Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers say a new study of clusters of mouse cells known as “organoids” has significantly strengthened evidence that epigenetic changes, common to aging, play a essential role in colon cancer initiation. The findings show that epigenetic changes are the spark that pushes colon-cancer driving gene mutations into action, the researchers say.
In a recent University of California, Irvine-led study published in Nucleic Acids Research, a team of scientists described a catalog of 4489 putative mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions, including their frequency and relative read rate. This catalog comprises the first comprehensive database of mitochondrial deletions derived from human brain.
Nurse practitioners and nursing students can use local, real-time maps of opioid overdoses to inform their clinical work with adolescents in community health settings, finds new research from NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing.
For decades, articles in research journals and the popular press alike have reported that being a family caregiver takes a toll on a person’s health, boosting levels of inflammation and weakening the function of the immune system. Now, after analyzing 30 papers on the levels of immune and inflammatory molecules in caregivers, Johns Hopkins researchers say the link has been overstated and the association is extremely small. Caregiver stress explains less than 1 percent of the variability in immune and inflammation biomarkers, they report. Their new meta-analysis was published March 10 in The Gerontologist.
Researchers have used a molecular “can opener” and advanced imaging to expose parts of the HIV envelope and reveal in detail a previously unknown virus shape with unique vulnerabilities that can be targeted by antibodies. This could open new directions for vaccine development.
In studies with lab-grown human cells and in mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have found that an experimental drug may be twice as good at fighting vision loss as previously thought.
Electricity harvested from the sun or wind can be used interchangeably with power from coal or petroleum sources. Or sustainably produced electricity can be turned into something physical and useful. Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis have figured out how to feed electricity to microbes to grow truly green, biodegradable plastic, as reported in the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.
Single-cell sequencing reveals 25 subpopulations of myeloid immune cells in lung cancer tumors. Many subpopulations are similar across humans and mice, supporting the use of mouse models in immunotherapy research. Findings set stage to assess myeloid cells as targets for new or improved immunotherapies.
Researchers have identified for the first time an imbalance in a key neural pathway that explains how some people reactivate negative emotional memories. The finding could help scientists unlock new ways to treat psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Results of a small clinical trial suggest that supplementing chemotherapy with high doses of vitamin D may benefit patients with metastatic colorectal cancer by delaying progression of the disease, say scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that many "redundant" enzymes are actually specialists that ensure maximal growth across different environments. Further, these enzymes were found to increase E. coli’s resistance to antibiotics at low pH conditions, such as those found in the GI tract or urinary tract — raising concerns that current antibiotic susceptibility tests are inadequate.
New research points to a potential way to prevent acute liver damage, or even treat it -- as well as a possible way to better monitor the health of patients who have suffered from it. It's based on the discovery that a protein involved in one of the liver’s most basic functions also sounds the alarm when liver cells get hurt.
The molecular "scissors" known as CRISPR-Cas9 has transformed genetic research in recent years. Now, an international team has unveiled a new CRISPR-based tool that acts more like a shredder, able to wipe out long stretches of DNA in human cells with programmable targeting. It's based on Type I CRISPR-Cas3, which has been shown to work in human cells for the first time.
BIDMC's Cancer Center researchers identified a new pathway that offers promising targets for preventing lung tumor relapse.
The widely used CyberInfrastructure for Phylogenetic REsearch (CIPRES) science gateway, based at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), has been awarded a one-year Internet2 grant funded by the NSF to give users AWS cloud access.
Using information from two national surveys, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Guttmacher Institute have found that in some metropolitan areas, more than a quarter of young, African American men reported having sexual intercourse before age 13, and for about 45 percent of them, the sex was either unwanted or experienced with “mixed feelings.”
Engineers developed 3D printed metamaterials with unique optical properties going beyond what is possible using conventional materials. The fabrication methods developed by the researchers demonstrate the potential, both present and future, of 3D printing to expand the range of optical devices used in instrumentation and telecommunications.
