General

The efficacy of many FDA-approved cancer drug combinations is not due to synergistic interactions between drugs, but rather to a form of “bet hedging,” according to a new study published by Harvard Medical School researchers in Cell. Reanalyzing data from 15 clinical trials, the researchers show that independent action—in which drugs […]

  Scientists have identified differences in a group of genes they say might help explain why some people need a lot more sleep — and others less — than most.  The study, conducted using fruit fly populations bred to model natural variations in human sleep patterns, provides new clues to […]

Paralyzed rats with severed spinal cords are walking again, after Tel Aviv University and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology scientists restored their nervous function and sensation through tissue engineering and stem cells taken from the oral mucosa membrane of the mouth, Haaretz recently reported. The research was led by Prof. Daniel Offen of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine and […]

Scientists at the School of Dental Science in Trinity have made an important discovery involving bacteria and a pre-cancerous growth called oral leuoplakia which can precede oral cancer. The researchers examined the microbiome of oral leukoplakia in order to determine if certain bacteria were associated with oral leukoplakia and whether […]

New research by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers shows a majority of pediatric cancer providers endorse the potential use of medical marijuana for children with advanced cancer, although providers who are legally eligible to certify its use are more cautious than those who aren’t. The findings also show clinicians would prefer to […]

A new large-scale international study expands the number of genetic markers now known to be associated with exceptional longevity. Researchers at the University of Connecticut, University of Exeter, University of Wisconsin, and University of Iowa undertook a genome-wide search for variants influencing how long participants’ parents lived. DNA samples carry […]

Human skin is a remarkable organ serving as a barrier protecting us from pathogens, toxic substances and others. Our skin needs to constantly renew throughout our lifetime as well as change its size to perfectly fit and cover the body. To fulfill such a complex and dynamic behavior every cell […]

Aging impairs the immune system’s response to the flu virus in multiple ways, weakening resistance in older adults, according to a Yale study. The research reveals why older people are at increased risk of illness and death from flu, the researchers said. “Influenza virus mortality is the highest in older […]

Researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have discovered how high glucose levels — whether caused by diabetes or other factors — keep heart cells from maturing normally. Their findings help explain why babies born to women with diabetes are more likely […]

Looking to bolster the body’s immune system in the fight against infection and cancer, researchers at the University of California San Diego and their colleagues have identified a promising new strategy to program the immune system to meet the pathogen or malignancy in the tissues where they first pose a […]

Rare stem-like tumor cells play a critical role in the spread of breast cancer, but a vulnerability in the pathway that powers them offers a strategy to target these cells using existing drugs before metastatic disease occurs, report University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center […]

A simple, non-invasive procedure that can indicate how long patients with cancer that has spread to the brain might survive and whether they are likely to respond to immunotherapy has been developed by researchers in Liverpool. The technique, which can be done using standard hospital-based Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, […]

To explain his new weapon in the war against the metastatic spread of cancer to bone, Kang uses a movie metaphor: “Independence Day.” In the 1996 blockbuster, the people of Earth fight back against alien attackers, deploying a computer virus to disable the shields guarding the attackers’ spaceships. A new […]

Humans are weird. We have emotions we cannot control or, sometimes, explain. For example, why are we so moody sometimes? Scientists from the Binghamton University have conducted a survey, which showed how various food items affect our mood. Interestingly, this effect changes as we age. Scientists conducted a survey online […]

A large-scale international study led by the University of Exeter Medical School has discovered new genes linked to parents’ lifespan – which could one day be targeted to help prolong human life. How long we live is determined by a range of factors including our lifestyle and how well we treat factors […]

Like millions of Americans, Harvard Medical School postdoctoral fellow Tom Seegar struggled as he watched several family members decline from Alzheimer’s disease. “Seeing them start to lose what we most value—our minds and ability to think—was especially painful,” he said. Seegar’s desire to make a difference for people with Alzheimer’s helped motivate […]

Scientists have wondered whether somatic, or non-inherited, mutations play a role in aging and brain degeneration, but until recently there was no good technology to test this idea. A study published online in Science, led by researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, used whole-genome sequencing of individual neurons […]

Australian researchers have unearthed new evidence in a decade-long mystery concerning stem cell reprogramming, a process believed to hold immense potential for regenerative medicine. In a study, researchers from The University of Western Australia, the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, and Monash University describe key drivers of the process […]

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among males in the United States. Approximately, 180,000 men are diagnosed each year, and approximately 95 percent of these men have localized disease that is potentially curable. Previously, studies have consistently demonstrated that conventionally fractionated high dose external beam radiation therapy (CRT), consisting […]

Current treatments for medulloblastoma include a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy which are not specific in how they target the tumour, and often lead to significant side effects, such as mental and physical disabilities. Treatment is further complicated by the fact that medulloblastoma is not a single disease but […]

When cells divide, they need to rebuild their nucleus and organise their genome. New collaborative research from the University of Bristol demonstrates how cells achieve this through the unexpected deployment of filamentous actin (F-actin) to the nucleus. The research, published online in Nature Cell Biology, provides the first evidence that actin […]

Tremors, involuntary movements and shaking, are probably the most noticeable symptoms of Parkinson‘s. They are significantly reducing people‘s quality of life and can push them into dependence on other people. Scientists up until now were not sure what causes tremors. Now researchers from the University of York managed to recreate […]

As the rate and pervasiveness of Alzheimer's disease (AD) continue to spike across the United States, efforts to improve upon current treatments have grown simultaneously. Fortunately, there's been a recent technological breakthrough in understanding the mechanics behind AD. Scientists at Rice University invented a metallic probe that glows as it […]

Children with an extremely deadly form of brain cancer might benefit from a new treatment that aims to direct an immune response against a mutant form of a protein found exclusively on cancer cells, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco researchers. The focus of the study, […]

Tumor-targeting nanoparticles loaded with a drug that makes cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy’s toxicity could be used to treat an aggressive and often deadly form of endometrial cancer, according to new research by the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. For the first time, researchers combined traditional chemotherapy with a […]

Researchers at the University of Arizona have taken an essential step forward in the quest to find the cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. In the cells of flies, mice and humans with ALS, scientists at the UA have pinpointed a process that […]

Adding aspirin to some existing cancer drugs could increase their effectiveness against a group of tumours resistant to treatment, new research has shown. University of Queensland scientists are hoping clinical trials could soon be underway for people with lung, pancreatic and colorectal cancers that have not responded to other therapies. UQ […]

Cancer therapies including radiation and chemotherapy seek to treat the disease by killing tumor cells. Now a team including researchers at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have shown that the dead and dying cancer cells generated by chemotherapy and targeted cancer therapy paradoxically trigger inflammation that […]

Boulder researchers are embarking on a new project to study the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's by using a new technique to measure neurons firing deep inside animal brains. Eventually, the scientists hope, the research could lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatment options. Led by Ralph Jimenez of […]

Cancer cells’ ability to tolerate crowded conditions may be one key to understanding tumor growth and formation, according to a mathematical model that has been applied to cancer cell growth for the first time. The model can replicate patterns of melanoma cell growth seen in laboratory experiments by controlling the […]