Chronic tissue inflammation is typically associated with obesity and metabolic disease, but new research from UT Southwestern Medical Center now finds that a level of “healthy” inflammation is necessary to prevent metabolic diseases, such as fatty liver.
New research in mice may finally open the door to solving long-standing mysteries about dystonia -- uncontrollable twisting and stiffening of neck and limb muscles -- and developing new options for patients who experience it alone or as a complication of conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.
In a further test of a novel theory that suggests autism is the consequence of abnormal cell communication, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that an almost century-old drug approved for treating sleeping sickness also restores normal cellular signaling in a mouse model of autism, reversing symptoms of the neurological disorder in animals that were the human biological age equivalent of 30 years old.
It’s broadly assumed that cells degrade and recycle their own old or damaged organelles, but researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Kennedy Krieger Institute have discovered that some neurons transfer unwanted mitochondria – the tiny power plants inside cells – to supporting glial cells called astrocytes for disposal.
Confirming what neurocomputational theorists have long suspected, researchers at the Dignity Health Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz. and University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that the human brain locks down episodic memories in the hippocampus, committing each recollection to a distinct, distributed fraction of individual cells.
Before it can fertilize an egg, a sperm has to bind to and bore through an outer egg layer known as the zona pellucida. Researchers now identify the protein in the zona pellucida that sperm latch onto.
Orexin proteins, which are blamed for spontaneous daytime sleepiness, also play a crucial role in bone formation, according to findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers.
The lab of Brian Strahl, PhD, at the UNC School of Medicine, has found that the enzyme Set2 is a major player in DNA repair, a complicated and crucial process that can lead to the development of cancer cells if the repair goes wrong.
New findings from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center add a surprising new dimension to the understanding of antibody repertoires and their potential to better fight disease.
University of Toronto biologists leading an investigation into the cells that regulate proper brain function, have identified and located the key players whose actions contribute to afflictions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia. The discovery is a major step toward developing improved treatments for these and other neurological disorders.
A team led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute has used advanced electron microscopy techniques to determine the first accurate structural map of Mediator, one of the largest and most complex “molecular machines” in cells.
Twenty-seven chemical elements are considered to be essential for human life. Now there is a 28th – bromine. In a paper published Thursday by the journal Cell, Vanderbilt University researchers establish for the first time that bromine, among the 92 naturally-occurring chemical elements in the universe, is the 28th element essential for tissue development in all animals, from primitive sea creatures to humans.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have, for the first time, described the sequence of early cellular responses to a high-fat diet, one that can result in obesity-induced insulin resistance and diabetes. The findings also suggest potential molecular targets for preventing or reversing the process.
Studying mice, researchers have found a way to prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Blocking a path that delivers dietary fructose to the liver prevented mice from developing the condition, according to investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
A new study from the Monell Center reports that oral taste cells contain receptors for glucocorticoid “stress hormones”. The findings suggest glucocorticoids may act directly on taste cells to affect how they respond to sugars and other taste stimuli under conditions of stress.
Like exploring the inner workings of a clock, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers is digging into the inner workings of the tiny cellular machines called spliceosomes, which help make all of the proteins our bodies need to function. In a recent study published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, UW-Madison’s David Brow, Samuel Butcher and colleagues have captured images of this machine, revealing details never seen before.
The combined action of two enzymes, Srs2 and Exo1, prevents and repairs common genetic mutations in growing yeast cells, according to a new study led by scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center.
In any animal’s lifecycle, the shift from egg cell to embryo is a critical juncture that requires a remarkably dynamic process that ultimately transforms a differentiated, committed oocyte to a totipotent cell capable of giving rise to any cell type in the body. The lab of Whitehead Member Terry Orr-Weaver conducted perhaps the most comprehensive look yet at changes in translation and protein synthesis during a developmental change, using the oocyte-to-embryo transition in Drosophila as a model system.
Striving for the protein equivalent of the Human Genome Project, researchers created an initial catalog of the human “proteome,” or all of the proteins in the human body. The team identified proteins encoded by 17,294 genes, about 84 percent of all of the genes in the human genome. They also found 193 proteins that were not predicted to exist.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered a signaling pathway in cancer cells that controls their ability to invade nearby tissues in a finely orchestrated manner. The findings offer insights into the early molecular events involved in metastasis, the deadly spread of cancer cells from primary tumor to other parts of the body. The study was published today in the online edition of Nature Cell Biology.
Scientists led by a group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, CA, have discovered some of the key proteins involved in one type of DNA repair gone awry.
Bacteria that naturally live in the soil have a vast collection of genes to fight off antibiotics, but they are much less likely to share these genes, a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has revealed
Researchers at UNC Health Care have found that using a new method for identifying bacteria and fungi in patient specimens led to a 92 percent cost reduction in the reagents needed to run clinical microbiology tests.
New research suggests that methanogens — among the simplest and oldest organisms on Earth — could survive on Mars.
New preclinical research on the molecular mechanisms responsible for sickle cell disease could aid efforts to develop much needed treatments for this devastating blood disorder that affects millions worldwide.
A paper from University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers in the journal Science about the fertility of roundworms may have implications for everything from captive pandas to infertile couples struggling to conceive.
Studies of vaccine programs in the developing world have revealed that individuals with chronic infections such as malaria and hepatitis tend to be less likely to develop the fullest possible immunity benefits from vaccines for unrelated illnesses. Researchers have found that chronic bystander viral or parasitic infections impaired the development of memory T cells in mouse models of long-term infection and in immune cells of people chronic hepatitis C infection.
