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Biological cells can be all kinds of shapes and sizes, even though they don’t have skeletons or other rigid structures to maintain that shape. Different forms help different types of cells accomplish different functions. How do they do that? Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich discovered […]

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. And millions of people are going to get it, even though not everyone will hear the diagnosis. There are, however, some therapies that can slow down the progression of this neurodegenerative condition, but it has to be spotted early. Now scientists at the […]

Cancer therapies that target specific molecular defects arising from mutations in tumor cells are currently the focus of much anticancer drug development. However, due to the absence of good targets and to the genetic variation in tumors, platinum-based chemotherapies are still the mainstay in the treatment of many cancers, including […]

ETH Zurich researchers have been able to show why biological cells can take on such an astonishing variety of shapes: it has to do with how the number and strength of local forces acting on the cell membrane from within. This knowledge feeds into the development of better minimal model […]

When nerve cells aren’t busy exchanging information, they’re supposed to keep quiet. If they’re just popping off at random, like in a noisy classroom, it obscures the signals they’re supposed to be transmitting. But in the most common genetic cause of schizophrenia, it seems that nerve cells won’t shut up, Stanford […]

Tumors come in many shapes and forms—curable or deadly, solid or liquid, lodged inside the brain, bone, or other tissues. One thing they all have in common, however, is a knack for molecular deceit. It is often by posing as normal cells, or by hijacking them, that cancer cells advance […]

Bioengineers are devising a hot new technology to remotely control the positioning and timing of cell functions to build 3-dimensional, artificial, living tissues. The labs of Kelly Stevens at the UW Medicine Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine in Seattle, and Jordan Miller at Rice University in Houston, are collaborating to develop bio-printed, organ-like tissues, […]

New research has uncovered the previously unknown presence of CD19 — a B cell molecule targeted by chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy to treat leukaemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma — in brain cells that protect the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This discovery may potentially be the cause for neurotoxicity […]

Oxford University researchers have found that natural infection with COVID-19 produces a robust T cell response, including inducing T cell ‘memory’ to potentially fight future infections. The results, published in Nature Immunology, are a joint effort from the Oxford COVID-19 immunology group, led by the Medical Research Council Human Immunology […]

In a new study published neuroscientists at Oxford University have found that raised blood pressure and diabetes in mid-life alter brain structure to slow thinking speed and memory. Looking at results from 22,000 volunteers in the UK Biobank who underwent brain scanning, the scientists found that raised blood pressure and […]

Tissues and cells in the human body are subjected to a constant push and pull – strained by other cells, blood pressure and fluid flow, to name a few. The type and direction of the force on a cell alters gene expression by stretching different regions of DNA, researchers at […]

A team of University of Alberta researchers has identified a new mechanism through which tumour cells become resistant to chemotherapy—a discovery that could lead to better treatments for women with breast cancer. Michael Jewer, a post-doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, said that more than 20 per cent […]

Harvard Medical School investigators based at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have developed a machine learning-based sleep test that shows potential as a biomarker associated with unhealthy brain ageing, including processes leading to dementia. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, may help clinicians identify patients who have […]

In a world-first, a young man suffering from severe aplastic anaemia who could not be helped by standard treatments has been given a life-saving blood transplant with the made-in-Canada UM171 molecule. The procedure was done by a medical team at the Institute of Hemato-oncology and Cellular Therapy (iHOTC) of Maisonneuve-Rosemont […]

A team of researchers in the United States and Japan reports that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) measurably decreased pain and reduced motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, both as a singular therapy and as a “salvage therapy” after deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapies were ineffective. Writing in the journal Bioelectronic Medicine, […]

A type of anti-bacterial T cells, so-called MAIT cells, are strongly activated in people with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease, according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that is published in the journal Science Immunology. The findings contribute to an increased understanding of how our immune […]

The University at Buffalo has received a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a new, portable breast-imaging system that has the potential to better identify breast cancer. Called a dual scan mammoscope (DSM), the device combines light and ultrasound technology to better screen […]

New findings suggest that late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease is driven by epigenetic changes—how and when certain genes are turned on and off—in the brain. Results were published in Nature Genetics. Research led by Raffaella Nativio, a former research associate of epigenetics, Shelley Berger, a professor of genetics, biology and cell and developmental diology and director […]

Women receiving fertility-sparing surgery for treatment of borderline ovarian tumours were able to have children, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in Fertility & Sterility shows. Natural fertility was preserved in most of them and only a small proportion required assisted reproductive treatment such as in vitro fertilization. […]

One of the biggest challenges to the development of medical treatments for cancer is the fact that there is no single kind of cancer. Cancers derive from many kinds of cells and tissues, and each has their own characteristics, behaviours, and susceptibilities to anti-cancer drugs. A treatment that works on […]

Middle-aged adults who report symptoms of insomnia and are sleeping less than six hours a night may be at increased risk of cognitive impairment, according to a study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The results may help health care professionals understand which patients who report insomnia are at […]

High-grade serious ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women in the United States, yet little is known about the origins of this disease. Now, scientists at the College of Veterinary Medicine have collaborated on a study that pinpoints which specific genes drive – or delay […]

A new study in mice helps explain why gut microbiomes of breastfed infants can differ greatly from those of formula-fed infants. The study, “Dietary Sphinganine Is Selectively Assimilated by Members of the Mammalian Gut Microbiome,” was published in the Journal of Lipid Research. The paper describes an innovative technique developed […]

A study of almost 400,000 British participants has identified a new link between raised levels of the growth factor IGF-1 and increased thyroid cancer risk and has confirmed associations with breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. This could lead to new preventative strategies, including diet and lifestyle interventions. IGF-1 (insulin-like growth […]

Differences in the shape and texture of men and women's hearts could potentially explain why their risk of heart disease differs, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London, […]

A team of scientists, led by King’s College London, have discovered an unexpected tissue reparative role for a rare immune cell type in the gut that could tip toward fibrosis or cancer if abnormal or impaired. The breakthrough, revealed in a paper published in Nature Materials, will have important implications for […]

About 1 in 5 new breast cancers are caught at their earliest stages, before they’ve spread from milk ducts into the surrounding breast tissue. But what doctors can’t currently predict with high confidence is which of these cancers — known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or stage 0 breast cancer — […]

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, occurs when the contraction of the heart muscle is able to pump blood normally and subsequently has a preserved ejection fraction, but the heart chambers are too stiff to relax and fill properly. In the United States, HFpEF numbers are on the […]

As a high school student, junior Darcey Hookway spent time volunteering on a dementia ward at a local hospital. “The social aspect of their condition really struck me,” says Hookway, who is from London. “They struggled immensely with social isolation. And now with COVID exacerbating that more than ever, I […]

More than 10 per cent of people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies that attack not the virus, but the immune system itself, new research shows. Another 3.5 per cent, at least, carry a specific kind of genetic mutation. In both groups, the upshot is basically the same: The […]