General

The blood-brain barrier is the brain’s gatekeeper. A nearly impenetrable shield of cells, it keeps toxins and other agents that may be in circulating blood from gaining access to and harming the brain. A critical anatomical structure, the barrier is the brain’s first and most comprehensive line of defense. But […]

Researchers investigating ways to deliver high doses of cancer-killing drugs inside tumors have shown they can use a laser and light-activated gold nanoparticles to remotely trigger the release of approved cancer drugs inside cancer cells in laboratory cultures. The study by researchers at Rice University and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine […]

Study explains success of some types of cancer immunotherapy, provides new targets for the development of additional immunotherapies. Chronic inflammation is known to drive many cancers, especially liver cancer. Researchers have long thought that’s because inflammation directly affects cancer cells, stimulating their division and protecting them from cell death. But […]

Can environmental toxins disrupt circadian rhythms – the biological “clock” whose disturbance is linked to chronic inflammation and a host of human disorders? Research showing a link between circadian disruption and plankton that have adapted to road salt pollution puts the question squarely on the table. “This research shows that […]

Cancer, the still-dreaded disease because it takes the lives of millions with no proven cure still in sight, might finally get a beating in the next few years. Ascribe it to the courage and innovation of biotech companies which have not given up  the fight against the Big C. They […]

For an illness like cancer, doctors in search of definitive diagnosis often turn to computed tomography (CT) scans based on reconstructing a three-dimensional image of an organ from multiple two-dimensional image slices. At the molecular level, such 3-D scans could become an important part of precision medicine: a future of […]

Vision scientists at UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto have discovered that naturally occurring molecules known as lipid mediators have the potential to halt the progression of glaucoma, the world’s second-leading cause of blindness. Their findings, published today in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, mark a […]

Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to develop a new technique to detect ovarian cancer early and accurately. The team has identified a network of circulating microRNAs – small, non-coding pieces of genetic material – that are associated with […]

A study led by scientists from Harvard Medical School reveals “hidden” variability in how tumor cells are affected by anticancer drugs, offering new insights on why patients with the same form of cancer can have different responses to a drug. The results, published in Nature Communications on Oct 30, highlight strategies to […]

Stem cells taken from muscle tissue could promote better blood flow in patients with diabetes who develop peripheral artery disease, a painful complication that can require surgery or lead to amputation. A new study in mice at the University of Illinois found that an injection of the stem cells prompted […]

Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed an accurate, scalable approach for monitoring cancer DNA from blood samples. Reporting in Nature Communications, the team demonstrates that nearly 90 percent of a […]

New research from the University of Liverpool, published in the journal ‘Nature Scientific Reports’, has identified that ageing has distinct and opposite effects on the genes expressed in the tendons of males and females. Tendons are bundles or bands of strong fibres that attach muscles to bones. Tendons transfer force from […]