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Worm cells sense changes in metabolism to activate defensive measures against pathogens. Included in the vast fallout stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists are paying closer attention to microbial infections and how life forms defend against attacks from pathogens. Research led by University of California San Diego scientists has shed […]

Switching off a heart muscle protein could provide a new way for drugs to combat heart failure in people who’ve had a heart attack, according to research led by the University of Cambridge and published in the journal Nature. There is an unmet need to find drugs that can successfully improve […]

New research has found that one in every 340 people might carry a mutation in a single gene that makes them more likely to have a greater weight from early childhood and, by 18 years of age, they could be up to 30 pounds heavier with the excess weight likely […]

Scientists have made major advances in understanding and developing treatments for many cancers by identifying genetic mutations that drive the disease. Now, a team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) has developed a machine learning technique for detecting other modifications to DNA that have a […]

The ability to make membrane-bound organelles is a defining characteristic of eukaryotic cells — cells that constitute the bodies of all animals, plants and fungi on Earth. Membranes create enclosures that provide specialized environments for certain structures and their functions, such as the nuclei that store genetic information, or the […]

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have shed new light on how our brains develop, revealing that the very last step in cell division is crucial for the brain to reach its proper size and function. The new findings identify a potential contributor to microcephaly, a birth defect in […]

Human bodies have roughly 30,000 genes dictating not only how we look, but also critical biological processes. Now, a Florida State University and Australia National University research team has discovered a key aspect of gene regulation and ultimately how that process is implicated in cancer. Jonathan Dennis, an associate professor […]

The primary function of the lung is to facilitate the transfer of oxygen to the bloodstream. Crucial to this lifegiving task are endothelial cells, which line blood vessels permeating the lung and through which gas exchange occurs. Malfunction of these cells is implicated in a range of different diseases, including […]

Viji Santhakumar, an associate professor of molecular, cell and systems biology at the University of California, Riverside, has received funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disaster and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health to further pursue research on moderate concussive brain injury, which results from car accidents or sports-related concussions. […]

Up to half of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma will experience tumor recurrence or new tumors—tumors that often spread and are difficult to treat. A team of scientists led by the University of Michigan School of Dentistry identified a mechanism by which head and neck cancer cells […]

Follow-up data from the landmark SPRINT study of the effect of high blood pressure on cardiovascular disease have confirmed that aggressive blood-pressure management—lowering systolic blood pressure to less than 120 mm Hg—dramatically reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and death from these diseases, as well as death from all […]

Continuous skin-to-skin contact starting immediately after delivery even before the baby has been stabilised can reduce mortality by 25 per cent in infants with very low birth weight. This according to a study in low- and middle-income countries coordinated by the WHO on the initiative of researchers at Karolinska Institutet […]

Children born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy were at increased risk of having congenital heart disease, a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has found. The study was led by the University of Bristol, in an international collaboration with researchers from seven institutions. It […]

New research has found that one in every 340 people might carry a mutation in a single gene that makes them more likely to have a greater weight from early childhood and, by 18 years of age, they could be up to 30 pounds heavier with the excess weight likely […]

A cardiac MRI of athletes who had COVID-19 is seven times more effective in detecting inflammation of the heart than symptom-based testing, according to a study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine with 12 other Big Ten programs. The findings are published online by JAMA Cardiology. The […]

Normal cells usually have multiple solutions for fixing problems. For example, when DNA becomes damaged, healthy white blood cells can use several different strategies to make repairs. But cancer cells may “put all their eggs in one basket,” getting rid of all backup plans and depending on just one pathway […]

In an important step toward the clinical application of synthetic biology, Rice University researchers have engineered a bacterium with the capability of diagnosing a human disease. An engineered strain of the gut bacteria E. coli senses pH and glows when it encounters acidosis, an acidic condition that often occurs during flareups of inflammatory bowel […]

Two clusters of brain cells compete to promote either the persistence or disappearance of traumatic memories, according to a new study conducted in mice. The findings could provide important insights into human conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, and associated problems such as alcohol use disorder (AUD) […]

Mitochondria –  the ‘batteries’ that power our cells – play an unexpected role in common diseases such as type 2 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, concludes a study of over 350,000 people conducted by the University of Cambridge. The study, published in Nature Genetics, found that genetic variants in the DNA […]

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and affects more than 10 million people around the world. To better understand the origins of the disease, researchers from Penn State College of Medicine and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed an integrative approach, combining experimental and computational methods, to understand how individual […]

A new study shows that mathematical topology can reveal how human cells organize into complex spatial patterns, helping to categorize them by the formation of branched and clustered structures. The field of mathematical topology is often described in terms of donuts and pretzels. To most of us, the two differ […]

Writing in the journal The American Journal of Psychiatry, a multi-institution team of scientists led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that medications commonly prescribed to reduce the severity of physical and mental health symptoms associated with schizophrenia may have a cumulative effect of […]

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 22 percent of older adults in the United States suffer from a functional impairment, defined as difficulties performing daily activities, such as bathing or getting dressed, or problems with concentration or decision-making affected by physical, mental or emotional conditions. In […]

By mapping its genetic underpinnings, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a predictive causal role for specific cell types in type 1 diabetes, a condition that affects more than 1.6 million Americans. The findings were published in the journal Nature. Type 1 diabetes is […]

Reduced levels of a metabolic hormone known as leptin is linked to poor vaccine antibody responses in the general population, a University of Queensland study has found. The researchers made the discovery while investigating several cohorts’ responses to the influenza vaccine or hepatitis B vaccine pre-COVID. UQ’s Professor Di Yu […]

About a third of the corneal transplant surgeries in the United States involve people with diabetes who donate their corneas after death. The number of corneal transplants has grown over the last decade, but through continuous research, the medical community has learned that not all corneal tissue from diabetics may […]

In a study published in Nature Metabolism, researchers at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology developed a novel technique to identify small molecules that can make insulin-producing β-cells divide. Olov Andersson and Jeremie Charbord explain: Diabetes is characterized by the progressive loss of functional β-cells. One possible approach to curing diabetes is […]

A project to measure the effects of electrical stimulation of a major nerve that could hold the key to new treatments for a range of diseases from epilepsy to depression is underway at the University of Bath. Members of C3Bio, the University’s Centre for Biosensors, Bioelectronics and Biodevices, are working to […]

In this open access commentary, the authors discuss efforts to uncover the mechanisms by which microglia in the aging brain are primed to undertake inflammatory responses, more so than those in the young brain. This may be due in part towards increased numbers of senescent microglia, secreting pro-inflammatory signals. This […]

In vitro fertilization fulfils the wishes of half a million parents each year, yet fertility treatment leaves plenty of room for improvement. A majority of potential embryos are ruled out for implantation, flagged by a genetic test designed to root out abnormalities early on.  This selection process limits the success […]