A powerful resistance mutation that appeared to emerge in melanoma after a patient received a targeted therapy combination, instead was lurking in the tumor all along, primed to thwart treatment before it began, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online at Cancer Discovery.
I can still remember that giddy feeling I had seven years ago, when I first read about the “zombie ant.” The story was gruesome and fascinating
A gene discovered by Temple University researchers has proved to be an important target for cancer therapy, with the discovery of its roles in controlling cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and DNA repair.
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have moved closer to developing an alternative method of detecting and possibly treating breast cancer. The researchers work with pulsed, terahertz imaging, a type of electromagnetic radiation technology previously used to find land mines. They adapted the technology to detect tumors and provide highly specific images.
Yale School of Public Health researchers have developed a new method to predict likely resistance paths to cancer therapeutics, and a methodology to apply it to one of the most frequent cancer-causing genes.
Researchers have identified a lung stem cell that repairs the organ’s gas exchange compartment. They isolated and characterized these progenitor cells from mouse and human lungs and demonstrated they are essential to repairing lung tissue damaged by severe influenza and other respiratory ailments.
The breakthrough may expand research on the roles of glycans in human diseases, including cancers.
To address embarrassing, inconvenient and costly male fertility testing, researchers from FAU are developing a home-based kit that accurately, quantitatively, and quickly, provides a complete semen evaluation using microfluidics, an app and a smartphone. After all, if women can use pregnancy tests in the comfort and privacy of their own homes, men also should be able to test their semen at home without any hassles.
Six years into Lebanon’s refugee crisis, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon at the American University of Beirut Medical Center offer a blueprint for effective childhood cancer treatment during turmoil
Our bodies are not just passively growing older
Writing in the February 27 online issue of Science Signaling, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center describe how a signaling protein that normally suppresses tumors can be manipulated (or re-programmed) by growth factors, turning it into a driver of malignant growth and metastasis.
SBP researchers have developed the first ever high-throughput, genome-scale imaging-based approach to investigate protein stability. The method has been used to identify several previously unknown human proteins that HIV degrades to enhance its infection process.
For years, researchers have attempted to harness the full potential of gene therapy, a technique that inserts genes into a patient’s cells to treat cancer and other diseases. However, inserting engineered DNA molecules into cells is difficult. A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a new method that could make the process easier.
A special receptor on cells that line the sinuses, throat and lungs evolved to protect mammals from developing a range of allergies and asthma, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A heating and freezing process known as dual thermal ablation can kill pancreatic cancer cells, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University at New York.
The University of Illinois at Chicago has been awarded a $4.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study the molecular neurobiology of chronic pain in patients with sickle cell disease and to develop potential new drug treatments.
Research led by Johns Hopkins physicians and scientists shows that a test for measuring the length of DNA endcaps, called telomeres, which has a variability rate of 5 percent, can alter treatment decisions for patients with certain types of bone marrow failure.
Michelle Ozbun, PhD, is using two grants totaling $2.7 million to learn how human papillomaviruses (HPV) sneak into cells to reproduce. She and her team are also developing new ways in which to measure infections.
Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have devised a new technique to isolate aggressive cells thought to form the root of many hard-to-treat metastasized cancers, a significant step toward developing new drugs that might target these cells.
A living cell is able to neatly package a big jumble of DNA into tiny chromosomes while preparing for cell division. Researchers in Delft now managed for the first time to isolate and film that process, and proof that a single protein complex called condensin reels in DNA to extrude a loop.
Injections of cardiac progenitor cells help reverse the fatal heart disease caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy and also lead to improved limb strength and movement ability, a new study shows. The study, published today in Stem Cell Reports, showed that when researchers injected cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) into the hearts of laboratory mice with muscular dystrophy, heart function improved along with a marked increase in exercise capacity.
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, researchers at Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health and University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in China, Germany and Texas, have developed a new computational tool to screen patients with common but blinding retinal diseases, potentially speeding diagnoses and treatment.
Larotrectinib, a highly selective TRK kinase inhibitor, shows rapid, potent, and durable efficacy in both adult and pediatric patients with solid tumors that harbor TRK fusions, regardless of tumor type or patient age, according to results from three clinical trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The landmark data support the foundation of precision oncology by creating a treatment option for a genetically defined cancer while continuing to validate the concept that comprehensive molecular profiling should be strongly considered in people of all ages with advanced solid tumors.
To treat cardiovascular disease, surgery can remove blockages in large vessels in the heart or legs but is not possible in small vessels. To address this problem, researchers designed 3D-printed patches seeded with vessel-inducing endothelial cells. In a mouse model of hindlimb ischemia, the researchers identified specific patch patterns that induced growth of organized, tissue-saving blood vessels, demonstrating the potential for the novel technology to address this significant public health problem.
UCLA researchers used fluorescent colored proteins to trace how cardiomyocytes — cells in heart muscle that enable it to pump blood — are produced in mouse embryos. The findings could eventually lead to methods for regenerating heart tissue in human adults.
Three simultaneous safety and efficacy studies of the drug larotrectinib reported an overall response rate of 75 percent for patients ages four months to 76 years with 17 different cancer diagnoses.
Carbon monoxide can improve the effectiveness of antibiotics, making bacteria more sensitive to antibiotic medication, according to a study led by Georgia State University.
