Related Science News

Whether we like it or not, our hair continually grows. Its regenerative powers reside deep inside each hair follicle, in a cluster of dividing stem cells—some of which will specialize and eventually give rise to new hair while others will produce new stem cells. Scientists have delineated numerous mechanisms that […]

Activating the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) – a receptor found on the surface of many normal and cancer tissues – has been shown to stop pancreatic cancer from growing, but may also make tumors more visible to the immune system and thus more susceptible to modern immunotherapy. Researchers at […]

Researchers from McMaster University have found that the potato, primarily known as a starchy vegetable, can be a source of high-quality protein that helps to maintain muscle. The findings, reported in the journal Nutrients, highlight the potential benefits of what is considered a non-traditional source of protein, particularly as dietary […]

New imaging technology allows scientists to see the widespread loss of brain synapses in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, a finding that one day may help aid in drug development, according to a new Yale University study. The research, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s […]

UC Riverside-led study identifies role played by an immune signaling molecule in regulating memory function in the normal and injured brain. A study examining the effect of the immune receptor known as Toll-like Receptor 4, or TLR4, on how memory functions in both the normal and injured brain have found […]

New research show cells move and interact with each other in a way that is counter to what scientists have always believed. The study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface shows that cell movement actually increases when there are more cells around. “We were quite surprised,” said Alex Browning, a […]

Growth hormone has been identified as playing a key role in reducing inflammation and increasing survival rates following liver surgery. Researchers at The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute investigated how the body’s growth hormone assists with liver regeneration in a study using mice. Project leader Dr Andrew Brooks said mice […]

Researchers have found that adult skates have the ability to spontaneously repair injured cartilage, using a type of cartilage stem cell. Human cartilage has very limited capacity for repair, and the finding may lead to new stem cell treatments for human cartilage injuries. Published in the journal eLife, the study […]

ETH researchers have developed a new method in which they use light to draw patterns of molecules that guide living cells. The approach allows for a closer look at the development of multicellular organisms – and in the future may even play a part in novel therapies. Highly complex organisms […]

Revealing the architecture of embryos at a crucial stage in development. The majority of pregnancies that fail do so at a very early developmental stage, before the pregnancy is even detectable by tests. This critical stage, occurring about a week after fertilization, is when an embryo implants itself into the […]

Subtle abnormalities occur in key brain structures of children diagnosed with the pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome, a disease characterized by abrupt, severe behavioral problems, according to a new study from the School of Medicine. The findings, reported in a paper published in JAMA Network Open, may help resolve an ongoing debate […]

Investigators at the School of Medicine and several other institutions have shown that a new type of vaccination can substantially enhance and sustain protection from HIV. A paper describing the vaccine, which was given to monkeys, was published online in Nature Medicine. The findings carry broad implications for immunologists pursuing vaccines for the […]

Researchers pinpoint genes behind sex biases in autoimmune disorders, schizophrenia. Some diseases exhibit a clear sex bias, occurring more often, hitting harder or eliciting different symptoms in men or women. For instance, the autoimmune conditions lupus and Sjögren's syndrome affect nine times more women than men, while schizophrenia affects more […]

Findings could lead to better methods for creating muscle cells from stem cells. An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA has developed a first-of-its-kind roadmap of how human skeletal muscle develops, including the formation of muscle […]

Already known for their shape-shifting abilities, stem cells can now add “death-defying” to their list of remarkable qualities. A new study shows how stem cells – which can contribute to creating many parts of the body, not just one organ or body part – are able to postpone their own […]

Repeats of individual building blocks within proteins are the cause of many hereditary diseases, but how such repeats actually cause disease is still largely unknown. Researchers in Berlin investigated how repeat elongations lead to the disease synpolydactyly, and have found that the attractive forces between the mutated proteins cause them […]

Doctors have relentlessly impressed upon us the many benefits of exercise. Energy, mood, sleep and motor skills all improve with a regular fitness regimen that includes activities such as running. This has become of particular interest in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what happens in the brain during […]

In regenerative medicine, an ideal treatment for patients whose muscles are damaged from lack of oxygen would be to invigorate them with an injection of their own stem cells. In a new study published in the journal ACS Nano, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign demonstrated that “nanostimulators” […]

When tested in brain cells and in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, a new compound significantly reduced the number of amyloid plaques in the brain, lessened brain inflammation and diminished other molecular markers of the disease. The researchers who developed the compound reported their findings in the journal ACS […]

A simple blood test that can detect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been discovered and validated in a joint effort by a McGill team and researchers in Sweden. Their results are published in the May issue of The Lancet Neurology. An accompanying commentary calls the discovery “transformative.” The blood test accurately measures one of the […]

A new round of support will help a Purdue University-affiliated startup further develop a platform designed to create drugs for people with hard-to-treat cancers. Akanocure Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has received Small Business Innovation Research Phase II funding from America's Seed Fund, powered by the National Science Foundation, to develop chemical tools and platforms to produce valuable […]

Millions of people around the world use acid suppressants called proton pump inhibitors for conditions like heartburn, gastritis and stomach ulcers. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now report how the long-term use of these drugs could increase the risk of developing dementia. Their results are published in the journal […]

Hematopoietic stem cells from a healthy donor can help patients suffering from acute leukemia. However, the side effects of therapies are often severe. A group of researchers led by the University of Zurich have now shown how human healthy and cancerous hematopoietic stem cells can be more selectively eliminated using […]

Killing cells is easy. Killing only the cells that you want to kill, while leaving all other cells untouched, is very much more challenging. The ability to do this is fundamental to much of the future of medicine, however. The aging body contains many cell populations that cause significant harm […]

The ionome is the elemental composition of a tissue, organ, or individual. This composition changes over the course of aging, and may do so in ways that allow the production of an aging clock, a measure of chronological or physiological age. This line of development adds to work on the well-known epigenetic clocks, proteomic […]

For over a decade, Stefania Nicoli, PhD, has used zebrafish to study disease. The remarkable similarities between humans and these tiny freshwater fish provide valuable information about the genetic root of human disease. The Nicoli lab investigates how microRNAs (miRNAs) play a role in the physiology of the cardiovascular system. The lab […]

University of Virginia researchers are pioneering the use of focused ultrasound to defy the brain’s protective barrier so that doctors could, at last, deliver many treatments directly into the brain to battle neurological diseases. The approach, the researchers hope, could revolutionize treatment for conditions from Alzheimer’s to epilepsy to brain […]

Men are more susceptible to COVID-19. However, those who have cancer are even more vulnerable as they face a 1.8-​fold increased risk of COVID-​19 infection compared to the whole male population. Men with cancer also develop more severe symptoms and are harder to treat. However, a new study at the […]

A common feature of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) is the progressive loss of synapses – the anatomical sites of communication between brain cells – throughout the brain and spinal cord. Typically, synapse loss becomes pervasive before the outward appearance […]

Many nerve cells in the brain region hypothalamus have unexpected origins and go through complex development programs, where millions of neurons assemble into a precisely knit network by birth. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Medical University of Vienna published in […]