General

A bump to the head from slipping on the stairs, falling off a skateboard, or running into an open cupboard door has long been seen as a temporary injury, something resolved with a little rest. But a growing body of research suggests that, for some people, even concussions that seem […]

A new innovation in cancer research will enable scientists to understand the complex causes of the disease with unprecedented speed and sophistication. This will accelerate the development of new and better treatments, and it will help researchers find ways around roadblocks that now stand in their path. Rather than looking […]

An unhealthy population of microbes in the mouth triggers specialized immune cells that inflame and destroy tissues, leading to the type of bone loss associated with a severe form of gum disease, according to a new study in mice and humans. The research, led by scientists from the National Institute […]

One question that scientists and fitness experts alike would love to answer is whether exercise or nutrition has a bigger positive impact on bone strength. University of Michigan researchers looked at mineral supplementation and exercise in mice, and found surprising results––nutrition has a greater impact on bone mass and strength […]

Biomedical engineers from Duke University and Washington University in St. Louis have demonstrated that, by injecting an artificial protein made from a solution of ordered and disordered segments, a solid scaffold forms in response to body heat, and in a few weeks seamlessly integrates into tissue. The ability to combine […]

For the first time, researchers have developed a way to determine how many cancer cells it takes to initiate a tumor in another part of the body. The findings, made by a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists, are published in the journal, Scientific Reports. “We think this […]

Pioneering research has given a fascinating fresh insight into how animal nervous systems evolved from simple structures to become the complex network transmitting signals between different parts of the body. The new study used simple multicellular organisms called Placozoa to reveal the beginnings of the nervous systems found in more complex […]

Neurons in the human brain receive electrical signals from thousands of other cells, and long neural extensions called dendrites play a critical role in incorporating all of that information so the cells can respond appropriately. Using hard-to-obtain samples of human brain tissue, MIT neuroscientists have now discovered that human dendrites […]

A new Tel Aviv University study finds that certain environmental conditions may precipitate structural changes that take place in myelin sheaths in the onset of multiple sclerosis (MS). Myelin sheaths are the “insulating tape” surrounding axons; axons carry electrical impulses in neurons. The research demonstrates that myelin sheaths undergo structural transitions when […]

A team from the University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are launching a project to develop new strategies for treating vision disorders using cells implanted in the retina. The work is one of five initiatives newly funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute (NEI) Audacious Goals Initiative. The program’s […]

Using the CURATE.AI artificial intelligence (AI) platform, a research team led by the National University of Singapore (NUS) managed to halt the progression of advanced prostate cancer in a patient by delivering optimal doses of medication. In a clinical study published in the journal Advanced Therapeutics, the researchers deployed the […]

Researchers from the University of Georgia have discovered that timing of exposure is a key factor in how certain contaminants affect the reproductive system—information that may help scientists understand the causes of reproductive disorders in wildlife and women. Scientists observed many of the negative effects of estrogen-mimicking contaminants on the reproductive […]

Using a combination of computational modeling and experimental techniques, a research team has developed new information about how intercellular communication affects the differentiation of an embryonic stem cell colony over time. By providing new information about the role of communication among cells, the research could lead to a better understanding […]

The discovery, published in Nature Materials, is the first chemically programmed approach to producing an artificial tissue. The findings, which could have major health applications in the future, could see chemically programmed synthetic tissue being used to support failing living tissues and to cure specific diseases. The development of synthetic tissue […]

Almost eight years ago, Stanford University bioengineer Manu Prakash was looking for a way to watch every cell in an adult living, behaving animal in elaborate detail. He searched the catalog of life and happened upon the simple marine animal Trichoplax adhaerens – or Tplax, as Prakash has come to call it. This ultra-flat […]

A new blood test for children with brain tumors may offer a safe way to allow doctors to measure the effectiveness of treatment even before changes are identified on scans, according to research led by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals and Children’s National Health System. Unlike a standard brain biopsy, which entails […]

A detailed new review of nutritional science argues that most American diets are deficient in a key class of vitamins and minerals that play previously unrecognized roles in promoting longevity and in staving off chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and, potentially, neurodegeneration. In the review, published as a […]

Only a small proportion of cases of dementia are thought to be inherited – the cause of the vast majority is unknown. Now, in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Cambridge believe they may have found an explanation: […]

If you have a family history of breast cancer, you may also be at higher risk of developing the disease. This knowledge can boost surveillance and prevention efforts. One in 8 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Among all cases, about 10 percent are caused by the […]

How does the body renew itself? How do cancer cells use the same or similar processes to form tumors and spread throughout the body? How might we use those processes to heal injuries or fight cancer? A new research program at MIT is tackling fundamental biological questions about normal adult […]

Our cognitive abilities come down to how well the connections, or synapses, between our brain cells transmit signals. Now new study by researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has dug deeply into the molecular mechanisms that enable synaptic transmission to show the distinct role of a protein that, when mutated, […]

Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center found that they could identify significantly more mutations through liquid biopsy instead of a solid tissue biopsy alone—and patients responded favorably to targeted therapies. The findings, published in in JAMA Oncology, show that the addition of liquid biopsy nearly doubled the number of mutations detected compared to what […]

Young adults classified as obese in Australia can expect to lose up to 10 years in life expectancy, according to a major new study. New modelling from The George Institute for Global Health and the University of Sydney also predicts that 36.3 million years of life will be lost over […]

For the first time, scientists have developed a computer simulation of how clumps of defective proteins in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s spread through the brain, much of the time in stealth mode, over as long as 30 years. “We hope the ability to model neurodegenerative disorders will inspire better diagnostic […]

With today’s technology, we can 3-D-print sculptures, mechanical parts, prosthetics, even guns and food. But a team of University of Utah biomedical engineers have developed a method to 3-D-print cells to produce human tissue such as ligaments and tendons, a process that will greatly improve a patient’s recovery. A person […]

UC San Francisco researchers, in collaboration with the unique Brazilian Biobank for Aging Studies (BBAS) at the University of São Paulo, have shown that the earliest stages of the brain degeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are linked to neuropsychiatric symptoms including anxiety, depression, loss of appetite, and sleep disturbances. […]

Research to prevent vision loss from glaucoma will be aided by a project funded through a major National Eye Institute effort in regenerative medicine. The lab of Tom Reh, professor of biological structure at the UW School of Medicine, will join with scientists at other institutions to look at a possible cell-replacement […]

A team of physicists has devised a novel strategy that uses naturally occurring motions inside the human cell nucleus to measure the physical properties of the nucleus and its components. The method, which reveals that human nucleoli behave as liquid droplets, offers a potential new means for illuminating the physical […]

Premature birth is the leading cause of infant death and disability in the U.S., and costs billions in dollars and heartache every year. Now, University of Connecticut researchers reported in Reproductive Sciences a potential treatment that could stop many cases of premature labor and birth in their tracks. UConn Health’s Christopher Nold, […]

For all the good they do, eye drops and ointments have one major drawback: It’s hard to tell how much of the medication is actually getting to the eye. Now in a study appearing in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, scientists report that they have developed a contact lens that changes […]