study led by investigators at Harvard Medical School. The research, published […]

Immune cells called microglia can completely repopulate themselves in the retina after being nearly eliminated, according to a new study in mice from scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI). The cells also re-establish their normal organization and function. The findings point to potential therapies for controlling inflammation and slowing […]

New research led by Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has unmasked hundreds of cancer-driving genes and revealed that different tissue types have shockingly variable sensitivities to those genes. The findings, published online in Cell promise to improve scientists’ understanding of normal and malignant cell proliferation. They also help explain […]

Scientists have discovered a process during mammalian embryonic development that is critical for early embryos to develop into healthy blastocysts. Using advanced microscopy techniques and live mouse embryos, the researchers observed rings of actin – a main component of a cell’s cytoskeleton – forming on the surface of the embryo. […]

A team from the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in Montreal has joined forces with researchers at Johns Hopkins to bring screening and early detection of ovarian and uterine cancers one step closer to clinical implementation. Researchers developed a test that provides a safe and minimally invasive […]

Fabien Pinaud’s big vision for treating cancer homes in on the smallest of targets. Along with a team of scientists, he created a new hybrid nano-probe that could lead to noninvasive detection and treatment of the disease at the level of a single cell. Pinaud, assistant professor of biological sciences, […]

As we get older, our endurance declines, in part because our blood vessels lose some of their capacity to deliver oxygen and nutrients to muscle tissue. An MIT-led research team has now found that it can reverse this age-related endurance loss in mice by treating them with a compound that […]

A new kind of genetically engineered mouse and an innovation in how to monitor those mice during research have shed new light on the early development of an inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). An international team of scientists, including four from Brown University, conducted and analyzed tests using […]

A team of UConn Health researchers has designed a novel, hybrid hydrogel system to help address some of the challenges in repairing bone in the event of injury. The UConn Health team, led by associate professor of orthopedic surgery Syam Nukavarapu, described their findings in a recent issue of Journal of Biomedical Materials […]

Older adults often complain about forgetting, but Penn State psychologists suggest that another problem may be misremembering. In a study, the researchers found that as people age, they may be more likely to rely on a type of memory — called schematic memory — that helps them remember the gist […]

To understand the link between aging and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, scientists from the National Institutes of Health compared the genetic clocks that tick during the lives of normal and mutant flies. They found that altering the activity of a gene called Cdk5 appeared to make the clocks […]

A surprising finding by Rockefeller University scientists about a rare liver cancer’s behavior could lead to more comprehensive patient monitoring and hopefully better outcomes. The scientists recommend that people with advanced-stage fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, which mostly affects teenagers and young adults, receive regular neuroimaging scans because of the tumor’s apparent […]

The research team has studied an important protein, called C3, from the part of the innate immune system known as the complement system. Upon recognition of pathogenic organisms or dying cells from our own body, C3 is cleaved by blood enzymes as part of a defence mechanism. These enzymes are […]

It’s every over-achiever’s dream: a gene mutation that allows them to function normally with just four to six hours of sleep a night instead of the normal eight. In 2009, UC San Francisco neurology professor Ying-Hui Fu, PhD, discovered a mutation in the gene DEC2 in a family of natural short […]

Tumor cells circulating throughout the body in blood vessels have long been feared as harbingers of metastasizing cancer — even though most free-floating cancer cells will not go on to establish a new tumor. But if these cast-offs could be accurately counted, they could provide an additional way to track […]

The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE and funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), discovered that a weak grip can be associated with changes in the heart’s structure and function, and could be used as a broad measure of someone’s heart health. By asking people to grip a device called a dynamometer […]