General

The inflammatory molecule interleukin-17A (IL-17A) triggers immune cells that in turn reduce IL-17A’s pro-inflammatory activity, according to a study by the National Eye Institute (NEI) researchers. In models of autoimmune diseases of the eye and brain, blocking IL-17A increased the presence of other inflammatory molecules produced by Th17 cells, immune […]

Proper embryonic development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is governed by patterns of protein activity bequeathed to the fertilized egg by its mother. While the embryo is still a single cell, the maternal cells surrounding it deposit certain proteins inside it at specific locations. This establishes protein gradients that direct the […]

Don’t use it, lose it. This old saying applies to so many areas of life, but also your mental capacity. You need to stimulate your brain in order to protect your cognitive ability from the horrors of aging. And you know what stimulates brain? Human contact – a new UCL-lead […]

Many people with autism experience sensory hypersensitivity, attention deficits, and sleep disruption. One brain region that has been implicated in these symptoms is the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), which is believed to act as a gatekeeper for sensory information flowing to the cortex. A team of researchers from MIT and […]

About 40 percent of children around the globe suffer from anemia because they do not consume enough iron. Now, studies by ETH researchers show that iron deficiency also reduces the protection provided by vaccinations. Despite the fact that global immunization programs are now reaching more people than ever, about 1.5 […]

Normal brain development occurs in part through a process called histone methylation, which controls the expression of the genetic code written in DNA. One of these histones, called H3K4me, is found extensively throughout the brains of mammals, including humans. Errors in the methylation of H3K4me can cause neurodevelopmental disorders and […]

The aberrant buildup of misfolded proteins is a hallmark of a host of disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Aggregates of these toxic proteins wreak havoc on the function of cells, tissues, and organs, and despite intensive research over many decades, there are still no effective means […]

Some of the most promising advances in cancer treatment have centered on immunotherapies that rev up a patient’s immune system to attack cancer. But immunotherapies don’t work in all patients, and researchers have been searching for ways to increase their effectiveness. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in […]

Tel Aviv University researchers have found that the short time period around tumor removal surgery (the weeks before and after surgery) is critical for the prevention of metastases development, which develops when the body is under stress. According to the researchers, patients require immunotherapeutic treatment as well as treatment to […]

A research team from Tel Aviv University's Zimin Institute for Engineering Solutions Advancing Better Lives, led by Prof. Noam Shomron and doctoral student Artem Danilevsky, has developed a method to detect cancer cells in the abdominal cavity in real-time. Following a tumor removal surgery in the abdominal cavity, the team can detect whether all cancer […]

There’s no doubt that you can lose fat by eating less or moving more—yet after decades of research, the biology underlying this equation remains mysterious. What really ignites the breakdown of stored fat molecules are nerves embedded in the fat tissue, and a new study now reveals that these fat-burning […]

Fighting cancer often means employing a suite of techniques to target the tumor and prevent it from growing and spreading to other parts of the body. It’s no small feat — the American Cancer Society predicts roughly 1.8 million new cases of cancer in the country in 2020, underscoring the […]

Scientists from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and Temple University in Philadelphia, Penn., have demonstrated that a salmonella biofilm protein can cause autoimmune responses and arthritis in animals. Salmonella was previously thought to only form biofilms in the environment, such […]

A research group led by Daniel Aili, associate professor at LiU, has developed a bioink to print tissue-mimicking material in 3D printers. The scientists have developed a method and a material that allow cells to survive and thrive. “Bioprinting is a new and exciting technology to manufacture three-dimensional tissue-mimicking cell […]

Rathke’s cleft cysts are benign, fluid-filled growths that develop in the pituitary gland, a small oval-shaped gland near the underside of the brain. Usually, these cysts don’t cause symptoms.  However, if they become large enough to compress the organ and surrounding tissues, then they can cause problems with vision and […]

Biology is rife with examples of collective behavior, from flocks of birds and colonies of bacteria to schools of fish and mobs of people. In a study with implications from oncology to ecology, researchers from Rice University and the University of Georgia have shown that data science can unlock subtle […]

Rare inherited mutations in the body’s master regulator of the DNA repair system – the TP53 gene – can leave people at a higher risk of developing multiple types of cancer over the course of their lives. Now, for the first time, a team led by researchers in the Basser Center for BRCA at […]

Seniors who can identify smells like roses, turpentine, paint-thinner and lemons, and have retained their senses of hearing, vision, and touch may have half the risk of developing dementia as their peers with marked sensory decline. In a study by UC San Francisco, researchers tracked close to 1,800 participants in […]

A new study reveals intricate details about the biology of the huntingtin protein (HTT), which is responsible for Huntington’s disease. The research focuses on axonal transport — the way in which vital materials travel along pathways called axons inside nerve cells, or neurons. Scientists found that HTT sometimes journeys along these […]

A new blood test that reliably predicts outcomes for heart failure patients could lead to new diagnostics and treatments for COVID-19 patients as well, according to newly published research from cardiologists at the University of Alberta. The researchers examined circulating angiotensin peptide levels in the blood of 110 people who were experiencing […]

Preliminary findings from Harvard Medical School researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear may pave the way for trials to test bone density medications for hearing loss. Hearing loss caused by damaged nerves, whether from sound exposure or aging, is irreversible. There are currently no medications approved by the Food and […]

In a new study of human ear tissues, hearing scientists at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear have demonstrated that age-related hearing loss, also called presbycusis, is mainly caused by damage to hair cells, the sensory cells in the inner ear that transform sound-induced vibrations into electrical signals […]

As the most common form of dementia and the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S., Alzheimer's disease is not foreign to Americans. Many of us know someone battling the disease— a disease that doctors are still continuing to understand. While the majority of previous research has been focused on treatment, researchers […]

Osteoarthritis – the most common chronic joint condition, which causes joints to become painful and stiff. It’s been known for a long time that osteoarthritis is a somewhat of an occupational condition – people from some jobs are more likely to suffer from it. Now scientists the Universities of Sydney, […]

Before the days of rote texting and email, if you wanted to communicate with a friend you might have personalized and assembled a physical letter. Similarly, the individual cells in our bodies communicate with each other by sending tailored “letters”—not with paper and pen, but in the form of proteins […]

The antidepressant fluoxetine has been suggested as a means to improve brain recovery after acute stroke. However, a large randomized study on stroke patients at 35 Swedish hospitals shows that the drug has no such effect. The study, which was led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, is published in The […]

A group of researchers from the University of Toronto has developed a credit-card-sized tool for growing cancer cells outside the human body, which they believe will enhance their understanding of breast cancer metastasis. The device, described in a paper published in Science Advances, reproduces various environments within the human body where […]

Across the globe, approximately 50 million people are living with dementia. The two most common forms are Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), which develop when neurons in specific parts of the brain stop functioning – triggering memory loss and other behavioral or personality changes. Without a cure, the […]

In addition to responding to electrical and chemical stimuli, many of the body’s neural cells can also respond to mechanical effects, such as pressure or vibration. But these responses have been more difficult for researchers to study because there has been no easily controllable method for inducing such mechanical stimulation […]

A study by MIT neuroscientists into how seemingly similar neuronal subtypes drive locomotion in the fruit fly reveals an unexpected diversity as the brain’s commands were relayed to muscle fibers. A sequence of experiments found a dramatic difference between the two nerve cells: One neuron scrambled to adjust to different […]