General

Scientists have wondered whether somatic, or non-inherited, mutations play a role in aging and brain degeneration, but until recently there was no good technology to test this idea. A study published online in Science, led by researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, used whole-genome sequencing of individual neurons […]

Australian researchers have unearthed new evidence in a decade-long mystery concerning stem cell reprogramming, a process believed to hold immense potential for regenerative medicine. In a study, researchers from The University of Western Australia, the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, and Monash University describe key drivers of the process […]

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among males in the United States. Approximately, 180,000 men are diagnosed each year, and approximately 95 percent of these men have localized disease that is potentially curable. Previously, studies have consistently demonstrated that conventionally fractionated high dose external beam radiation therapy (CRT), consisting […]

Current treatments for medulloblastoma include a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy which are not specific in how they target the tumour, and often lead to significant side effects, such as mental and physical disabilities. Treatment is further complicated by the fact that medulloblastoma is not a single disease but […]

When cells divide, they need to rebuild their nucleus and organise their genome. New collaborative research from the University of Bristol demonstrates how cells achieve this through the unexpected deployment of filamentous actin (F-actin) to the nucleus. The research, published online in Nature Cell Biology, provides the first evidence that actin […]

Tremors, involuntary movements and shaking, are probably the most noticeable symptoms of Parkinson‘s. They are significantly reducing people‘s quality of life and can push them into dependence on other people. Scientists up until now were not sure what causes tremors. Now researchers from the University of York managed to recreate […]

As the rate and pervasiveness of Alzheimer's disease (AD) continue to spike across the United States, efforts to improve upon current treatments have grown simultaneously. Fortunately, there's been a recent technological breakthrough in understanding the mechanics behind AD. Scientists at Rice University invented a metallic probe that glows as it […]

Children with an extremely deadly form of brain cancer might benefit from a new treatment that aims to direct an immune response against a mutant form of a protein found exclusively on cancer cells, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco researchers. The focus of the study, […]

Tumor-targeting nanoparticles loaded with a drug that makes cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy’s toxicity could be used to treat an aggressive and often deadly form of endometrial cancer, according to new research by the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. For the first time, researchers combined traditional chemotherapy with a […]

Researchers at the University of Arizona have taken an essential step forward in the quest to find the cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. In the cells of flies, mice and humans with ALS, scientists at the UA have pinpointed a process that […]

Adding aspirin to some existing cancer drugs could increase their effectiveness against a group of tumours resistant to treatment, new research has shown. University of Queensland scientists are hoping clinical trials could soon be underway for people with lung, pancreatic and colorectal cancers that have not responded to other therapies. UQ […]

Cancer therapies including radiation and chemotherapy seek to treat the disease by killing tumor cells. Now a team including researchers at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have shown that the dead and dying cancer cells generated by chemotherapy and targeted cancer therapy paradoxically trigger inflammation that […]

Boulder researchers are embarking on a new project to study the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's by using a new technique to measure neurons firing deep inside animal brains. Eventually, the scientists hope, the research could lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatment options. Led by Ralph Jimenez of […]

Cancer cells’ ability to tolerate crowded conditions may be one key to understanding tumor growth and formation, according to a mathematical model that has been applied to cancer cell growth for the first time. The model can replicate patterns of melanoma cell growth seen in laboratory experiments by controlling the […]

Glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, typically fails to respond to treatment or rapidly becomes drug resistant. In a paper published online in the journal Cancer Cell , University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers identified a strategy that pinpoints a genetically distinct subpopulation of patients […]

Everyone wants to live longer and scientists are trying to fulfil this demand. There is a general belief that longevity of humans can be greatly enhanced using some novel medicine or even ancient herbs. But now a research team lead by scientists from UCL showed that limiting the activity of […]

Dementia is one of the leading causes of death. Not only that, but it is one of the main causes of the reduced quality of life at the later stages of life. People would do anything to push dementia away, but what can we do? Scientists from UCL say that […]

Head and neck tumors that contain cells undergoing a transition from neatly organized blocks into irregular structures pushing out into the surrounding environment are more likely to invade and spread to other parts of the body, according to a new study led by Harvard Medical School researchers from Massachusetts Eye […]

Researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have refined and, for the first time, run in vivo tests of a method that may allow nanotube-based probes to locate specific tumors in the body. Their ability to pinpoint tumors with submillimeter accuracy could eventually improve early detection […]

Human body is like a complex robotic system. Every part is related to another and damaging one will most likely affect others. This is what we know. However, it still doesn‘t make a complete sense that movement disorders work the way they do. Now a team of scientists, led by […]

Lab testing and experiments require subjects. At the beginning of the research those typically are cells. However, cell cultures do not last very long in the lab and it becomes a technical difficulty, sometimes slowing down the progress of the research. Now scientists from the University of Edinburgh have made […]

In mammals, including humans, the cells that contract the heart muscle and enable it to beat do not regenerate after injury. After a heart attack, there is a dramatic loss of these heart muscle cells and those that survive cannot effectively replicate. With fewer of these contractile cells, known as […]

Right now, most existing therapies are concerned with reducing symptoms in people with heart damage, but none have been successful at actually replacing tissue that was lost due to a heart attack or a similar condition. This might soon change as researchers from Duke University in the US have recently […]

Yale researchers have discovered novel chemical compounds that extend the lifespan of a species of yeast by using a new technology that could also hunt for tools to combat aging in other species as well, they reported Nov. 28 in the journal Cell Reports. “Research on human aging has been […]

New King’s College London research, published in eLife, shows that adults born prematurely – who also suffered small brain injuries around the time of birth – have lower levels of dopamine in the brain. This chemical change has been linked to lack of motivation and enjoyment in normal life, and changes to […]

In a major step forward in the battle against macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss among the elderly, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered a critical trigger for the damaging inflammation that ultimately robs millions of their sight. The finding may allow doctors to halt the […]

The goal of any cancer treatment is to kill tumor cells. Yet, one little understood paradox of certain cancers is that the body's natural process for removing dead and dying cells can actually fuel tumor growth. A new University of Michigan study identifies the pathway by which this poorly understood […]

New research from Florida State University is beginning to piece together the stubborn puzzle posed by a family of rare and debilitating premature aging disorders. Most of these diseases, called progeroid syndromes, share physiological symptoms characterized by the appearance of accelerated aging, such as skin disorders, loss of hair, skeletal […]

A drug that spurs cancer cells to self-destruct has been cleared for use in a clinical trial of patients with anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare malignant brain tumor, and glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive late-stage cancer of the brain. This phase Ib trial will determine if the experimental drug PAC-1 can be used safely […]

University of Illinois researchers are sending tiny drug-laden nanoparticles on a mission to seek and destroy cancer stem cells, the elusive and rare cells that can cause cancer to come back even when years have passed since the initial tumor was treated. In a study led by Dipanjan Pan, an Illinois […]