General

The blood-brain barrier is the brain’s gatekeeper. A nearly impenetrable shield of cells, it keeps toxins and other agents that may be in circulating blood from gaining access to and harming the brain. A critical anatomical structure, the barrier is the brain’s first and most comprehensive line of defense. But […]

Researchers investigating ways to deliver high doses of cancer-killing drugs inside tumors have shown they can use a laser and light-activated gold nanoparticles to remotely trigger the release of approved cancer drugs inside cancer cells in laboratory cultures. The study by researchers at Rice University and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine […]

Study explains success of some types of cancer immunotherapy, provides new targets for the development of additional immunotherapies. Chronic inflammation is known to drive many cancers, especially liver cancer. Researchers have long thought that’s because inflammation directly affects cancer cells, stimulating their division and protecting them from cell death. But […]

Can environmental toxins disrupt circadian rhythms – the biological “clock” whose disturbance is linked to chronic inflammation and a host of human disorders? Research showing a link between circadian disruption and plankton that have adapted to road salt pollution puts the question squarely on the table. “This research shows that […]

Cancer, the still-dreaded disease because it takes the lives of millions with no proven cure still in sight, might finally get a beating in the next few years. Ascribe it to the courage and innovation of biotech companies which have not given up  the fight against the Big C. They […]

For an illness like cancer, doctors in search of definitive diagnosis often turn to computed tomography (CT) scans based on reconstructing a three-dimensional image of an organ from multiple two-dimensional image slices. At the molecular level, such 3-D scans could become an important part of precision medicine: a future of […]

Vision scientists at UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto have discovered that naturally occurring molecules known as lipid mediators have the potential to halt the progression of glaucoma, the world’s second-leading cause of blindness. Their findings, published today in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, mark a […]

Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to develop a new technique to detect ovarian cancer early and accurately. The team has identified a network of circulating microRNAs – small, non-coding pieces of genetic material – that are associated with […]

A study led by scientists from Harvard Medical School reveals “hidden” variability in how tumor cells are affected by anticancer drugs, offering new insights on why patients with the same form of cancer can have different responses to a drug. The results, published in Nature Communications on Oct 30, highlight strategies to […]

Stem cells taken from muscle tissue could promote better blood flow in patients with diabetes who develop peripheral artery disease, a painful complication that can require surgery or lead to amputation. A new study in mice at the University of Illinois found that an injection of the stem cells prompted […]

Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed an accurate, scalable approach for monitoring cancer DNA from blood samples. Reporting in Nature Communications, the team demonstrates that nearly 90 percent of a […]

New research from the University of Liverpool, published in the journal ‘Nature Scientific Reports’, has identified that ageing has distinct and opposite effects on the genes expressed in the tendons of males and females. Tendons are bundles or bands of strong fibres that attach muscles to bones. Tendons transfer force from […]

A scientific team at the University of Rochester is using innovative technology to discover preventative treatments for salivary gland radiation damage typical for head and neck cancer patients—and recently received a $3.8 million National Institutes of Health grant to support their investigation. Cancer patients can lose salivary gland function during […]

When we are still embryos, proteins of the so-called “hedgehog” signaling pathway stimulate our cells to develop into different organs. When we are adults, this pathway falls largely silent, except in certain tissues that constantly regenerate themselves, for example our skin, and the linings of our blood vessels and digestive […]

The University of Arizona has licensed a drug that aims to shorten the lives of cancer cells to startup Reglagene. The technology, invented at the College of Pharmacy and the BIO5 Institute by Laurence Hurley and Vijay Gokhale, has been shown to be effective in shortening the lives of target cells, essentially inducing cancer cells to grow old […]

Cancer of the pancreas is a deadly disease, with a median survival time of less than six months. Only one in 20 people with pancreatic cancer survives five years past the diagnosis. The reason is the cancer’s insidiousness; tumor cells hide deep inside the body, betraying no symptoms until late […]

People who do hatha yoga report improved balance, but only now has yoga’s impact on falls received rigorous study. Now, University of Wisconsin–Madison professor of family medicine Irene Hamrick reports that the number of falls in older adults dropped 48 percent in the six months after yoga classes began, compared […]

An initial test to determine if a scalpel-free form of brain surgery can reduce tremor caused by Parkinson’s disease has produced encouraging results. Further research is warranted, the researchers conclude in a paper published Monday by the scientific journal JAMA Neurology. The pilot study, led by Dr. Jeff Elias of […]

Understanding the factors that control aging has been one of humanity’s endless pursuits, from the mystical fountain of youth to practical healthful regimens to prolong life expectancy. A team of scientists at the University of California San Diego has now helped decipher the dynamics that control how our cells age, […]

Cancer cells can be targeted and destroyed with the metal from the asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, according to new research by an international collaboration between the University of Warwick and Sun Yat-Sen University in China. Researchers from the Professor Sadler and Professor O’Connor groups in Warwick’s […]

Colon cancer, Crohn’s, and other diseases of the gut could be better treated – or even prevented – thanks to a new link between inflammation and a common cellular process, established by the University of Warwick. Led by Dr Ioannis Nezis at Warwick’s School of Life Sciences, new research demonstrates […]

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created a new lab-grown blood vessel replacement that is composed completely of biological materials, but surprisingly doesn’t contain any living cells at implantation. The vessel, that could be used as an “off the shelf” graft for kidney dialysis patients, performed well in a […]

Here’s an open invitation to steal. It goes out to cancer fighters and tempts them with a new program that predicts cancer drug effectiveness via machine learning and raw genetic data. The researchers who built the program at the Georgia Institute of Technology would like cancer fighters to take it for free, […]

A new study published in the journal Neuron sheds light on the normal function of LRRK2, the most common genetic cause for late-onset Parkinson’s disease. The study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health. For more than 10 […]

Data from the SysteMS pilot study, a collaboration between Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Verily and Biogen exploring the use of biosensors as a measure of MS disease severity, were presented today at MSParis2017, the seventh Joint Meeting of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS and Americas Committee […]

Transplanting young blood vessel cells into older mice can make their aged stem cells take on the characteristics of young stem cells, leading to healthier blood systems and promoting better recovery from cancer treatment side effects, according to new research from Weill Cornell Medicine. Blood stem cells, also known as […]

Cancerous tumors need nutrients to grow, so they secrete factors promoting new blood-vessel formation to feed themselves. Researchers have long known that cells in low-oxygen environments at the center of the tumor send out these factors, but a new study by University of Illinois researchers found that stemlike cells at […]

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that a single infusion of wildtype hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) into a mouse model of Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) measurably halted cellular damage caused by the degenerative disease. The findings, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, suggest a […]

As cells with a propensity for cancer break down food for energy, they reach a fork in the road: They can either continue energy production as healthy cells, or shift to the energy production profile of cancer cells. In a new study published Monday (Oct. 23, 2017) in the journal Nature […]

A new therapy that uses blood-vessel-lining cells to regenerate damaged tissue has the potential to treat liver cirrhosis, Weill Cornell Medicine scientists demonstrate in new research. The small-scale animal study, published in the journal Radiology, was a test of the basic feasibility of the cell delivery technique and not designed to […]