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Life is usefully defined on the basis of process: any set of entities that participates in the process of evolution by natural selection is alive. But how does evolution by natural selection – and thus life – get started? The answer is far from obvious. Lack of insight haunts origins […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Milan in Italy have identified a gene in human neurons that protects against the degeneration of motor neurons in the deadly diseases ALS and SMA. Gene therapy in animal models of these diseases was shown to protect against cell death […]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder, impairing the motor functions of millions of elderly people worldwide. Often, people with PD will experience disturbances in gastrointestinal function, such as constipation, years before motor symptoms set in. Postmortem examinations of the brains of people with PD have shown that their […]

A new study that reveals the dozens of molecular changes that bring about endometrial cancer offers insight into how physicians might be able to better identify which patients will need aggressive treatment and why a common treatment is not effective for some patients. The study appears in the journal Cell. […]

Six research discoveries with the potential to provide benefit to society have been awarded funding from the University’s Intellectual Property Accelerator Fund, which aims to speed the development of innovative projects into real-world applications. The projects address a range of societal challenges, from new treatments for cancer, hepatitis B and obesity, […]

Many people consult their friends and neighbors before making a big decision. It turns out that cells also consult their neighbors — in the human body. Scientists and physicians have long known that immune cells migrate to the site of an infection, which individuals experience as inflammation — swelling, redness […]

New research has shed fresh light on how the build-up of two proteins in the brain might affect the activity of genes involved in Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the University of Exeter worked in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to examine the brains of mice carrying mutations in the genes for […]

Researchers at the University of Oxford are now closer to finding the cell of origin of ovarian cancer, and their ultimate aim of developing a much needed screening tool for ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer in women, with around 7,500 new cases diagnosed in the […]

Scientists have created one of the most detailed maps of breast cancer ever achieved, revealing how genetic changes shape the physical tumour landscape, according to research funded published in Nature Cancer. An international team of scientists, brought together by a £20 million Grand Challenge award from Cancer Research UK, has developed […]

The key to a better understanding of schizophrenia may exist in a genetic disorder so rare that researchers haven’t been able to conduct an adequate study — until now. The genetic disorder 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), caused by a small segment of missing DNA on chromosome 22, is the strongest […]

Plant cells tend to grow longer instead of wider due to the alignment of the many layers of cellulose that make up their cell walls, according to a new study that may have implications for biofuels research. The study, which appeared in the Journal of Experimental Botany, reveals that the protein CSI1 […]

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is progressive, but slow to develop — or at least to reveal itself. In a new study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues elsewhere, report that early, subtle differences in cognitive performance, such as fewer […]

Bioengineers are on the brink of developing artificial organisms that will open up new applications in medicine and industry. Beat Christen discusses their risks and benefits. Every living creature on earth has parents, grandparents, great-​grandparents and so on – representing an unbroken line of ancestry all the way back to […]

A type of fatty liver disease that commonly affects patients with HIV can be safely treated with vitamin E, a McGill-led study has found. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and is characterized by liver inflammation and cell damage. It is a potentially […]

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Several previous studies have reported an increased risk of colorectal cancer in patients with Crohn's disease, but these studies are older and have often shown uncertain risk estimates. Now researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Örebro University and Aarhus University, Denmark, published the […]

Experts have been unable to explain why cells from bacteria to humans leak essential chemicals necessary for growth into their environment. New mathematical models reveal that leaking metabolites — substances involved in the chemical processes to sustain life with the production of complex molecules and energy — may provide cells […]

There are more than 100 different autoimmune diseases. But what unites them all is that they arise from an individual’s own cells – rare and mysterious immune cells that target not external viruses and bacteria but the body’s own healthy organs and tissues. For the first time, a team led […]

Biologists have discovered a way to stop cells from one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer spreading in the lab. The study points towards new avenues of research to combat the devastating disease. The results of the study of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer by the team from the Universities […]

After 12 million measurements, new drug targets emerge A study published Feb. 13 in Cell provides an unprecedented look at the dozens of molecular steps that occur to bring about endometrial cancer, commonly known as uterine cancer. The study offers insights about how physicians might be able to better identify […]

In the United States, the medical community has made great strides in preventing and controlling cervical cancer. Screening can effectively detect the disease in its earliest, pre-cancerous stages, while the HPV vaccine is highly effective at preventing cervical cancer. That combination has led to a 50% drop in cervical cancer […]

How to detect diseases at the earliest stages of development? This is the problem raised by most scientists and physicians, focusing on new biomarkers, such a microRNAs. Indeed, a growing number of publications link microRNA levels inside biological liquids to several diseases including some cancers. However, these microRNA molecules are […]

There is a growing consensus that the gut microbiome is involved in many aspects of physical and mental health, including the onset of Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and even some behaviors. The microbiota of the small intestine, in particular, are likely to have important effects on human health because most nutrients and drugs […]

In the largest study of skin cancer rates among gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals, investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital report important differences in skin cancer prevalence among sexual minorities. Rates of skin cancer were higher among gay and bisexual men compared to heterosexual men but lower among bisexual women than heterosexual […]

A Caenorhabditis elegans worm squirms its way through a compost heap, sensory neurons in its nose helping it navigate oxygen and carbon dioxide cues as it searches for food. The lab of Harvard Medical School geneticist Max Heiman studies these neurons to illuminate nervous system development and uncover clues about how things go awry […]

Missing a single ophthalmology appointment over a two-year period was associated with decreased visual acuity for patients with macular degeneration — a leading cause of permanent vision loss in the elderly — according to a new Penn Medicine study. The findings, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, suggest that more attention should be […]

In trout, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s J. Oriol Sunyer and colleagues discovered that a particular type of primitive antibody is essential for fighting microbes that cause disease while preserving others that make up a healthy microbiome. While many immunologists use mouse models to conduct their research, […]

Optimeos Life Sciences, a startup founded by two Princeton University faculty members, has reached agreements with six pharmaceutical companies to develop therapeutics using a Princeton-developed drug delivery technology. The collaborations have the potential to improve the effectiveness of medications for the treatment of diseases, ranging from cancer to diabetes. Optimeos, […]

A surprising discovery about a rare form of childhood brain cancer suggests a new treatment approach for that cancer – and potentially many others. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the supposedly simple cancer, called medulloblastoma, forms an unexpectedly intricate network to drive its […]

Materials with special electric properties can help promote bone's natural healing processes. Some materials show promise promoting bone regeneration by enhancing its natural electrical properties, according to a review in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. Some solids, including bone, enamel and quartz, form an electric field when […]

Glioblastomas are relentless, hard-to-treat, and often lethal brain tumors. Yale scientists have enlisted a most unlikely ally in efforts to treat this form of cancer — elements of the Ebola virus. “The irony is that one of the world’s deadliest viruses may be useful in treating one of the deadliest […]