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Research scientists around the world are now able to investigate the structural, cellular and developmental intricacies of the human brain using bioengineered stem cell-based models called organoids. But the ethics to help guide researchers and regulators lag behind the technological capability to “grow” brains in a petri dish. That is […]

Exercise can protect both muscle and nerves from damage caused by the restoration of blood flow after injury or surgery, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine shows. UVA’s Zhen Yan, an expert on the cellular benefits of exercise, and his team are working to better understand how the […]

With a little help from HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” University of California, Irvine neurobiologists have uncovered a key component of how the human brain marks time. Using high-powered functional MRI on college students watching the popular TV show, they were able to capture the processes by which the brain stores […]

A new study by researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT finds that the protein CPG2 is significantly less abundant in the brains of people with bipolar disorder (BD) and shows how specific mutations in the SYNE1 gene that encodes the protein undermine its expression and […]

Researchers have developed a new way to image the brain with unprecedented resolution and speed. Using this approach, they can locate individual neurons, trace connections between them, and visualize organelles inside neurons, over large volumes of brain tissue. The new technology combines a method for expanding brain tissue, making it […]

3D printed implants could one day help restore neural connections and lost motor function in patients with spinal cord injury. The implants, developed by engineers and neuroscientists at the University of California San Diego, are soft bridges that guide new nerve cells to grow across the site at which the […]

Scientists at UNSW Sydney have made a breakthrough discovery about cholesterol transportation in cells that opens the way for new drugs to increase the body’s ‘good cholesterol’ levels. And the knowledge could also be used to develop a new strategy to fight cancer. Until now, drugs including statins – the […]

Genetic testing for breast cancer has become more complex. Newer tests now evaluate a panel of multiple genes, compared to older tests looking only at BRCA genes. The new complexity often brings more uncertainty about the results. But, a new study finds that these more extensive tests are not causing […]

new anti-inflammatory compound developed at the University of California, Davis, acts as a “surge protector” to suppress inflammation and reduce cancer growth, at least in mouse models of cancer. The work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “We are excited about this research and its potential,” […]

When it comes to disease and health, which is more powerful—ZIP code or genetic code? The degree to which nature and nurture affect disease and health remains one of the eternal—and still unanswerable—questions in medicine. Now a team of investigators from Harvard Medical School and the University of Queensland in Australia […]

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal condition that leaves lung tissue permanently scarred and leads to the decline and eventual failure of the respiratory system. For those diagnosed with the disease, treatment options are limited and the prognosis is poor. But a new study published in the journal Nature Immunology breathes […]

In laboratory experiments, UC San Francisco researchers successfully beat back the growth of aggressive liver cancers using a surprising new approach. Traditionally, targeted cancer therapies aim to disable proteins borne of cancer-driving genes. Instead, the UCSF scientists prevented these proteins, including those that shield tumors from the immune system, from […]