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The phrase “like clockwork” suggests that clocks never go haywire. But they do. So do the internal clocks that are supposed to keep ticking to the beat of Earth’s 24-hour circadian rhythms. When our own rhythms are disrupted, one result is often a sleep disorder — which, over time, can […]

After hearing a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer, a rush of questions emerges. But often, it’s not until long after leaving the doctor’s office. Metastatic means the cancer has spread beyond the breast and immediate lymph nodes to other organs or tissues in the body, most often the bones, brain, lungs […]

The fight against liver disease could be helped by the discovery of cells that cause liver scarring. Scientists have identified new sub-types of cells that, when they interact, accelerate the scarring process in diseased livers. Experts hope that by understanding more how these cells behave, new treatments can be developed […]

Most people can continue to eat red and processed meat as they do now. A major study led by researchers at McMaster and Dalhousie universities has found cutting back has little impact on health. A panel of international scientists systematically reviewed the evidence and have recommended that most adults should […]

To do a total or partial hip replacement for older adults who have a hip fracture has been the question. Now a large clinical study of almost 1,500 patients in 10 countries world-wide has found those who had a total hip arthroplasty have modestly better function after two years, but […]

Cells that scientists have largely ignored when studying multiple sclerosis are actually key contributors to MS development, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine shows. The discovery suggests new avenues for devising treatments and is a vital step toward finding a cure. Understanding Multiple Sclerosis Scientists had assumed […]

A gene therapy being developed at Penn Medicine to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) successfully and safely stopped the severe muscle deterioration associated with the rare, genetic disease in both small and large animal models, according to a first-of-its-kind study from Penn Medicine researchers. The findings, published online in Nature Medicine, puts […]

NSF-funded researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed new guidelines for fabricating nanoscale gel materials, or nanogels, that can deliver therapeutic remedies to treat cancer in a precise manner. In addition to enabling the delivery of drugs to tumors, the nanogels can target malignant cells and degrade into nontoxic […]

Nutrition scientist  Maryam Hamidi, PhD, conducted research recently which required her to repeatedly stay awake from 8 a.m. until 5 a.m. the next day. As part of the study, she also needed to keep supplies of both healthy and unhealthy snacks stacked in her office. Then, somewhere along the line, […]

Brain organoids created from human embryonic stem cells offer scientists a powerful way to study the developing brain in three dimensions. However, organoids need nutrients and oxygen carried in blood to thrive, just as a developing fetal brain does. Now Yale researchers have developed a method to induce growth of […]

Every tissue in the human body has an immune cell in it called a macrophage. Macrophages play important roles in the immune system’s initial response to bacteria, viruses and wounds. But beyond that, each tissue macrophage also has specialized functions, tuned to the needs of that particular tissue. For example, […]

The brains of people with congenital deafness may be rewiring themselves in ways that affect how those people learn, suggesting a need to develop new teaching techniques tailored toward those who have never been able to hear. Published in Nature Scientific Reports, the findings by an Oregon State University research […]

Cancer cells – especially the more aggressive ones – seem to have an ability to change. It’s how they evade treatment and spread throughout the body. But how does a cancer cell get the energy it needs to do this? “We wondered if a cancer cell that wants to change its […]

Stanford chemists have developed a new deep-tissue imaging technique that can see beneath the skin of living subjects to illuminate buried tumors with unparalleled clarity. In a new study published in the issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, the researchers demonstrate how their technique can be used to predict the response […]

Many scientists spend their lives conducting tests on a single gene but, in their quest to develop a drug that will repair injured spinal cords, researchers at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis are testing thousands of genes in hundreds of thousands of nerve cells in any given week. In […]

Compared to long-term residents, immigrants to Canada have a 40 per cent higher risk of developing prediabetes, which is an early predictor of an individual’s likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes and associated illnesses, like heart disease. Researchers from the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the […]

A triple drug combination has been used to extend the lifespan of fruit flies by 48 percent in a new study led by the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany, and the UCL. The three drugs are all already in use as medical treatments: lithium as […]

Vaccines made from RNA hold great potential as a way to treat cancer or prevent a variety of infectious diseases. Many biotech companies are now working on such vaccines, and a few have gone into clinical trials. One of the challenges to creating RNA vaccines is making sure that the […]

Science may be inching closer to thwarting obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, as Cornell biochemists have uncovered a key step in how the human body metabolizes sugar, according to new research published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Martha S. Field, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, has further […]

How do you repair a damaged heart? With love? Gifts of candy and flowers? Romantic actions? Well, no. A good way to repair a damaged heart is to patch it. Scientists from the University of New South Wales now demonstrated that you can patch the heart with a 3D printer, […]

Even if we don’t think about it this way, we are still just a bunch of animals. We are mammals, connected to the laws of nature as tightly as the next species. And so our lives are divided into biological periods, which for women include menopause. However, for some women […]

Creating an effective gene therapy for inherited diseases requires three key steps. First, scientists must identify and characterize the disease. Second, they must find the gene responsible. And finally, they must find a way to correct the impairment. Four years ago, a team from the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with […]

Distinct patterns of electrical activity in the sleeping brain may influence whether we remember or forget what we learned the previous day, according to a new study by UC San Francisco researchers. The scientists were able to influence how well rats learned a new skill by tweaking these brainwaves while […]

Two new studies by an international team of researchers report progress in using stem cells to develop new therapies for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), a rare genetic condition affecting boys that can be fatal before 10 years of age. Often diagnosed at birth with symptoms of weakness and breathing difficulties, the […]

A new 3D structure for growing cell cultures could enable doctors to test medications on model tumors grown from a patient’s own cells, according to results from a team of engineers and cancer researchers at the University of Michigan. Unlike previous devices, the new structure is made from protein fibers […]

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed a new and improved viral vector—a virus-based vehicle that delivers therapeutic genes—for use in gene therapy for sickle cell disease. In advanced lab tests using animal models, the new vector was up to 10 times more efficient at incorporating corrective genes […]

In a virtual world, a knight in full armour sits in front of me, expectantly waiting for me to deal them some playing cards. As the game progresses, a large black spot grows in the middle of my vision. I try to pick up the deck of cards from the […]

There is now a multitude of therapies to treat cancer, from chemotherapy and radiation to immunotherapy and small molecule inhibitors. Chemotherapy is still the most widely used cancer treatment, but chemotherapy attacks all the rapidly dividing cells that it locates within the body, whether they're ultimately harmful or beneficial. A […]

It may sound odd, but most tests for hereditary cancer risks are prescribed by doctors after the patient has been diagnosed with cancer – past the time when such information would be prospectively most useful to the patient. With that backdrop, UW Medicine researchers will explore the feasibility and benefits of administering […]

A biochemist at the University of California, Riverside, has received a grant from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, or CDMRP, of the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a novel lead compound to treat breast cancer, the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. John Jefferson Perry, an assistant professor […]