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The disappearance of an entire brain region should be cause for concern. Yet, for decades scientists have calmly maintained that one brain area, the subplate, simply vanishes during the course of human development. Recently, however, research has revealed genetic similarities between cells in the subplate and neurons implicated in autism—leading a […]

A so-called “jumping gene” that researchers long considered either genetic junk or a pernicious parasite is actually a critical regulator of the first stages of embryonic development, according to a new study in mice led by UC San Francisco scientists and published in Cell. Only about 1 percent of the human […]

Each year, 300,000 infants worldwide are born with a genetic disease that warps the shape of their red blood cells, which break apart and fail to deliver life-giving oxygen, or pile up in tiny blood vessels and result in episodes of severe pain, swelling of hands and feet, organ damage, […]

A new study by the Yale School of Public Health and partner institutions is the first to examine the potential cancer prevention benefits of prolonged periods of HIV viral suppression, resulting from antiretroviral therapy, for persons living with HIV. The researchers compared cancer rates for 42,441 HIV-positive veterans with those […]

Maurizio Pellecchia, who holds the Daniel Hays Chair in Cancer Research at the University of California, Riverside, has received two grants to continue his research aimed at finding therapeutics for cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other neurodegenerative diseases. The first grant from the U.S.-Egypt Science and Technology Joint Fund […]

As the result of a six-year long research process, Fredrick R. Schumacher, a cancer epidemiology researcher at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and an international team of more than 100 colleagues have identified 63 new genetic variations that could indicate higher risk of prostate cancer in men of […]

Our ability to learn, remember, problem solve, and speak are all cognitive functions related to different parts of our brain. If researchers can identify how those brain parts communicate and exchange information with each other, clinicians and surgeons can better understand how diseases like Alzheimer’s and brain cancer affect those […]

The cell has its own paramedic team and emergency room to aid and repair damaged DNA, a new USC study reveals. The findings are timely, as scientists are delving into the potential of genome editing with the DNA-cutting enzyme CRISPR-Cas9 to treat diseases or to advance scientific knowledge about humans, […]

Working with hundreds of time-lapse videos of mouse tissue, a team of biologists joined up with civil engineers to create what is believed to be the first 3D computer model to show precisely how the tiny tubes that funnel milk through the breasts of mammals form. A report on the model was […]

Exercise is a proven factor in decreasing the risk of a heart attack, but convincing at-risk patients with heart disease to commit to regular exercise programs is a challenge. Researchers at Penn Medicine have published the results of a clinical trial in the Journal of the American Heart Association, which show that offering payment up front, and […]

In many ways, the process to heal a wound parallels the steps involved in repairing, for example, a pothole. Both require specific supplies: cells and platelets, or asphalt and sand. And both processes necessitate a way transport those supplies, like a safe and accessible roadway. For the body, that means a network of […]

Breakthrough in description of metals in brain which may drive the progression of Alzheimer's disease, made by international research collaboration, including University of Warwick. Alzheimer's disease could be better treated, thanks to a breakthrough discovery of the properties of the metals in the brain involved in the progression of the […]

Patients with pancreatic cancer usually experience significant weight loss, which can begin very early in the disease. A new study from MIT and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute offers insight into how this happens, and suggests that the weight loss may not necessarily affect patients’ survival. In a study of mice, the […]

Symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, including psychosis, depression and manic behavior, have both shared and distinguishing genetic factors, an international consortium led by researchers from Vanderbilt University and Virginia Commonwealth University is reporting. The consortium’s findings, which were published online in the journal Cell, are raising hopes that genetics could […]

Most protein info ever captured from a single cell thanks to new 'nanoPOTS' technology Scientists have obtained a slew of key information about proteins, the molecular workhorses of all cells, from single human cells for the first time.The stockpile of information about proteins — the most such data ever collected […]

Correlative light-electron microscopy is being used to increase our knowledge of how platelets are made in the body and the results are challenging previously held understandings. Platelets are uniquely mammalian cells, and are the small cells of the blood that are critical for us to stop bleeding when we cut […]

The Big Question At some point in a stem cell's life, it must make an irreversible transition to develop into a particular cell type. When this happens, its nucleus begins to bustle with activity: Proteins called transcription factors latch onto the cell's DNA at specific locations (called binding sites) to […]

Known as DNA charge transport, this biochemical process was first discovered in the early 1990s by Caltech's Jacqueline Barton, the John G. Kirkwood and Arthur A. Noyes Professor of Chemistry, through chemistry experiments using synthetic DNA. Her research group then found evidence that this charge transport chemistry might be utilized by […]

Early detection has been shown to increase breast cancer survival rates, but many women avoid having their mammograms taken as often as they should because of the discomfort involved. A 2013 study found that as many as half of women who were avoiding their mammograms cited pain as the reason […]

The development of an aggressive, early-onset form of colon cancer may come down to a single missing iron atom in a key DNA repair protein, according to findings from a research collaboration between the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute, the California Institute of Technology and the University of Southern […]

A team of researchers says it has linked sensitivity to an allergen in red meat to the buildup of plaque in the arteries of the heart. While high saturated fat levels in red meat have long been known to contribute to heart disease for people in general, the new finding […]

Although inflammation can arise from infection or injury, chronic inflammation can occur in older age due to ageing processes in the immune system. Higher levels of inflammation in older age has been linked to lower bone density, according to a new study carried out at the University of Southampton. Scientists […]

Scientists have just made an important discovery as to how cancer-targeting ‘Natural Killer’ (NK) cells are fuelled in the body, which has significant implications for related therapies. They found that glutamine – vital for making the energy that fuels tumour cell growth – is not an important fuel for making […]

More research needs to be done to understand whether CRISPR-Cas9 – molecular ‘scissors’ that make gene editing a possibility – may inadvertently increase cancer risk in cells, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Karolinska Institutet. The team, led by Professor Jussi Taipale, now at the Department […]

Bioengineers may be able to use the unique mechanical properties of diseased cells, such as metastatic cancer cells, to help improve delivery of drug treatments to the targeted cells, according to a team of researchers at Penn State. Many labs around the world are developing nanoparticle-based, drug delivery systems to […]

A biomimetic nanosystem can deliver therapeutic proteins to selectively target cancerous tumors, according to a team of Penn State researchers. Using a protein toxin called gelonin from a plant found in the Himalayan mountains, the researchers caged the proteins in self-assembled metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles to protect them from the […]

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine suggest higher levels of vitamin D are associated with decreasing risk of breast cancer. Their epidemiological study is published in the journal PLOS ONE, in collaboration with Creighton University, Medical University of South Carolina and GrassrootsHealth, an Encinitas-based nonprofit organization that […]

Researchers at King’s College London and the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have shown that rats with spinal cord injuries can re-learn skilled hand movements after being treated with a gene therapy. People with spinal cord injury often lose the ability to perform everyday actions that require coordinated hand movements, such as […]

Cornell researchers have discovered there is a division of labor among immune cells that fight invading pathogens in the body. The study, published in the journal Cell, finds for the first time that fetal immune cells are present in adults and have specialized roles during infection. In fact, the first immune […]

Rats with spinal cord injuries regained the use of their limbs after receiving a new gene therapy which helps mend damaged nerves in the spine. The new therapy works by inducing cells to produce an enzyme called chondroitinase which breaks down the thick scar tissue surrounding the site of injury, […]