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A prescription drug to treat high blood pressure has shown promise against conditions such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and forms of dementia in studies carried out in mice and zebrafish at the University of Cambridge. A common feature of these diseases – collectively known as neurodegenerative diseases – is the build-up […]

Children of mothers who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy could be at increased risk of type 1 diabetes themselves, according to a new study led by a team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) that was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Early detection of […]

Two proteins that bind to stress hormones work together to maintain a healthy heart in mice, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators. These proteins, stress hormone receptors known as the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), act in concert to help support heart […]

In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have “printed” the world's first 3D vascularised engineered heart using a patient's own cells and biological materials. Their findings were published in a study in Advanced Science. Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine — a field positioned at the crossroads of biology and technology […]

UC San Francisco scientists have designed a large-scale screen that efficiently identifies drugs that are potent cancer-killers when combined, but only weakly effective when used alone. Using this technique, the researchers eradicated a devastating blood cancer and certain solid tumor cells by jointly administering drugs that are only partially effective […]

“A large majority of human cancers are carcinomas derived from epithelial cells,” said Kang, a professor of molecular biology and the corresponding author of the paper. Carcinomas grow from a single mutated cell into a tumor, a solid mass of cancerous cells. As long as it remains contained at its […]

A new study looking at the mental health of so-called Gen X-ers (i.e., people born between 1974-1983), published in the American Journal of Public Health, shows a marked increase in the tell-tale signs of despair, often characterised by depression, thoughts of suicide, drug use, and excessive drinking. Back in 2016, […]

A large number of genes have to be switched on or off at different times during development. A particular challenge occurs when two copies of the same gene must acquire opposing states of activation within the same cell, as it is the case, for example, for the two X chromosomes in […]

Many diseases are caused by genetic defects. However, their severity can vary among individual patients, so that even mild forms can occur. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now decrypted a molecular mechanism responsible for this phenomenon. Accordingly, the mRNA of […]

Before being tested in animals or humans, most cancer drugs are evaluated in tumor cells grown in a lab dish. However, in recent years, there has been a growing realization that the environment in which these cells are grown does not accurately mimic the natural environment of a tumor, and […]

More than a decade ago, UCI biology professor Arthur Lander, broadened the focus of his research. Instead of studying a particular biological molecule or specific cell type, he reasoned that biomedical researchers would learn more, at a faster pace, if they explored biological systems — how networks of molecules, cells, tissues, […]

Alzheimer’s is a disease of aggregation. Neurons in the human brain make a protein called amyloid beta. Such proteins on their own, called monomers of amyloid beta, perform important tasks for neurons. But in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid beta monomers have abandoned their jobs and joined together. First, […]