General

Sometimes, unexpected research results are simply due to experimental error. Other times, it’s the opposite — the scientists have uncovered a new phenomenon that reveals an even more accurate portrayal of our bodies and our universe, overturning well-established assumptions. Indeed, many great biological discoveries are made when results defy expectation. […]

Patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) often suffer from type 2 diabetes. This phenomenon has since long remained mechanistically enigmatic. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a molecular mechanism linking these two diseases. The study is published in the scientific journal PNAS. The researchers found that immunoglobulin […]

The National Institutes of Health awarded a $2.9 million grant to Tulane University neuroscientist Dr. Stacy Drury to lead a research network that will set methodological standards for studying a part of the chromosome that scientists increasingly recognize as an important biological marker of aging and age-related diseases. Drury will launch the Telomere Research Network […]

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University has been granted formal approval from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to realign the four research programs funded by its NCI Cancer Center Support Grant. The benefit to patients will be significant because these research programs go to the core of how scientific discovery […]

If your DNA is a cookbook, a single gene is a recipe. But it’s a flexible recipe that if edited one way can make a pie; edited another way can make a cake. And a cake made the wrong way can mean cancer, as a team of researchers who looked […]

Women who have C-sections are no more likely to have children who develop obesity than women who give birth naturally, according to a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal PLOS Medicine. The findings contradict several smaller studies that did find an association between […]

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects over 70 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. An estimated three to four million Americans have chronic HCV infection, with many of them being baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965. However, the second wave of HCV […]

Reprogramming enables regeneration of inner-ear cells A team led by Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers may bring scientists a step closer to developing treatments that regrow the missing cells that cause hearing loss. In a new study published online in Nature Communications, scientists report a new strategy […]

Combining light and a protein linked to cancer, researchers at Princeton University have created a biological switch to conduct an unprecedented exploration of cellular development in the embryo. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, promises to help experts map precise cause and effect relationships in […]

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered why a specific genetic mutation causes intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder in children. “We have solved an important piece of the puzzle in understanding how this mutation causes intellectual disabilities and mental illness,” said lead author Peter Penzes, director of the new Center for Autism […]

A mutated gene found in people with intellectual disabilities that could be targeted for treatment has been identified by an international team including University of Queensland researchers. The gene, USP9X, regulates a network of genes underlying Intellectual Disability (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). UQ School of Biomedical Sciences Associate Professor Michael Piper said focussing […]

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK*, yet we still don't know all of its causes. The largest ever study to use genetics as a measurement for physical activity to look at its effect on prostate cancer, reveals that being more active reduces the risk […]

For more than a decade, researchers have used glowing nanoparticles called Cornell dots, or C dots, to illuminate cancer cells, target tumors and even induce cell death. Now, a new iteration of C dots is expanding their impact through fluorescence-based multiplexing, a process in which multiple C dots are dispatched to […]

A new technique reported in Science overcomes several limitations of typical high-throughput chemical screens conducted on cell samples. Such screens are commonly used to try to discover new cancer drugs, and in many other biomedical applications. Most current screens of this nature offer either a coarse readout, such as of cell […]

Writing in a paper published on Wednesday, 04 December 2019, in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a group of researchers from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and Ben-Gurion University report a breakthrough in the treatment of dementia. According to the researchers, the aging brain is commonly treated as a […]

Scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have shown that chaperone proteins dynamically bind to the Parkinson protein α-​synuclein. If this interaction is disturbed, it leads to cell damage and the formation of aggregates typical for the disease. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the progressive death of […]

Research on immune cells “exhausted” by chronic viral infection provides clues on how to refine cancer immunotherapy. The results were published in Immunity. Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center, led by Rafi Ahmed, PhD, have learned about exhausted CD8 T cells, based on studying mice with chronic viral infections. In the […]

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health found that women who use permanent hair dye and chemical hair straighteners have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who don’t use these products. The study published online in the International Journal of Cancer and suggests that breast cancer risk […]

Colorectal cancer is the second most common type of cancer worldwide, with about 90% of cases occurring in people 50 or older. Arising from the inner surface, or muscosal layer, of the colon, cancerous cells can penetrate through the deeper layers of the colon and spread to other organs. Left […]

Drugs that tamp down inflammation in the brain could slow or even reverse the cognitive decline that comes with age. In a publication appearing in the journal Science Translational Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, and Ben-Gurion University scientists report that senile mice given one such drug had fewer signs of […]

A research team led by biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has found that a drug approved by the FDA to treat rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis can repair permeability defects in the gut’s epithelium. Affecting roughly 1 million Americans, ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease of […]

A new University of Toronto study sheds light on how protein strains vary in the brains of those affected by progressive neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, suggesting the need for patient-specific medicines. Their research findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, have important implications for people who are affected by progressive neurodegenerative diseases, and […]

A single dose of radiotherapy is as “effective” as five doses for end-of-life cancer patients suffering with painful spinal canal compression, finds a large study conducted by UCL, including The University of Manchester. Spinal canal compression is a common complication in cancer patients when the cancer has spread to their […]

Long-term treatment with gabapentin, a commonly prescribed drug for nerve pain, could help restore upper limb function after a spinal cord injury, new research in mice suggests. In the study, mice treated with gabapentin regained roughly 60 percent of forelimb function in a skilled walking test, compared to restoration of […]

Obesity and gum (periodontal) disease are among the most common non-communicable diseases in the United States—and studies show these chronic conditions may be related. This new study explores the effect of obesity on non-surgical periodontal care and evaluates potential pathways that may illustrate the connection between the two conditions. The […]

Learned fear responses enable animals — including humans — to flee or freeze in the face of a perceived threat. But if these behaviors persist after the danger lifts, they can become paralyzing and disabling. That’s a key element of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To explore how fear becomes entrenched, […]

Aging is associated with increased inflammation and metabolic disease, including the accumulation of visceral fat — fat stored in the abdominal cavity — which is thought to contribute to inflammation. New research from University of Minnesota faculty member Christina Camell has helped uncover why visceral fat increases with age and points to […]

Women in rural communities experience higher rates of life-threatening complications during or after childbirth than mothers in urban cities, a new study finds. Maternal deaths and deliveries requiring emergency, life-saving treatment are increasing among both rural and urban residents, up from 109 to 152 per 10,000 childbirth hospitalizations, the new […]

Study on babies in Botswana provides strong evidence that early initiation of ART may benefit those who contract HIV at birth. HIV infection among infants remains an enormous global health challenge. Each day, 300 to 500 infants in sub-Saharan Africa become infected with the virus. HIV progresses much faster in […]

A new partnership between the University of Alberta and Atlas Biotechnologies will explore the use of medical cannabis for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. “People are touting (cannabis) for all kinds of things, but without solid scientific evidence,” said Ross Tsuyuki, chair of the U of A’s Department […]