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The big question As an embryo develops from a little glob of primitive cells, it patterns itself into precise, spatially organized regions and tissues. This requires that individual cells coordinate with one another over long distances by releasing and detecting specialized signaling molecules. How can cells, communicating only in this […]

Mutations in genes that help repair damage to DNA may aid in predicting the prognosis of patients with bladder and other related cancers, according to researchers. The researchers found that bladder cancer patients who had mutations in their ATM or RB1 genes — proteins that help repair DNA damage when […]

Device could help advance regenerative medicine A UCLA bioengineer has developed a technique that uses a specially adapted 3D printer to build therapeutic biomaterials from multiple materials. The advance could be a step toward on-demand printing of complex artificial tissues for use in transplants and other surgeries. “Tissues are wonderfully […]

For years, researchers have known that a gene called EAK-7 plays an important role in determining how long worms will live. But it remained unclear whether the gene had a counterpart in humans and – if it did – how that human version would work. Now, researchers led by UCLA’s […]

A new study identifies a molecule that may be critical to the repair of white matter, the fatty tissue wrapped around parts of brain cells that helps speed up communication. Damage to white matter is associated with several conditions, including multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy, and can occur in the […]

Men who take once-daily aspirin have nearly double the risk of melanoma compared to men who are not exposed to daily aspirin, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. Women, however, do not have an increased risk in this large patient population. “Given the widespread use of aspirin and the potential […]

Personalized therapies are the future, but they do pose a challenge. If every therapy will be different, how do you test them? Obviously, doctors would have the best test subject available – the patient, but you can only do so much with him. Now a team if scientists lead by […]

A team of medical researchers have taken a step in investigating whether a type of RNA found to be linked to cancers — called microRNAs — could one day be used as a more accurate screening test for prostate cancer. The researchers said that out of the 733 microRNAs analyzed […]

A Western-style diet triggers changes in the brain that may predispose patients to Alzheimer’s disease decades before they show any sign of cognitive decline, according to new research by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. In two studies, published in BMJ Open and in Neurology, the investigators showed that diet and insulin […]

Graphene enables structural analysis of naturally occurring amyloids. A new experimental method permits the X-ray analysis of amyloids, a class of large, filamentous biomolecules which are an important hallmark of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. An international team of researchers headed by DESY scientists has used a powerful X-ray […]

Cancer drops sparse chemical hints of its presence early on, but unfortunately, many of them are in a class of biochemicals that could not be detected thoroughly, until now. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have engineered a chemical trap that exhaustively catches what are called glycoproteins, including minuscule traces that have previously […]

A major hurdle to using neural stem cells derived from genetically different donors to replace damaged or destroyed tissues, such as in a spinal cord injury, has been the persistent rejection of the introduced material (cells), necessitating the use of complex drugs and techniques to suppress the host’s immune response. […]

A team from the University of Oxford and Cardiff University have used mathematical models to re-enact the complex process of brain development that occurs as initialising cells, otherwise known as progenitor cells, start to grow and begin to differentiate into more specialist cells at various points in time. By applying […]

Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer to affect dogs. It is a painful and aggressive disease. Affecting more than 10,000 dogs annually, predominantly larger breeds, it kills more than 85 percent within two years. Nicola Mason, a researcher and veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, is working […]

How strong are your hands? What‘s your handshake – firm and strong or maybe sloppy and relaxed? These are just some curious questions, but your grip strength is actually very important in terms of diagnostics. Scientists from the University of Glasgow say that a week grip could be a sign […]

Research by University of Alberta scientists into PD-1, a cell surface receptor that naturally plays a major role in de-escalating the body’s immune system, may explain why it can go haywire and cause autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes. “PD-1 has caused a lot of excitement in recent years as […]

By studying a rare liver disease called Alagille syndrome, scientists from UC San Francisco and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have discovered the mechanism behind an unusual form of tissue regeneration that may someday reduce the need for expensive and difficult-to-obtain organ transplants. The team’s findings, published in Nature, show that […]

UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a promising new line of attack against lethal, treatment-resistant prostate cancer. Analysis of hundreds of human prostate tumors revealed that the most aggressive cancers depend on a built-in cellular stress response to put a brake on their own hot-wired physiology. Experiments in mice and […]

Biochemist Dr Jody Mason has been awarded a prestigious Pioneer Award from Cancer Research UK to work on a new way of screening molecules which could become new cancer medicines. CRUK Pioneer Awards are given to scientists with innovative, higher risk ideas that could revolutionise our understanding of cancer. Dr Mason’s work […]

Automated breast-density evaluation was just as accurate in predicting women’s risk of breast cancer, found and not found by mammography, as subjective evaluation done by radiologists, in a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco and Mayo Clinic. Both assessment methods were equally accurate in predicting both the risk […]

An easy-to-use implant sensor for at-home glaucoma monitoring developed by researchers at Caltech and tested at UC San Francisco could significantly benefit patients by providing convenient, on-demand self-monitoring and physicians by more effectively tailoring individual treatments. “Sensors based on nanostructures on a transparent butterfly wing may one day help preserve […]

Researchers at the University of Tokyo uncovered the molecular mechanism driving the activation of a human cancer-causing protein by the CagA pathogenic effector in Helicobacter pylori bacterial strains prevalent in Japan and other East Asian countries, which underlie the higher rate of gastric cancer onset in these regions compared to other parts […]

MIT biologists have discovered a function of a gene that is believed to account for up to 40 percent of all familial cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Studies of ALS patients have shown that an abnormally expanded region of DNA in a specific region of this gene can cause […]

An international team of researchers from NASA Ames Research Center, Environmental and Radiation Health Sciences Directorate at Health Canada, Oxford University, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Insilico Medicine, the Biogerontology Research Center, Boston University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Lethbridge, Ghent University, Center for Healthy Aging and many […]

Automated breast-density evaluation was just as accurate in predicting women’s risk of breast cancer, found and not found by mammography, as subjective evaluation done by radiologists, in a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco and Mayo Clinic. Both assessment methods were equally accurate in predicting both the risk […]

Researchers have known for a couple of decades that early life adversity can affect the way that particular genes function through a process called epigenetics – a bit like a dimmer switch on a light, pushing gene activity up or down. What they haven’t been able to show until now […]

Physicians and patients need more guidance to help them navigate the complex array of clinical factors and personal preferences that must be considered when deciding how best to individualize their approach to breast cancer mammography screening. What makes the choice even more complicated is that the benefits of the screening […]

Our cerebral cortex, a sheet of neurons, connections and circuits, comprises “ancient” regions such as the hippocampus and “new” areas such as the six-layered “neocortex”, found only in mammals and most prominently in humans. But when in evolution did the components of cerebral cortex arise and how did they evolve? […]

As people age, their intestinal stem cells begin to lose their ability to regenerate. These stem cells are the source for all new intestinal cells, so this decline can make it more difficult to recover from gastrointestinal infections or other conditions that affect the intestine. This age-related loss of stem […]

Among more than 230,000 cardiac patients who had sustained a heart attack or undergone one of two common heart procedures, only 16 percent participated in a formal exercise program after their hospitalization – despite the program’s demonstrated benefits to health. The finding is published in the print journal Circulation. Lead investigator Alexis Beatty, a […]