A family of proteins that have a role in ensuring many types of cells move and maintain their shape may promote disease when they act like workaholics and disrupt the cellular environment, new research suggests.
Factor Bioscience Inc., a Cambridge-based biotechnology company focused on developing mRNA and cell-engineering technologies, announced its participation in the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 25th Annual Meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. from May 16-19, 2022.
Scientists from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed a first-of-its-kind cross-tissue cell atlas, and in collaboration with researchers at Mass Eye and Ear, have uncovered new clues for specific cell types and genes involved in complex diseases. In a new study published May 12 in Science, researchers described for the first time how their novel cross-tissue cell atlas derived from an analysis of nuclei from 25 frozen samples from 8 tissue types may increase understanding of the cellular and genetic underpinnings of complex diseases, including heart disease and cancers.
Sandra A. Murray was elected by members of the American Society for Cell Biology to serve as President in 2024. Murray is a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh. She will serve as President-Elect on the Executive Committee in 2023.
In “proof of concept” experiments with mouse and human cells and tissues, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have designed tiny proteins, called nanobodies, derived from llama antibodies, that could potentially be used to deliver targeted medicines to human muscle cells.
For the first time, UNC-Chapel Hill scientists have measured the concentration of a biomarker of the commonly used fungicide azoxystrobin in the urine of pregnant women and children. They also documented maternal transfer of the chemical to mouse embryos and weaning-age mice.
Scientists have revived light-sensing neuron cells in organ donor eyes and restored communication between them as part of a series of discoveries that stand to transform brain and vision research.
Female rats exposed to a scream sound may have diminished ovarian reserve and reduced fertility, according to a small animal study published in the Endocrine Society’s journal, Endocrinology.
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides guidance on the use of radiation therapy to treat patients with brain metastases from non-hematologic solid tumors. The guideline, which updates ASTRO’s original 2012 guideline to reflect recent research developments, is published in Practical Radiation Oncology.
Epigenetic drugs that have shown promise in cancer trials significantly reduce scarring in the cells of patients with scleroderma, a new study shows. Results reveal that drugs that inhibit BRD4, known to play a role in cancer, also affect fibrosis in scleroderma. Researchers tested BRD4 inhibitors on the skin fibroblasts of scleroderma patients and in mouse models of skin fibrosis, finding that the treatment stopped scarring in both human-derived cells and in animals.
Researchers in the Center of Excellence for Evolutionary Therapy at Moffitt Cancer Center have been investigating an alternative treatment approach called adaptive therapy that focuses on maintaining disease control instead of complete tumor cell elimination. In a new study published in Communications Medicine, the researchers used mathematical modeling to reveal that the spatial organization of a tumor is an important factor that governs how cells compete with one another and the effectiveness of adaptive therapy.
There is an urgent need for new and better treatments for the 3 million people who suffer from Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Since the causes of IBD remain unknown, most therapies are directed against inflammation, but a better understanding of the basic mechanisms will allow more meaningful treatment for patients. An in-depth, 10-year study of immune mechanisms by researchers at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, however, may have both identified a marker of IBD as well as a potential treatment option.
According to a model created by University of Washington research professor James Anderson, a genetically predetermined limit on your immune system may be the key to why COVID-19 has such a devastating effect on the elderly.
In a new study, researchers demonstrated that the benefits of endurance exercise can vary based on the type of mutation involved in mitochondrial disease, and while the benefits of exercise outweigh the risks, the mitochondrial genetic status of patients should be taken into consideration when recommending exercise as therapy.
A cross-college collaboration at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has developed a self-learning artificial intelligence (AI) platform that uses big data analytics to discover how new pharmaceutical drugs and various molecules work inside living cells.
A Rutgers researcher will use genomics, genetics, and cell biology to identify and understand the corals’ response to heat stress conditions and to pinpoint master regulatory genes involved in coral bleaching due to global warming and climate change. The researcher and his team will use a novel gene-editing tool as a resource to knock down some gene functions with the goal of boosting the corals’ abilities to survive.
Researchers share insights about the mechanisms of human embryo and create method to develop transcriptionally similar cells in tissue culture; latest discovery a step closer to finding alternative for bone marrow and other cancer treatments.
PAIR-UP has received additional funding of $675,000 over three years from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund to include dedicated postdoctoral fellows to guide three of the five research teams, also known as Peer Imaging Clusters (PICs).
A point-of-care COVID-19 test developed by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can now detect and differentiate the alpha variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from earlier strains in saliva samples.
To engineer proteins for specific functions, scientists change a protein sequence and experimentally test how that change alters its function. Because there are too many possible amino acid sequence changes to test them all in the laboratory, researchers build computational models that predict protein function based on amino acid sequences. Scientists have now combined multiple machine learning approaches for building a simple predictive model that often works better than established, complex methods.
A recent study published in the journal Communications Biology shows manipulating and deleting a specific gene (AMN1) from yeast could provide a foundation for a new approach to combatting drug resistance when treating microbial infections or cancer.
Israeli scientists have succeeded in creating edible muscle fibers by bioprinting a plant-based scaffold and living animal cells. By using non-animal-derived materials like pea protein, which is non-allergenic, the findings open new possibilities for future development of the cultivated meat market.
Following an analysis of over 12,000 human genes, research from Yale Cancer Center indicates there is cancer-relevant importance in a much larger proportion of human genes than current cancer research models suggest.
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center want to improve their understanding of the immune environment in ovarian cancer in hopes of making immunotherapy an option for these patients. In a new study published in Cancer Cell, they report on key characteristics of immune cells in ovarian cancer and identify cell types important for mediating an immune response.
Using retrospective clinical data and in-depth lab studies, researchers have discovered that vitamin E can enhance immunotherapy responses by stimulating dendritic cells in the tumor.
The findings suggest these single-celled organisms have programmed or regulated cell-death mechanisms like those that are known to work in animals and other complex organisms.
LevitasBio, Inc. today unveiled the LeviCell™ EOS System, their next generation solution for cell separation and enrichment, featuring higher throughput and simultaneous targeted selection of viable cells.
With the help of the CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors, genetic information in a plant can be modified to make the latter more robust to pests, diseases, or extreme climatic conditions. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed this method further to eliminate the complete DNA of specific cell types and, thus, prevent their formation during plant development. This will also help to better understand development mechanisms in plants. The findings are presented in Nature Communications. (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29130-w)
A new study from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson finds that (Aβ) accumulation in AD is associated with reduced blood flow to the brain, known as cerebral hypoperfusion.
Researchers combined advanced computational methods with experimental studies to gain new insight, at the cell level, into how the plant compound formononetin might be used to treat food allergies. With nearly 10% of the world population affected by food allergies — which are sometimes life-threatening — new treatments are critically needed.
New cell-laden bioink, comprised of tightly-packed, flake-shaped microgels and living cells, enables the production of cell-rich 4D bioconstructs that can change shape under physiological conditions.
With help from the best tweezers in the world a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen has shed new light on a fundamental mechanism in all living cells that helps them explore their surroundings and even invade tissue.
Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC) now offers authors the option of having their Article or Brief Report made open access immediately upon publication. The new option offers greater flexibility to authors, many of who are required by their funders to make their work open access.
Scientists have long puzzled about a critical way that cells communicate with one another, but Rutgers researchers have used a simple roundworm to solve the mystery.
Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC) has begun publishing MBoC Preprint Highlights, a new type of editorial content that provides brief summaries and structured recognition of selected preprints. This effort leverages the expertise of MBoC and the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) to promote the curation of the preprint literature for the benefit of the scientific community.