Children with acute respiratory infections were prescribed antibiotics more often during direct-to-consumer telemedicine visits than during in-person primary care appointments or urgent care visits, according to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh research reported today in Pediatrics.
Marie Kondo herself couldn’t do it any better. Now researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have uncovered a previously unknown structural feature of living cells that is critical to tidying up.
High-resolution images capture previously unseen features of PDE6. Included among them were some very promising regions that resemble fish-hooks. These regions are responsible for controlling PDE activity. By targeting the fish-hook-like region with a new class of PDE inhibitors, drug development companies may be able to eliminate unwanted side effects of certain PDE targeting drugs.
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center used a new imaging technique to reveal a takeover strategy that has worked for weedy rice over and over again: roots that minimize below-ground contact with other plants.
Scientists at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a method that exploits the multitargeted nature of a chemical inhibitor to pinpoint vulnerabilities within cancer cells.
These strange bacteria conduct electricity through a structure never before seen in nature -- a structure scientists can co-opt to miniaturize electronics, create powerful-yet-tiny batteries, build pacemakers without wires and develop a host of other medical advances.
Insulin triggers genome-wide changes in gene expression via an unexpected mechanism. The insulin receptor is transported from the cell surface to the cell nucleus, where it helps initiate the expression of thousands of genes. Targeted genes are involved in insulin-related functions and disease but surprisingly not carbohydrate metabolism. Findings outline a set of potential therapeutic targets for insulin-related diseases and establish a wide range of future avenues for the study of insulin signaling.
A study of pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus has identified early changes in the RNA molecules present in the blood that could be used to determine the likelihood of them developing preeclampsia. The study, which will be published April 8 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, may also help researchers develop treatments to prevent other pregnancy complications associated with lupus, including miscarriage and premature birth.
The Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) was awarded $17.5 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to fund the IGS Genome Center for Infectious Diseases (GCID) for another five years.
In the years following bariatric surgery, a person’s overall eating behaviors and the amount of time spent watching television, playing video games and using a computer are a better indication of long-term weight loss success than specific weight control practices like counting calories.
Scientists have developed a novel fabrication method to create dyed threads that change color when they detect a variety of gases. Woven into clothing, smart, gas-detecting threads could provide a reusable, washable, and affordable safety asset in medical, workplace, military and rescue environments. The study describes the fabrication method and its ability to extend to a wide range of dyes and detection of complex gas mixtures.
More than 125 million people worldwide wear contact lenses, and while many are exposed to relatively common bacteria through their contact lenses, not all contract an eye infection. Researchers at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and University Hospitals (UH) Cleveland Medical Center will study whether a contact-wearer’s genetics may play a role in who does or doesn’t contract infection—especially Microbial keratitis (MK), a bacteria-caused infection of the cornea, which, if left untreated, can cause blindness.
Scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation have revealed an open-access, web-based portal that integrates more than 40 advanced bioinformatics data sources to allow non-technical users to generate insights in one click. Called Metascape, this tool removes data analysis barriers—allowing researchers to spend more time on important biological questions and less time building and troubleshooting a data analysis workflow. The platform was described today in Nature Communications.
In a first on the quest to cure HIV, University of Pittsburgh scientists report that they’ve developed an all-in-one immunotherapy approach that not only kicks HIV out of hiding in the immune system, but also kills it. The key lies in immune cells designed to recognize an entirely different virus.
Biomedical engineers have developed a smartphone app for anemia screening that can assess blood hemoglobin levels through the window of the user’s fingernail. The medical results are based on the coloration of the fingernail bed; the quick and pain-free screening could benefit a vast number of people who are affected by anemia around the world.
At USC, researchers have published a new study that tackles a long-standing problem for autonomous vehicle developers: testing the system’s perception algorithms, which allow the car to “understand” what it “sees.”
