No, oxygen didn’t catalyze the swift blossoming of Earth’s first multicellular organisms. The result defies a 70-year-old assumption about what caused an explosion of oceanic fauna hundreds of millions of years ago.
As a human embryo grows, a set of molecules directs cells as they multiply and take on specific identities and spatial positions within the embryo. In one crucial step known as gastrulation, these signaling molecules guide a single layer of embryonic stem cells to form three layers of distinct cell types that will later become different parts of the body.
Researchers from SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research) and the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences at Osaka University reported the development of a sensor to look at Pcdh interactions in live neurons, which brings us closer to understanding this mystery.
Rakuten Medical, Inc. (Rakuten Medical), a global biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell-targeting photoimmunotherapy-based on its proprietary Alluminox™ platform, today announced it will host a virtual R&D Day on the preliminary safety and efficacy findings from its open-label Phase 1b/2 study of Alluminox™ treatment using ASP-1929 in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy in recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine had a large presence and leadership role at the 2023 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with involvement in more than 150 presentations at the four-day meeting. The annual conference is the largest and most influential international meeting dedicated to advancing dementia science.
Research from Sanford Burnham Prebys and the Osaka International Cancer Institute has shed new light on the anti-cancer properties of mannose, a sugar that is crucial to many physiological processes in humans and is also known to inhibit the growth of cancer cells.
Researchers have cracked how a particular type of immune cell develops in the body and protects against infection and disease. And the discovery could help in the development of more preventive treatments, according to a new study.
Giving patients with operable pancreatic cancers a three-pronged combination immunotherapy treatment consisting of the pancreatic cancer vaccine GVAX, the immune checkpoint therapy nivolumab and urelemab, an anti-CD137 agonist antibody treatment, is safe, it increases the amount of cancer-killing immune system T cells in the tumors and it appears effective when given two weeks prior to cancer-removal surgery, according to new research directed by Johns Hopkins investigators.
The neurons in our bodies are dotted with tiny pores that let essential molecules pass in and out of our cells. Neurons need these channels to send the signals that allow us to move, think, and perceive the world around us. Now, structural biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have captured never-before-seen images of one of the largest pores in human neurons.
If the human cell is a nightclub, then the nucleus is a VIP lounge fiercely maintained by the nuclear pore complex. By modeling a dynamic simulation of the NPC, Beckman physicists have theorized as to why some proteins enter the nucleus more readily than others.
While pembrolizumab is an approved treatment for patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), only some patients respond to this therapy. Treatment failure, researchers say, is often caused by differences in the tumor microenvironment.
A multidisciplinary team led by Dr. Ángel R. Nebreda, Dr. María J. Macías and Dr. Modesto Orozco, all at IRB Barcelona, has developed a new type of p38 inhibitor, which preferentially impairs one of the activation pathways of this protein. In particular, these inhibitors block the self-activation (or autophosphorylation) of p38 but allow it to continue to be activated by other mechanisms.
Scientists have long known that the immune system played a key role in our reactions to allergens and pathogens in the environment, but it was unclear whether it played any role in prompting these types of behaviors towards allergic triggers. According to Yale-led research published July 12 in the journal Nature, it turns out that the immune system plays a crucial role in changing our behaviors.
An international team of researchers led by Dr. James Umen at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has made a groundbreaking discovery in the world of developmental biology. In their latest study on volvocine green algae, the scientists identified a new gene, named VSR1, that plays a vital role in the activation of genes specific to the development of female and male reproductive cells.
What makes the vital layer of protective cells around the brain and spinal cord — the blood-brain barrier — more or less permeable has been one of the more mystifying questions in neuroscience.
In a pre-clinical, proof-of-concept study from Johns Hopkins Medicine, researchers found that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a green tea compound with powerful antioxidant properties, could be promising for both treating and preventing uterine fibroids. Results of the study, first posted online May 25 in Scientific Reports, add to growing evidence that EGCG may reduce fibroid cell growth.
The International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research is pleased to announce the appointment of Trevor Charles, Professor in the Department of Biology at University of Waterloo in Canada and Director of the Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research, as a new Board member of the organization
Progranulin is a growth factor in cellular activity that is known to play a key role in the proliferation of tumors. In the case of malignant mesothelioma, researchers are honing in on how progranulin interacts with signal pathways through a system of proteins and receptors in our cells.
New research shows how one transcription factor functions as a special “pioneer factor” by managing to bind to a blocked segment of DNA to begin the process of opening up and activating a gene.
In a world first, a ‘biological camera’ bypasses the constraints of current DNA storage methods, harnessing living cells and their inherent biological mechanisms to encode and store data. This represents a significant breakthrough in encoding and storing images directly within DNA, creating a new model for information storage reminiscent of a digital camera.
Through joint research with the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials(KIMM), the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) developed a 3D bioprinting technology using natural killer cells (NK cells) as a new method of immunotherapy for treating cancer.
