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Patients with cancers of unknown origin greatly benefited from next-generation sequencing; widespread inherited cancer risk also suggests broad utility, a study finds. When standard cancer treatments don’t work, or if doctors can’t determine where a patient’s cancer originated, genomic sequencing can help pinpoint mutations in a tumor that might be […]

Mouse study focuses on signal from astrocytes to nerves. Researchers were able to enhance memory formation in mice by increasing a specific signal between astrocytes, one of the most numerous types of cell in the brain that occupy more space in the brain than nerve cells. Experts have long known […]

Researchers may have found the earliest changes that occur in seemingly healthy breast tissue long before any tumours appear, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, showed that before becoming cancerous, breast cells with the BRCA1 gene mutation undergo […]

Newly published research has revealed a close link between proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease and age-related sight loss. The findings could open the way to new treatments for patients with deteriorating vision and through this study, the scientists believe they could reduce the need for using animals in future research […]

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease are in the firing line after researchers identified an attractive therapeutic drug target. An international collaboration, co-led by University of Queensland researchers, has isolated and analysed the structure and function of a protein found in the brain’s nerve fibres called SARM1. Dr […]

Every 12 minutes, someone in the United States dies of pancreatic cancer, which is often diagnosed late, spreads rapidly and has a five-year survival rate at approximately 10 percent. Treatment may involve radiation, surgery and chemotherapy, though often the cancer becomes resistant to drugs. Researchers at University of California San […]

Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University have discovered a key feature that allows cancer cells to break from typical cell behavior and migrate away from the stiffer tissue in a tumor, shedding light on the process of metastasis and offering possible new targets […]

A gene therapy for chronic pain could offer a safer, non-addictive alternative to opioids. Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed the new therapy, which works by temporarily repressing a gene involved in sensing pain. It increased pain tolerance in mice, lowered their sensitivity to pain and provided […]

For certain blood cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), deciding whether patients need an aggressive treatment typically hinges on a set of lab tests to identify genetic changes. Some of these tests rely on technology that was invented more than 60 years ago and has […]

Eating is a dangerous business. Naturally occurring toxins in food and potentially harmful foodborne microbes can do a number on our intestines, leading to repeated minor injuries. In healthy people, such damage typically heals in a day or two. But in people with Crohn’s disease, the wounds fester, causing abdominal […]

In response to brain injury, neural stem cells cluster and migrate to the site of injury. The clustering is key – without it, the cells don’t travel. But what causes it? To investigate, Yale researchers created a 3-D model of the brain’s workings. The results of the study, led by […]

Scientists at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have identified the specialized environment, known as a niche, in the bone marrow where new bone and immune cells are produced. The study, published in Nature, also shows that movement-induced stimulation is required for the maintenance of this niche, […]

The new material, which the Advanced Photon Source helped characterize, is strong yet stretchable, and could be ideal for creating artificial tendons and ligaments for prosthetics and robotics. A research team led by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has developed a new method to make synthetic biomaterials that […]

A team led by scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI) has noninvasively visualized the light-sensing cells in the back of the eye, known as photoreceptors, in greater detail than ever before. Published in Optica, the researchers report how they improved imaging resolution by a third by selectively blocking the […]

First of its kind study reveals dynamic interactions between dendritic growth and synaptic connectivity in the brain cells of developing mice. A little competition is never a bad thing, especially when it comes to fledging neurons growing in the brain, finds a new Stanford University study. In a first of […]

Scientists at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have determined the structure of protein “fibrils” linked to Lou Gehrig’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders—findings that provide clues to how toxic proteins clump and spread between nerve cells in the brain. Their results may also lead to developing drugs […]

Results published to show it is possible to identify Parkinson’s Disease based on compounds found on the surface of the skin. The findings offer hope that a pioneering new test could be developed to diagnose the degenerative condition through a simple and painless skin swab. Scientists at The University of Manchester […]

Changes in the gut microbiome have a role in aging, and the activities of microbial species (generation of beneficial metabolites, versus generation of harmful inflammation) may be as important as lifestyle choices such as exercise when it comes to the pace of aging. Certainly there is good evidence for rejuvenation […]

A new genome-wide CRISPR screening technique conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University is offering new insights about how tumors in 80 to 90 percent of all cancers grow. This novel approach developed by Maria Fomicheva, a graduate student in the lab of Ian Macara, Louise B. McGavock Professor and professor of cell […]

Approximately two years after establishing a human cerebral organoid system to study Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), National Institutes of Health researchers have further developed the model to screen drugs for potential CJD treatment. The scientists, from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), describe their work in Scientific Reports. Human […]

Researchers have identified changes in the metabolism of liver and skeletal muscle cells in live mice that are likely connected to obesity-associated metabolic disorders. This study was led by Professor Shinya Kuroda, head of the Systems Biology Lab at the University of Tokyo and an expert in trans-omics research, which […]

Stopping smoking leads to healthier, wealthier and happier lives say researchers from University of Bath’s Addiction & Mental Health Group. New evidence published in the Cochrane Library suggests that smokers who quit can feel the positive benefits within weeks. The research, led by Dr Gemma Taylor from the University of Bath’s Addiction & […]

An interesting fact about the adaptive immune system: the number of T cells in the body remains much the same across the entire lifespan, even after the supply of new T cells all but ceases in middle age. T cells are created as thymocytes by hematopoietic cells in the bone […]

Delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines should reduce case numbers in the near term; however, the longer-term case burden and the potential for evolution of viral ‘escape’ from immunity will depend on the robustness of immune responses generated by natural infections and one or two vaccine doses, according to a […]

Reducing the initial screening age and including those with lower smoking exposures would help avert lung cancer-related deaths, according to a new study by the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network, led by a University of Michigan researcher. The modeling study, commissioned by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and […]

Just because you are exposed to a pathogen does not mean you will become sick. Increasingly, scientists have shown that genetics play a central role in determining whether the pathogens that cause a wide range of disease—including influenza, warts, and COVID-19—end up causing serious diseases. The lab of Jean-Laurent Casanova, which has spent 25 […]

One of the more interesting studies of cellular senescence in recent years was the demonstration that topical treatment with rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTOR signaling, over a period of months meaningfully reduced the burden of cellular senescence in the skin of aged individuals, leading to improvement in skin quality. It […]

People over 65 shouldn’t take three or more medicines that act on their brain and nervous system, experts strongly warn, because the drugs can interact and raise the risk of everything from falls to overdoses to memory issues. But a new study finds that 1 in 7 people with dementia who […]

New research from the University at Buffalo suggests that breast cancer patients who drink sugar-sweetened beverages regularly are at increased risk for death from any cause and breast cancer in particular. Compared to women who never or rarely drank non-diet soda, those who reported drinking non-diet soda five times or […]

Some of Princeton’s leading cancer researchers were startled to discover that what they thought was a straightforward investigation into how cancer spreads through the body — metastasis — turned up evidence of liquid-liquid phase separations: the new field of biology research that investigates how liquid blobs of living materials merge […]