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As embryos develop, they follow predetermined patterns of tissue folding, so that individuals of the same species end up with nearly identically shaped organs and very similar body shapes. MIT scientists have now discovered a key feature of embryonic tissue that helps explain how this process is carried out so […]

Just by slowing their metabolism, mutant fruit flies can go from zero to hero. In a new Northwestern University study, researchers slowed mutant fruit flies’ metabolic rates by 50%, and the expected detrimental effects of many mutations never manifested. After experimentally testing fruit flies’ many different genetic mutations, the researchers […]

Old-school Hollywood editors cut out unwanted frames of film and patched in desired frames to make a movie. The human body does something similar—trillions of times per second—through a biochemical editing process called RNA splicing. Rather than cutting film, it edits the messenger RNA that is the blueprint for producing […]

Multiple sclerosis is a  demyelinating disease, characterized by the damage of the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain. There is no known cure for multiple sclerosis and long-term outcome is difficult to predict. MS is the most common immune-mediated disorder affecting the central nervous system with 2-2.5 million […]

The mere presence of parasites can have a negative effect on hosts, according to new research by University of Alberta parasitologists. The study, led by U of A associate professor Lien Luong, examined the effects on fruit flies living among parasitic mites. It found that flies exposed to, but not infected […]

With its elegant double helix and voluminous genetic script, DNA has become the of darling of nucleic acids. Yet, it is not all powerful. In order for DNA to realize its potential—for genes to become proteins—it must first be transcribed into RNA, a delicate molecule that requires intense care and […]

The chemical interactions that give proteins their shape may be weaker and more numerous than previously recognized. These weak connections provide a new way for researchers to understand proteins that cause disease and help them gain insights into the fundamentals of chemistry. Chemists at the University of Tokyo modeled the […]

Cells dispose of harmful “trash” through autophagy, a normal and necessary process in which aggregated proteins and dysfunctional structures are handled. If any part of this fails, waste builds up inside cells, eventually killing them. According to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, as […]

Medicine has a “Goldilocks” problem. Many therapies are safe and effective only when administered at just the right time and in very precise doses – when given too early or too late, in too large or too small an amount, medicines can be ineffective or even harmful. But in many […]

Scientists have created the first completely artificial protein switch that can work inside living cells to modify—or even commandeer—the cell’s complex internal circuitry. The switch is dubbed LOCKR, short for Latching, Orthogonal Cage/Key pRotein. Companion papers published in the journal Nature describe LOCKR’s design and demonstrate several practical applications of the […]

When it comes to heart disease, the health of the scaffold where cardiac cells grow may be a much bigger factor than previously believed. Stuart Campbell, associate professor of biomedical engineering & cellular and molecular physiology, led a team of researchers examined the effects of a diseased extracellular matrix (ECM) […]

Trinity College Dublin researchers have found that one in 347 men and one in 436 women can be expected to develop motor neurone disease during their lifetime. Motor neurone disease (MND) is a devastating condition which causes progressive paralysis, increasing physical disability and ultimately death within an average of two […]

The anemonefish is a gender-bending marvel. It starts out as a male, but can switch to female when circumstances allow, for example, when the only female present dies or disappears. In a new study, researchers found that the male-to-female sex-change occurs first in the fish’s brain and only later involves […]

Among the confounding challenges of diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the fact that patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic versions of the degenerative condition may share similar neuropathological burdens but experience significantly different rates of cognitive decline. In a new study, published in Cell Reports, a team led by […]

It's long been known that people who suffer a major concussion can lose their sense of smell temporarily and also develop affective problems, such as anxiety and depression. Now scientists have found that's true even for people who get a minor concussion. Falling off a bike with a helmet on, […]

The newest cancer treatment on the market owes something to one of the earliest advocates for modern science. In his work Novum Organum, which is widely credited with introducing the scientific method, Francis Bacon wrote of the need for creative thinking to achieve anything new, saying that it would be a […]

For the average person, getting a cut or scrape on the foot may not be cause for immediate concern. However, for people with type 2 diabetes, these wounds can be life-threatening. According to a 2016 study, one-third of the cost of type 2 diabetes treatment is related to non-healing diabetic foot wounds […]

Getting up close – and a little dirty – with farm animals just might help us fend off illness, say researchers who’ve further demonstrated the benefits of early exposure to a wide variety of environmental bacteria. Scientists from The Ohio State University found that bacteria and other microbes from rural […]

Researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Prof. Carmit Levy and Dr. Tamar Golan of the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at TAU's Sackler School of Medicine, have discovered that fat cells are involved in the transformation that melanoma cells undergo from cancer cells of limited growth in the epidermis to lethal metastatic cells attacking patients' […]

During the emergency procedure used to reopen the blocked artery causing a heart attack, smaller “micro” blood vessels can remain constricted causing significant damage. A new study led by Associate Professor Neil Herring and published in the European Heart Journal has established a key cause behind this constriction and identified […]

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say the loss of a single gene two to three million years ago in our ancestors may have resulted in a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease in all humans as a species, while also setting up a further risk for […]

Studies: widespread aspirin use has few benefits, high risk. Medical consensus once supported daily use of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke in people at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. But in 2018, three major clinical trials cast doubt on that conventional wisdom, finding few benefits and consistent […]

Families living with extremely rare neurodegenerative diseases finally received an answer to the cause of their illnesses, thanks to a researcher’s hunch and decades of improvements in DNA sequencing technology. Four different rare diseases are all caused by the same short segment of DNA repeated too many times, a mutation […]

A study of newborn infants has identified a compound produced by gut bacteria that appears to predispose certain infants to allergies and asthma later in life. “We have discovered a specific bacterial lipid in the neonatal gut that promotes immune dysfunction associated with allergic asthma and can be used to […]

Fifty years ago this month, the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon, and the first human being took “one small step” onto its surface. Now, the buzz is around getting humans to Mars, and, according to a new report on research in rats published in Frontiers in Physiology, the first […]

A new University at Buffalo-led study supported by NSF describes how researchers wirelessly controlled FGFR1 — a gene that plays a key role in how animals grow from embryos to adults — in lab-grown brain tissue. The ability to manipulate the gene, the study's authors say, could one day lead to […]

The enzyme ribonucleotide reductase is a bottleneck for cancer cell growth. Scientists at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have identified a way of targeting ribonucleotide reductase that may avoid the toxicity of previous approaches, informing focused drug discovery efforts. The results were published in Nature Communications. Ribonucleotide reductase controls […]

A gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease may impact cognitive health much sooner than previously realized. The APOE gene creates a protein, apolipoprotein E, which packages cholesterol and other fats to transport them through the bloodstream. There are three versions, or alleles, of APOE. One of those is the APOE4 allele, […]

Every cell in your body has a copy of your genome, tightly coiled and packed into its nucleus. Since every copy is effectively identical, the difference between cell types and their biological functions comes down to which, how and when the individual genes in the genome are expressed, or translated […]

Frustrated that her sweater got lost in the community laundry, 92-year-old Gigi took advantage of an embroidery machine to label two others. Jewelry lover Betty had been reluctant to wear her fine necklaces, fearful they would get tangled in the tubes of her oxygen mask, so the 96-year-old found a […]