Whitehead Institute researchers have identified a potential dual-pronged approach to treating Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) disease, a rare but devastating genetic disorder. By studying nerve and liver cells grown from NPC patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), the scientists determined that although cholesterol does accumulate abnormally in the cells of NPC patients, a more significant problem may be defective autophagy—a basic cellular function that degrades and recycles unneeded or faulty molecules, components, or organelles in a cell.
The relationship between the Hawaiian bobtail squid and the bacterium Vibrio fischeri is well chronicled, but writing in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison microbiologists Margaret McFall-Ngai, Edward Ruby and their colleagues adds a new wrinkle to the story.
Researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have discovered that by targeting a particular receptor, chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells can be killed in an acute form of childhood leukemia, offering the potential for a future treatment for patients who would otherwise experience relapse of their disease.
The discovery of a crucial mechanism that controls the activation of T cells, a blood cell whose primary job is to fight infection in the body, may enable the development of new drugs to treat autoimmune disease, transplant rejection, and similar disorders in which T cells play a major role. The finding, "T Cell Receptor Signals to NF-kB Are Transmitted by a Cytosolic p62-Bcl10-Malt1-IKK Signalosome," was published in the May 13 issue of Science Signaling.
When ovarian cancer spreads from the ovaries it almost always does so to a layer of fatty tissue that lines the gut. A new study has found that ovarian cancer cells are more aggressive on these soft tissues due to the mechanical properties of this environment. The finding is contrary to what is seen with other malignant cancer cells that seem to prefer stiffer tissues.
Researchers at Dartmouth’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center have published results from a study Cell Reports that discovers a new mechanism that distinguishes normal blood stem cells from blood cancers.
A study identifies a new molecular circuit that controls longevity in yeast and more complex organisms and suggests a therapeutic intervention that could mimic the lifespan-enhancing effect of caloric restriction, no dietary restrictions necessary. The team looked for answers in the ISW2 protein, and found that its absence alters gene expression involved in DNA damage protection. Deletion of ISW2 increases the expression and activity of genes in DNA-damage repair pathways –also seen in calorie restriction.
What is the secret to aging more slowly and living longer? Not antioxidants, apparently. Many people believe that free radicals, the sometimes-toxic molecules produced by our bodies as we process oxygen, are the culprit behind aging. Yet a number of studies in recent years have produced evidence that the opposite may be true.
Important revelations regarding endothelial cell behavior are emerging from vascular simulation research, as highlighted in two recent papers from investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a key genetic switch linked to the development, progression and outcome of cancer, a finding that may lead to new targets for cancer therapies.
Researchers have discovered how cancer cells spread through extremely narrow three-dimensional spaces in the body, identifying a propulsion system based on water and charged particles.
Scientists are beginning to talk about re-engineering crop plants so that, like legumes, they will have on-site nitrogen-fixing systems, either in root nodules or in the plant cells themselves. The structure of a protein called NolR that acts as a master off-switch for the nodulation process, published in the April 29 issue of PNAS, brings them one step closer to this goal.
Researchers discover that newt hearts can regenerate, a finding that may pave the way to new therapies for people with damaged heart tissue.
Researchers in the UNC School of Medicine found that the protein DAZAP1 plays a key role in the regulation of many genes through a process known as alternative splicing, and when highly expressed in cancer cell line experiments, DAZAP1 was shown to inhibit several types of cancer cells from dividing and moving. The discovery, published in the journal Nature Communications, marks the first time this little-known protein has been characterized in relation to cancer development and tumor growth.
Biogeographical data is useful in screening for disease risk and drug sensitivity associated with certain ethnic groups. A team of researchers, including an investigator from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has developed a tool to accurately identify the biogeography of worldwide individuals.
Researchers have found that preeclampsia patients have an overabundance of molecules that send detrimental signals. They also documented poor health outcomes in babies born to moms with the syndrome.
Investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center report a new mechanism by which BRCA gene loss may accelerate cancer-promoting chromosome rearrangements.
Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered a novel tumor suppressive role for p53, a cancer-critical gene that is mutated in more than half of all cancers found in humans.
By studying the reproductive cells of nematodes – tiny worms found in soil and compost bins – Shawn Ahmed, PhD, an associate professor of genetics, identified the Piwi/piRNA genome silencing pathway, the loss of which results in infertility after many generations. He also found a signaling pathway – a series of molecular interactions inside cells – that he could tweak to overcome infertility while also causing the worms to live longer adult lives.
There’s a civil war going on inside every one of the 37 trillion cells in your body. Now, scientists have uncovered how your cells keep this war from causing too much collateral damage.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists have used an analysis of channelrhodopsin’s molecular structure to guide a series of genetic mutations to the ion channel that grant the power to silence neurons with an unprecedented level of control.
Johns Hopkins researchers report that they have identified a protein essential to the formation of the tiny brain region in mice that coordinates sleep-wake cycles and other so-called circadian rhythms.
Johns Hopkins researchers report they have figured out how the aptly named protein Botch blocks the signaling protein called Notch, which helps regulate development. In a report on the discovery, to appear online April 24 in the journal Cell Reports, the scientists say they expect the work to lead to a better understanding of how a single protein, Notch, directs actions needed for the healthy development of organs as diverse as brains and kidneys.
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