University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have discovered how the cells that let us hear can repair themselves after being damaged. That important insight could benefit efforts to develop new and better ways to treat and prevent hearing loss.
A Ludwig Cancer Research study has discovered that the presence of relatively high numbers of immune cells known as monocytes in tumors is linked to better outcomes in esophageal cancer patients treated with a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, or immunochemotherapy.
For most of our tissues and cells, a lack of oxygen, or hypoxia, is bad news. However, cancer cells can thrive in these conditions, rendering tumors less susceptible to anti-cancer treatments including radiation. Now, new research may offer a way to break through cancer’s hypoxia-induced defenses.
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital used genomics to inform the creation of genetic and new cell-line models for hepatoblastoma, which pointed toward the DNA damage repair pathway as a promising therapeutic route.
FLASH is a targeted radiation therapy that kills tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue and delivers a short, intense burst of radiation in a single appointment. Corie Ralston from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will present her team’s research using X-ray footprinting mass spectrometry to investigate the mechanisms that make FLASH a powerful cancer killer at ACA’s 73rd annual meeting, July 7-11.
Plant and animal stem cells both rely on the cytoskeleton to divide properly, but a new study finds that they use them in opposite ways—while animal cells pull on the cytoskeleton, plant cells push it away. Harnessing that action could help scientists engineer more resilient plants.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, in collaboration with researchers at the National Institutes of Health, report that two new studies in mice with a humanized immune system and human cell lines have identified an enzyme that plays a critical role in the late stages of HIV replication.
Researchers continue to refine and improve targeted drug therapies that have changed the most common form of adult leukemia – from an incurable to a chronic condition. New data published in the New England Journal of Medicine offers another treatment option for patients who have stopped responding to the first and second generation drugs.
A single-cell study led by MD Anderson researchers and published in Cancer Cell provides a deeper understanding of the evolution of the tumor microenvironment during gastric cancer progression.
ASBMB applauds NIH's proposed changes to the NRSA grant application including removal of grades, inclusion of applicant special circumstance statement and reviewer bias training
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has treated its first patient using genetically modified T-cells that were manufactured in its own state-of-the-art Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility.
A study using a synthetic ‘minimal cell’ organism stripped down to the 'bare essentials' for life demonstrates the tenacity of organism's power to evolve and adapt, even in the face of an unnatural genome that would seemingly provide little flexibility.
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found that altering amounts of the nutrient glutamine in the tumor microenvironment could enhance or impair the immune system’s anti-cancer response.
Long Covid, which affects nearly two-million people in the UK (1), is not caused by an immune inflammatory reaction to COVID-19, University of Bristol-led research finds. Emerging data demonstrates that immune activation may persist for months after COVID-19.
Our body’s fat metabolism plays a vital role in energy production in our body. A research team at the University of Basel, Switzerland, has discovered a molecular switch that regulates lipid metabolism in our cells. This switch controls the storage or conversion of lipids into energy.
Gene therapy that alters hemoglobin genes may be an answer to curing sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard found base editing increased fetal hemoglobin production in a new treatment.
With aging mitochondria – powerhouses of cells – can lose fragments of their DNA, that leads to different pathologies, especially as far as brain and muscles is concerned.
The $400,000 award recognizes the far-reaching medical impact of Dr. Caruthers' development, in the early 1980s, of an efficient and fast method to synthesize nucleic acids.
Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have developed a nanoparticle — an extremely tiny biodegradable container — that has the potential to improve the delivery of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based vaccines for infectious diseases such as COVID-19, and vaccines for treating non-infectious diseases including cancer.
Researchers at IRB Barcelona, the University of Barcelona (UB), VIMM, and the University of Padua unveil the key role of Mitofusin 2 cellular makeup in interconnecting organelles within cells. As essential structures with specialized functions, these organelles rely on intricate connections for seamless communication. Among these organelles, mitochondria (known as cell powerhouses) and the endoplasmic reticulum (responsible for protein and lipid synthesis) engage in vital exchanges.
Cambridge scientists have created a stem cell-derived model of the human embryo in the lab by reprogramming human stem cells. The breakthrough could help research into genetic disorders and in understanding why and how pregnancies fail.
Collaborative work by teams at the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS) at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), University of California, Irvine (UCI), and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has shown that interplay between circadian clocks in liver and skeletal muscle controls glucose metabolism.
The recent tragic loss of the Titan submersible in the depths of the North Atlantic has brought the fascinating (and very dangerous) world of Oceanography and Marine Science to the forefront. Below are some recent stories that have been added to the Marine Science channel on Newswise, including expert commentary on the Titan submersible.
Scientists at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified potential new biomarkers that could indicate how someone diagnosed with metastatic melanoma will respond to immunotherapy treatment.
Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized treatment of many forms of cancer by unleashing the immune system response against tumors. Immunotherapies that block checkpoint receptors like PD-1, proteins that limit the capacity of T cells to attack tumors, have become the choice for the treatment of numerous types of solid cancer.