UNC and NC State scientists created an injectable gel-like scaffold that can hold combination chemo-immunotherapeutic drugs and deliver them locally to tumors in a sequential manner. The results in animal models suggest this approach could one day ramp up therapeutic benefits for cancer patients.
Some scientists have hypothesized that tumor-promoting changes in cells during cancer development—particularly an epigenetic change involving DNA methylation—arise from rogue cells escaping a natural cell deterioration process called senescence. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center demonstrated that instead, tumor-associated epigenetic states evolve erratically during early stages of tumor development, eventually selecting for a subset of genes that undergo the most changes during normal aging and in early tumor development.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that when mature cells transition to begin dividing again, they all seem to do it the same way, regardless of what organ those cells come from.
Levels of a protein found in the brain called alpha-synuclein (α-syn) are significantly lower than normal in cerebrospinal fluid collected in Parkinson’s disease patients suffering from postural instability and gait difficulty, a study led by movement disorders experts at Rush University Medical Center has found.
Axonal and dendritic proteins embedded in the membrane at either end – called transmembrane proteins – are built in the same cellular factory and travel on the same cellular highway. But for the cell to function property, they must be delivered to the correct domain. So how does the cell regulate that voyage?
Researchers describe the role of a transcription factor called TCF-1 in targeting the condensed chromatin and regulating the availability of genome sequences in T-cell development. The new connection between TCF-1 and chromatin will aid in developing new therapies using epigenetic drugs to alter T-cell fate in cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases.
The five-year, $2.1 million study will examine mutational spectra of environmental toxins.
A cell’s membrane is composed of a bilayer of lipids, and the inside-facing layer is made of different lipids than the outside-facing layer. Because different lipids create membranes with different physical properties, researchers wondered whether different lipid compositions in the bilayer could also lead to different physical properties. They will present their work exploring this “lipid asymmetry” during the 62nd Biophysical Society Meeting, held Feb. 17-21.
Around the clock, cells deep in the brain produces a “grandfather” form of several hormones that help us regulate our appetite and eating. Now, a new discovery sheds new light on how that grandfather molecule gets produced – and more important, what can go wrong and raise the risk of overeating and obesity. The findings could pave the way for new approaches to treating forms of obesity, especially those with genetic roots.
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame discovered that the activation of a specific enzyme may help suppress the spread of tumors.
Researchers have shown for the first time that a key protein called KMT2D involved in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression guides this renewal.
In an effort to create a power source for future implantable technologies, a team of researchers developed an electric eel-inspired device that produced 110 volts from gels filled with water, called hydrogels. Their results show potential for a soft power source to draw on a biological system’s chemical energy. Anirvan Guha will present the research during the 62nd Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Feb. 17-21.
Cell division is an intricately choreographed ballet of proteins and molecules that divide the cell. During mitosis, microtubule-organizing centers assemble the spindle fibers that separate the copying chromosomes of DNA. While scientists are familiar with MTOCs’ existence and the role they play in cell division, their actual physical structure remains poorly understood. Researchers are now trying to decipher their molecular architecture, and they will present their work during the 62nd Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, held Feb. 17-21.
Circadian clocks arose as an adaptation to dramatic swings in daylight hours and temperature caused by the Earth’s rotation, but we still don’t fully understand how they work. During the 62nd Biophysical Society Meeting, held Feb. 17-21, Andy LiWang, University of California, Merced, will present his lab’s work studying the circadian clock of blue-green colored cyanobacteria. LiWang’s group discovered that how the proteins move hour by hour is central to cyanobacteria’s circadian clock function.
Protein systems make up the complex signaling pathways that control whether a cell divides or, in some cases, metastasizes. Ras proteins have long been the focus of cancer research because of their role as “on/off switch” signaling pathways that control cell division and failure to die like healthy cells do. Now, a team of researchers has been able to study precisely how Ras proteins interact with cell membrane surfaces.
Need an expert in a hurry? Need to pitch an expert in a hurry? Find experts and manage your experts in the Newswise Expert Directory. Our database of experts is growing daily. Search by institution, name, subject, keywords, and place.
Imaging of biomolecules is taking a leap forward at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. UAB installed a $600,000 direct electron detector on its cryo-electron microscope in January, and validation tests to fine-tune the resolution are underway.
New research in mice has found that a father’s stress affects the brain development of his offspring. This stress changes the father’s sperm, which can then alter the brain development of the child. This new research provides a much better understanding of the key role that fathers play in the brain development of offspring.
• Three new research articles compare human and mouse kidney development to identify shared and novel features. • The studies provide new detailed molecular data to guide future research. • The studies revealed deep conservation of certain processes, but also significant differences in gene expression during kidney development, as well as in the timing, scale, organization, and molecular profile of key cell types and cell structures.
Jakub Famulski, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Kentucky, has received an R01 grant for over $1.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to study the early formation of the anterior segment of the eye, which includes the cornea, iris, ciliary muscle, drainage canals and pupil.
New research from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah illuminates aspects of how an early embryo, the product of fertilization of a female egg cell by a male sperm cell, can give rise to all the many cell types of the adult animal.
A tool that has already revolutionized disease research may soon get even better, thanks to an accidental discovery in the bacteria that cause many of the worst cases of meningitis.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right