Related Science News

Epigenetics is the expression and control of genes. The epigenetics involved in the inner ear is a critical part of the mystery of hearing. A team led by Prof. Karen B. Avraham, Vice Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, has now created the first map of “methylation” — one […]

The National Institutes of Health announced that enrollment for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is now complete and, in early 2019, scientists will have access to baseline data from all ABCD Study participants. There are 11,874 youth, ages 9-10, participating in the study, including 2,100 young people who […]

For the first time, bioengineered spinal discs were successfully implanted and provided long-term function in the largest animal model ever evaluated for tissue-engineered disc replacement. A new Penn Medicine study published in Science Translational Medicine provides compelling translational evidence that the cells of patients suffering from neck and back pain could be used to […]

A drug originally developed for prostate cancer may have exciting potential for treating Parkinson’s. The study, funded by Parkinson’s UK, suggests that the drug, tasquinimod, which is not yet on the market, works by controlling genes that may cause Parkinson’s. This happens when the drug interacts with a protein inside […]

Women who experience pregnancy loss and do not go on to have children are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, such as heart disease and stroke, compared with women who have only one or two children, according to new research from the University of Cambridge and the University of North […]

In two papers published in the journal Cell, researchers from multiple Princeton departments report on the conditions that lead to the formation of membraneless organelles and the impact that the formation has on cellular DNA. Clifford Brangwynne, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and leader of the research teams, said the […]

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes pose a serious risk for breast and ovarian cancer because they endanger the genomic stability of a cell by interfering with homologous recombination repair (HR), a key mechanism for accurately repairing harmful double-stranded breaks in DNA. Without the ability to use HR to […]

A class of cancer drugs called protein kinase inhibitors is one of the most effective treatments for melanoma. However, in many cases, tumors eventually become resistant to the drugs and cause a relapse in the patient. A new study from MIT suggests that combining kinase inhibitors with experimental drugs known […]

A randomized clinical trial involving 97 medical centers in 20 countries, including Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, found that treating patients who have chemotherapy-resistant head and neck cancer with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab is more effective and less toxic than standard chemotherapy, reports an international team of […]

Jellyfish undergo an amazing metamorphosis, from tiny polyps growing on the seafloor to swimming medusae with stinging tentacles. This shape-shifting has served them well, shepherding jellyfish through more than 500 million years of mass extinctions on Earth. “Whatever they’re doing has really worked for them,” said David Gold, an assistant professor […]

A study of the dual pathways that process the essential vitamin folate by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators unexpectedly revealed a new way the cancer drug methotrexate works and may suggest strategies to boost its cancer-killing effects. For the study, published in Cell, the investigators used genome editing and biochemical experiments […]

As if a cancer diagnosis isn’t bad enough, women with one of the most common forms of ovarian cancer face a hard reality. By the time they get the news, the cancer has likely already spread, and the drugs doctors use to fight back will likely stop working within just […]

Immune cells known as microglia have been found to protect the brain from injury and infection and are critical during brain development, helping circuits wire properly. They also seem to play a role in disease—showing up, for example, around brain plaques in people with Alzheimer’s. In an ambitious study, perhaps […]

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Or just stick with recycle. A plant relies on cellular machinery to recycle materials during times of stress, but that same machinery has a remarkable influence on the plant’s metabolism even under healthy growing conditions, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis. Autophagy is […]

Heart disease kills millions every year. It is one of the leading causes of death, because of how crucial heart is for our survival. However, situation is completely different for some animals. A tiny Mexican tetra fish is able to repair its own heart. Scientists from UCL and the University […]

Proteins are the workhorses of our cells, carrying out essential tasks to keep our cells – and our bodies ­– functioning properly. But proteins can only do their jobs if they fold into the right shape. When a protein mis-folds, the cell can try to salvage the situation by re-folding […]

Death is something we will all have to go through. It is something inevitable and something we should all be aware of. However, for some of us it is going to come sooner. A new UCL-led study has identified the key signs and symptoms that allow palliative care doctors to […]

You know that smoking is not good for you, but do you know exactly how? Most smokers do not really care to hear about the damaging effects of smoking, although they definitely should remember them. It is not just about an increased risk of lung cancer, yellow teeth, bad smell, […]

Baby kicking in mother‘s belly is somewhat of milestone in his development. Everyone puts their hands on the growing belly trying to feel it move. But scientists from UCL say that there may be more to kicking than previously believed – it may actually serve a very important function. Scientists […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first ever inhibitor drug specifically approved for treating patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a mutation in the Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) gene. Patients with these mutations who have relapsed or refractory AML have very […]

A new, low-cost wound dressing developed by University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers could dramatically speed up healing in a surprising way. The method leverages energy generated from a patient’s own body motions to apply gentle electrical pulses at the site of an injury. In rodent tests, the dressings reduced healing times […]

Su-Chun Zhang, a Waisman Center researcher and UW School of Medicine and Public Health professor of neurology and neuroscience, was the first in the world to craft human brain cells from human embryonic stem (ES) cells, and later from the related induced pluripotent (iPS) cells. In light of the 20th […]

In this project, Microsoft is helping Princeton to better understand the mechanisms of biofilm formation by providing advanced technology that will greatly extend the type of research analysis capable today. Biofilms — surface-associated communities of bacteria — are the leading cause of microbial infection worldwide and kill as many people […]

More than 50% of women and 20% of men over the age of 50 will experience a bone fracture during their lifetime. One way to prevent these fractures—particularly in the most sensitive parts of the skeleton—is delivery of stem cells by means of an injectable carrier, which safeguards the cells […]

It can be frightening to watch a person experiencing an epileptic seizure. But some seizures can’t be seen, and these play a role in a different form of devastation—Alzheimer’s disease (AD)—according to work led by University of Minnesota researcher Keith Vossel. With colleagues at the University of California San Francisco […]

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), also known as an enlarged heart, is associated with a nearly two times higher risk of dementia according to a recent University of Minnesota School of Public Health study published in the American Heart Journal. LVH is a condition in which the muscle wall of the heart's left pumping […]

Does  where you live affect your health? Research has shown that neighborhoods with high socioeconomic deprivation also have higher mortality rates. But, those studies were a snapshot in time and did not consider how changes in socioeconomic deprivation—either positive or negative—corresponded to changes in health. Most research also didn’t track subjects over […]

Researchers say that new ‘mini-placentas’ – a cellular model of the early stages of the placenta – could provide a window into early pregnancy and help transform our understanding of reproductive disorders. Details of this new research were published in the journal Nature. Many pregnancies fail because the embryo does […]

Osteoarthritis, a disease that causes severe joint pain, affects more than 20 million people in the United States. Some drug treatments can help alleviate the pain, but there are no treatments that can reverse or slow the cartilage breakdown associated with the disease. In an advance that could improve the […]

As we age, neurons in our brains can become damaged by free radicals. MIT biologists have now discovered that this type of damage, known as oxidative stress, produces an unusual pileup of short snippets of RNA in some neurons. This RNA buildup, which the researchers believe may be a marker […]