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Almost half of our DNA sequences are made up of jumping genes—also known as transposons. They jump around the genome in developing sperm and egg cells and are important to evolution. But their mobilization can also cause new mutations that lead to diseases, such as hemophilia and cancer. Remarkably little […]

A team of researchers, including UConn assistant professor of pharmaceutics Raman Bahal, has, for the first time, corrected a genetic mutation in a mammalian fetus using a targeted gene editing technique. The approach offers a potential new pathway for treating inherited genetic disorders during the earliest stages of development. Every year, […]

A new USC School of Pharmacy study led by University ProfessorJean Chen Shih offers new evidence that the monoamine oxidase-A enzyme (MAO-A) pathway could be an important target in treating prostate cancer. Pioneering work previously conducted by Shih revealed the role the MAO-A gene plays in depression and other mental illnesses, as […]

Biology researchers from the University of Southampton have brought us a step closer to fully understanding how we inherit our chromosomes from our parents and grandparents. In a study, published in the journal Nature Communications, Professor Keith Jones and colleagues from the School of Biological Sciences have observed, for the very first time, a power […]

Inflammation is part of the body’s natural healing process. But when it becomes chronic, inflammation can lead to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. Inflammasomes — protein-based molecular machines — trigger inflammation in response to different signals generated by cell stress, tissue injury or infectious organisms. In a study published […]

A team of researchers at the University of Cambridge has identified a protein complex that might explain why some cancer patients treated with the revolutionary new anti-cancer drugs known as PARP inhibitors develop resistance to their medication. In a study published in Nature Cell Biology, the team from the Wellcome/Cancer Research […]

The therapeutic potential of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are capable of becoming almost any type of cell in the human body, is well-recognized and broadly pursued, but their mutational burden has not been fully characterized yet. IPSCs are reprogrammed from somatic tissues, including skin cells that may […]

Turmeric is a very well-known spice, used to add colour and flavour to various foods. It is very popular in Indian cuisine, but it is slowly making its way into western restaurants and coffee places. In fact, turmeric latte is gaining traction as well. But scientists from UCL think that […]

Purdue University researchers have developed a technique they hope will provide valuable information about the growth of certain cancers and the ability of drugs to fight them. The team created a new way to grow tumors that focuses on cancers of the breast, prostate and pancreas, some of the most […]

Most people with spinal cord injury are paralyzed from the injury site down, even when the cord isn’t completely severed. Why don’t the spared portions of the spinal cord keep working, allowing at least some movement? A study published online in Cell provides insight into why these nerve pathways remain quiet. Most […]

There is no shortage of wonders that our central nervous system produces—from thought and language to movement to the five senses. All of those dazzling traits, however, depend on an underappreciated deep brain mechanism that Donald Pfaff, head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, calls generalized arousal, or […]

The creation of artificial embryos has moved a step forward after an international team of researchers used mouse stem cells to produce artificial embryo-like structures capable of ‘gastrulation’, a key step in the life of any embryo. The team, led by Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz at the University of Cambridge, previously […]

We know instinctively that our experiences shape the way we learn. If we are highly familiar with a particular task, like cooking for example, learning a new recipe is much easier than it was when we were a novice. New research from the University of California, Davis, shows that experience […]

Two current drugs used to treat psychosis and depression showed anti-cancer activity in mice by blocking the movement of cholesterol within drug-resistant cancer cells, according to Penn State Cancer Institute researchers. Certain types of cancers need high levels of cholesterol to survive. In this study, 42 drugs, anti-psychotics or anti-depressants, were compared […]

A global review involving almost 20 million people has shown that having diabetes significantly raises the risk of developing cancer, and for women the risk is even higher. Researchers from The George Institute for Global Health also found diabetes conferred an additional risk for women, compared to men, for leukaemia […]

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have identified a new compound that protects against neurodegeneration in nematode worms. The discovery may enable novel treatments for human neurodegenerative diseases to be developed in the future. With the predicted growth of the global ageing population, cases of age-associated neurodegenerative diseases such as […]

A comprehensive genetic analysis of metastatic prostate cancer has, for the first time, revealed a number of major ways in which abnormal alterations of the genome propel this aggressive form of the disease. As reported in the issue of Cell, a team led by investigators at UC San Francisco has discovered […]

Researchers in the University of Minnesota Medical School have developed a process to regenerate skeletal muscle cells in animal models with muscular dystrophy. The unlikely source of those cells is a type of benign tumor called a teratoma that produces cells of all types, including glands and hair follicles. Michael Kyba, Ph.D., […]

Over 1.7 million new cancer cases and more than 600,000 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States in 2018. Could that number be reduced if microbes were used to treat cancer? Katherine Broadway, a Virginia Tech graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences is researching a […]

Royal jelly, or milky-white “bee milk,” has long been known for its mysterious growth effects on future queen honey bees, while also hailed by some as an anti-aging, cholesterol-lowering super supplement. But how this “queen magic” actually happens, and its potential benefit to humans, has remained a mystery to scientists. […]

Normal scar tissue forms to heal an internal wound and quietly retreats when the job is done. But in many common diseases — kidney, liver and lung fibrosis — the scar tissue goes rogue and strangles vital organs. These diseases are largely untreatable and ultimately fatal. A new Northwestern Medicine […]

A team of Sydney scientists has made a ground-breaking discovery in telomere biology, with implications for conditions ranging from cancer to ageing and heart disease. The research project was led by Dr Tony Cesare, Head of the Genome Integrity Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) at Westmead, in collaboration […]

In cancer cells, genetic errors wreak havoc. Misspelled genes, as well as structural variations—larger-scale rearrangements of DNA that can encompass large chunks of chromosomes—disturb carefully balanced mechanisms that have evolved to regulate cell growth. Genes that are normally silent are massively activated and mutant proteins are formed. These and other […]

Drinking artificially sweetened beverages is associated with a significantly lower risk of colon cancer recurrence and cancer death, a team of investigators led by a Yale Cancer Centerscientist has found. The study was published in PLOS ONE. “Artificially sweetened drinks have a checkered reputation in the public because of purported health risks […]

People who received complementary therapy for curable cancers were more likely to refuse at least one component of their conventional cancer treatment, and were more likely to die as a result, according to researchers from Yale Cancer Center and the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center (COPPER) at Yale School of Medicine. The […]

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. Scientists are estimating that by 2020 there will be about 200 million people worldwide with the condition. Its numbers are increasing due to the population ageing, but scientists at the University of Birmingham are one step closer […]

There is a highly sophisticated way to treat some breast and ovarian cancers—a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors, designed to exploit the very defects that make tumors with certain mutations especially deadly. Yet this targeted approach to cancer therapy sometimes fails, and scientists have anxiously sought to understand why. […]

UC San Francisco researchers were recently surprised to discover fully formed gut and skin cells in the thymus, a lemon-sized organ that sits in front of the heart and is responsible for training the T cells of the immune system not to attack the body’s own tissues. The finding, based on […]

Omega 3 supplements have little or no effect on the risk of heart disease, stroke or death – according to new research from the University of East Anglia. Increased consumption of omega 3 fats is widely promoted globally because of a common belief that that it will protect against heart […]

Society is becoming older and more vulnerable to chronic diseases that result in a poor quality of life. Life stress, which before being a scientific notion is instinctively clear to most due to its universality, is an important risk factor promoting the vulnerability to disease. So far, there is limited […]