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How the immune system adapts to pregnancies has puzzled scientists for decades. Now, findings from an international group of researchers, led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, reveal important changes that occur in the thymus to prevent miscarriages and gestational diabetes. The results are published in the journal Nature. […]

For even the most routine of medical checkups, a blood test is often the first order of business. But, for all its diagnostic power, this common test provides only a snapshot of the blood during a single moment in time. “A blood test is great, but it can’t tell you, […]

A woman who defied a genetic mutation that guarantees early-onset Alzheimer’s donates her brain to research. Her life was nothing short of a miracle. Born into an extended family of 6,000, all of whom share a rare genetic mutation that inescapably leads to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by the age of […]

One of the key difficulties in the treatment of cancer is the fact of its evolution being parallel to our own. This makes developing effective drugs a complex and on-going process. Another challenge faced by researchers is the effective delivery of drugs directly to malignant cells without damaging healthy organs […]

White blood cells are part of many immune system responses in the human body. New research shows that a specific type of those cells may cause brain cancer tissues to die — but that’s not good news, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine. They said that higher amounts […]

In cell-based immunotherapy, a treatment being explored for cancer, the body’s immune cells are modified to eliminate cancer cells more effectively. Immune cells can kill cancer cells on their own but have some difficulty recognizing the substance produced by tumors that provides information on what cells to target. Researchers at […]

The absence of a protein that works to prevent tumor formation may explain why some patients are resistant to a common cancer therapy, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They said that testing cancers for the presence of this protein may help clinicians identify patients who may be resistant to […]

Fibrous proteins such as collagen and fibrinogen form a thin solid layer on the surface of an aqueous solution similar to the “skin” that forms on warm milk, according to a team of Penn State Researchers, who believe this finding could lead to more efficient bioprinting and tissue engineering. In […]

Scientists have tracked the very early stages of human foetal gut development in incredible detail, and found specific cell functions that appear to be reactivated in the gut of children with Crohn’s Disease. The results are an important step towards better management and treatment of this devastating condition. The research from the University of […]

Injecting a gene therapy vector into one eye of someone suffering from LHON, the most common cause of mitochondrial blindness, significantly improves vision in both eyes, scientists have found. In a landmark phase 3 clinical trial, the international team, coordinated by Dr Patrick Yu-Wai-Man from the University of Cambridge and Dr José-Alain […]

Researchers have identified the driving force behind a cellular process linked to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease. In a study published in Science Advances, researchers from the University of Cambridge show that tiny components within the cell are the biological engines behind effective protein production. The endoplasmic […]

Calcification of blood vessel walls progresses with age, an issue that sees cells behave as through they are in bone tissue, a maladaptive reaction to the altered signaling environment and damage of aged tissue. The resulting deposition of calcium makes normally flexible cardiovascular tissue stiff and dysfunctional, ultimately contributing to […]