Cancer immunotherapy shows surprising successes but also dramatic failures. An emerging activity sensor at Georgia Tech warns clinicians of immunotherapy failures so that they can adjust treatments on time. The sensor is injected intravenously and is read in a urine test.
A large genomic study of nearly 275,000 people led by Penn Medicine researchers revealed new insights into genetic drivers of heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD), the uncontrollable pattern of alcohol use commonly referred to as alcoholism. In the largest-ever genome-wide association study (GWAS) of both traits in the same population, a team of researchers found 18 genetic variants of significance associated with either heavy alcohol consumption, AUD, or both.
Alzheimer's disease wreaks emotional havoc on patients, who are robbed of their memories, their dignity, and their lives. To date, there have been very few successes in the pursuit of a treatment. But one drug that looks at AD from a different angle is now ready for its first round of testing in humans.
A study from Sanford Burnham Prebys has demonstrated a causal link between the gut microbiome and the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. The researchers identified a cocktail of 11 bacterial strains that activated the immune system and slowed the growth of melanoma in mice. The study also points to the role of unfolded protein response (UPR), a cellular signaling pathway that maintains protein health (homeostasis). Reduced UPR was seen in melanoma patients who are responsive to immune checkpoint therapy, revealing potential markers for patient stratification. The study was published in Nature Communications.
Leveraging the power of the Comet supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego, campus researchers have demonstrated they can efficiently analyze more than 1,000 EEG 128-channel high-density data sets via the new Open EEGLAB Portal running on SDSC’s Neuroscience Gateway (NSG).
In a study that will be published April 1 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers from the Institut Pasteur and INSERM reveal that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells can induce tumor regression by directly targeting and killing cancer cells, uncovering new details of how these immune cells work and how their effectiveness could be improved in the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other B cell cancers.
An inhibitor drug that targets a specific mutation in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) helps patients live almost twice as long as those who receive chemotherapy.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering and the School of Medicine have found the most efficient length for cilia, the tiny hair-like structures designed to sweep out the body's fluids, cells and microbes to stay healthy.
A medicine currently being tested as a chemoprevention agent for multiple types of cancer has more than one trick in its bag when it comes to preventing stomach cancer, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
As many as a billion people could be newly exposed to disease-carrying mosquitoes by the end of the century because of global warming, says a new study that examines temperature changes on a monthly basis across the world.
For the first time, a person living with HIV has donated a kidney to a transplant recipient also living with HIV. A multidisciplinary team from Johns Hopkins Medicine completed the living donor HIV-to-HIV kidney transplant on Mar. 25. The doctors say both the donor and the recipient are doing well.
Researchers have shown, in mice, that one type of stem cell that makes adult neurons is the source of this lifetime stock of new cells in the hippocampus. These findings may help neuroscientists figure out how to maintain youthful conditions for learning and memory, and repair and regenerate parts of the brain after injury and aging.
Researchers have developed a method to grow and maintain olfactory stem cells. The work is a launch pad for developing stem cell transplantation therapies or pharmacologic activation of a patient’s own dormant cells, to restore the sense of smell where it has been damaged by injury or degeneration.
A little goes a long way. Tiny blood vessels are essential for regenerative engineering and a team led by engineers from Michigan Tech has detailed innovative methods to ensure highly aligned, dense and mature microvasculature in engineered tissue that can be used for cardiac patches.
In a breakthrough study of sickle cell disease, biomedical engineers in the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering have revealed that the building blocks of the disease are much less efficient at organizing than previously thought. The findings open the door to new treatments, including new medicines that could be prescribed at lower doses, for the approximately 20 million people worldwide who suffer from the lifelong disease.
Scientists from UC San Diego have confined a long-contemplated diatomic molecule by isolating a metal compound containing the elusive “BF.”
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology are looking at bee "glue" as a potential bioinspired adhesive because of its unique adhesive properties and ability to remain sticky through a range of conditions.
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