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People with pale coloured melanomas are more likely to have a gene mutation associated with albinism, University of Queensland research has found. Study lead author Dr Jenna Rayner said albinism, a rare genetic disorder affecting one in 10,000 people, prevented brown pigment from being synthesised in the body and led to fair hair and […]

Biology textbooks may need to be re-written, with scientists finding a new piece of DNA essential to forming male sex organs in mice. An international research collaboration with The University of Queensland found the Y-chromosome gene that makes mice male is made up of two different DNA parts, not one, as scientists […]

A new study published in The Lancet, led by a Liverpool based research collaboration, has identified the first effective treatment for a rare genetic condition known as Alkaptonuria (AKU). The aim of the study, led by Professor Lakshminarayan Ranganath and Professor James Gallagher of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Life Course and Medical […]

Long-term memory is controlled by protein synthesis in inhibitory cells, an international team at UdeM, McGill University and the University of Haifa finds. A Canadian-Israeli research team involving scientists at Université de Montréal has discovered that during memory consolidation, there are at least two distinct processes taking place in two […]

The risk for melanoma, the most deadly skin cancer, can be estimated long before the detection of any suspicious moles, according to a UC San Francisco scientist who led a new study to detect DNA mutations in individual skin cells. Skin damage from the sun builds up over time but […]

Microplastic fibre pollution in the ocean affects larval lobsters at each stage of their development, according to new research. A U.S. National Science Foundation-funded study published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin reports that the fibres affect the animals' feeding and respiration, and they could prevent some larvae from reaching adulthood. “In […]

A recent study by researchers at McGill University has identified polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an independent risk factor for gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The condition, known to lead to multiple reproductive complications, including infertility, affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age. PCOS was already known […]

Researchers from The Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Science have contributed to a new study, published in The European Heart Journal, that shows people with atrial fibrillation (AF) have a reduced risk of dementia if they undergo a procedure called catheter ablation to restore the normal rhythm of their heart. AF is the […]

In 2015, researchers began noticing that a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes, empagliflozin, came with the added benefit of decreasing hospitalization for heart failure and death from cardiovascular causes in those patients. “It was very unexpected, because this drug is targeted and marketed for Type 2 diabetes, not […]

Stopping the cannibalistic behavior of a well-studied enzyme could be the key to new drugs to fight age-related diseases, according to a new study published online in Nature Cell Biology. For the first time, researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania show how the self-eating cellular […]

The gut’s microbiome — a complex, dense mixture of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes — plays an integral role in human health. A new Yale study reveals just how early the microbiome is formed and begins delivering this benefit. For the first time, Yale scientists report that components of the […]

Astrocytes with the APOE4 gene variant show deficits of a key cellular function, but overexpressing the gene PICALM overcame the defect. In a new study, a team of scientists based at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research reveals evidence showing that […]