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Researchers at King’s College London have discovered a vicious feedback loop underlying brain degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease which may explain why so many drug trials have failed. The study also identifies a clinically approved drug which breaks the vicious cycle and protects against memory-loss in animal models of Alzheimer’s. Overproduction […]

When Jamie Thomson, director of regenerative biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research, addressed a room of admirers that included John and Tashia Morgridge and former Gov. Tommy Thompson in April at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, he made a point of emphasizing the important role that nonhuman primates played […]

Using tiny plastic beads, University of Oregon biologists have captured new detail on how early embryonic cells in worms and mice orient themselves to establish their proper spatial arrangements and divide properly. Getting into position is vital for these cells in any lifeform as they build what will become an […]

A new scientific analysis of nearly 4,000 mutations deliberately engineered into the BRCA1 gene will immediately benefit people undergoing genetic testing for breast or ovarian cancer risk. The study was published today in the Sept. 12 edition of the scientific journal, Nature.  Additional data from the research has been made […]

DNA is a lengthy molecule — approximately 1,000-fold longer than the cell in which it resides — so it can’t be jammed in haphazardly. Rather, it must be neatly organized so proteins involved in critical processes can access the information contained in its nucleotide bases. Think of the double helix like […]

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are everywhere in our bodies. They are embedded in our cell membranes, where they act as signal transducers, allowing cells to respond to their external environments. GPCRs play a crucial role in most biological functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, vision, smell, taste and allergic responses. GPCR […]

Regarding overall health, there is probably no symptom more readily linked to prevailing conditions and illnesses than stress. The question we should be asking, however, is whether or not naming stress as a cause is accurate. There is no doubt that stress can be a contributor to all kinds of […]

A research collaboration involving the University of Liverpool proposes a set of measurements that can be used as a toolkit to assess bone, joint and muscle health that could provide a benchmark for how well older people are able to keep moving. The composition of the body changes as we […]

A DNA-based analysis of blood cells soon after a stem cell transplant can predict likelihood of disease recurrence in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a group of cancerous disorders characterized by dysfunctional blood cells, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Such a practice […]

The results from a seven-year study of the benefits and risks of a low daily dose of aspirin to the lives of people over 70 are published in three papers in New England Journal of Medicine. The study, led by a team from Monash University, involved the University of Adelaide’s […]

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have answered questions about the incidence and timing of rare but sometimes fatal reactions to the most widely prescribed class of immunotherapies. Their research, which appeared in JAMA Oncology, is the largest evaluation of fatal immune checkpoint inhibitor toxicities published to date. They determined that although these severe […]

When sound reaches the inner ear, it is converted into electrical signals that are relayed to the brain via the ear’s nerve cells in cochlea. Previously, most of these cells were considered to be of two types: type 1 and type 2 neurons, type 1 transmitting most of the auditory […]