Curated News: Grant Funded News

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The battle between the human immune system and long-term, persisting infections and other chronic diseases such as cancer results in a prolonged stalemate. Over time battle-weary T cells become exhausted, giving germs or tumors an edge. Using data from multiple molecular databases, researchers have found nine distinct types of exhausted T cells, which could have implications for fighting chronic infections, autoimmunity, and cancer.

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Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan say they have found a fast way to manipulate a cell’s cilia, the tiny, fingerlike protrusions that “feel” and sense their microscopic environment. The experiments, performed in mouse cells, may advance scientists’ efforts to not only understand how the nanosized antennae work, but also how to repair them.

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Do metastatic cancer tumors "break bad" or are they "born bad"? In a study publishing the week of May 14 scientists found that in the colorectal tumors they examined, invasive cancers are born to be bad, and this tendency can potentially be identified at early diagnosis.

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A team of biologists and computer scientists has adopted a time-based machine-learning approach to deduce the temporal logic of nitrogen signaling in plants from genome-wide expression data. The work potentially offers new ways to monitor and enhance crop growth using less nitrogen fertilizer, which would benefit human nutrition and the environment.

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A research team from Mass. Eye and Ear has shown that the “outer hair cells” within the ear can only be effective in amplifying sound when they are configured in a Y-shaped arrangement with respect to their supporting cells.

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The most common heart medications may get an assist from nitric oxide circulating in the body, according to a new study out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Researchers showed that nitric oxide may help commonly used heart drugs maximize their benefits while improving heart function. In turn, the study found nitric oxide deficiencies could underlie heart failure while tilting drug effects toward more harmful pathways and side effects.

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A new tool developed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health has determined, for the first time, how two distinct sets of neurons in the mouse brain work together to control movement. The method, called spectrally resolved fiber photometry (SRFP), can be used to measure the activity of these neuron groups in both healthy mice and those with brain disease. The scientists plan to use the technique to better understand what goes wrong in neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study appeared online May 3 in the journal Neuron.

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Mathematicians and cancer scientists have found a way to simplify complex biomolecular data about tumors, in principle making it easier to prescribe the appropriate treatment for a specific patient.

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The technique makes use of tiny, three-dimensional ball-like aggregates of cells called spheroids.

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A new study provides a surprising model of the process by which signals enter and influence a cancer cell. The finding could open up a potential new avenue to pursue new therapies against cancer.

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Are abnormal intestinal microorganisms a risk factor for developing cognitive impairment? Researchers at Rush University Medical Center are trying to answer that question with a new study that will explore how the intestinal microbiota – the bacteria in the intestine –influence the progression of cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Pediatric researchers have found that children and adults treated with some oral antibiotics have a significantly higher risk of developing kidney stones. This is the first time that these medicines have been linked to this condition. The strongest risks appeared at younger ages and among patients most recently exposed to antibiotics.

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Researchers describe changes in hippocampal neurons early after pathogenic alpha-synuclein aggregates begin to appear. This understanding could point to novel therapeutic treatments to prevent or reverse neuronal defects and halt development of dementia.

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The ability to test human types of memory in animals will strengthen the search for drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease.

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By integrating data on the function of essential metabolic enzymes with genetic, protein, and metabolic abnormalities associated with “clear cell” renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), researchers have determined that enzymes important in multiple pathways are universally depleted in ccRCC tumors.

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Infants who are diagnosed with drug withdrawal after birth who are treated with medication as outpatients at home are treated three times longer than infants treated solely as inpatients, according to a new Vanderbilt study.

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Different Parkinson’s-related brain disorders are characterized by misfolded proteins embedded in cells. Researchers found that the type of brain cell afflicted dictates which pathological form of α-synuclein protein becomes the disease culprit.

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The new research opens the door to studying common brain conditions such as autism, schizophrenia, addiction and Alzheimer’s disease under reproducible conditions in a dish.

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A Johns Hopkins study found that physicians who use stigmatizing language in their patients’ medical records may affect the care those patients get for years to come.

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Similar to how protein clumps build up in the brain in people with some neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, protein clumps appear to accumulate in the diseased hearts of mice and people with heart failure, according to a team led by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

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Successfully tested in mice, targeted drug and gene therapies might one day benefit patients with a deadly lung disease, new Michigan Medicine research finds.

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Bioengineers have developed micro-technologies that capture extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by brain tumors. The vesicles carry samples of the mutated genetic material and proteins causing malignancy that researchers can analyze to optimize precision cancer treatment.

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Researchers take a closer look at drug candidate for a devastating genetic illness.

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Breakdowns in electrical materials can lead to short circuits and blown fuses, robbing the power grid and even cell phones of reliability and efficiency. Iowa State's Xiaoli Tan is working to be the first to see and record how nanoscale defects in electrical insulators may evolve into material breakdowns.

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Cells begin to accumulate centrosomes—organelles that play a vital role during cell division—before they transform into cancer cells, according to a new study of patients with Barrett’s esophagus condition, which is associated with esophageal cancer. The research, which will be published May 8 in the Journal of Cell Biology, suggests that similar cases of centrosome amplification may contribute to the initiation and progression of a variety of human cancers.

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Ultrasound technology for the brain could mean real-time images during surgery, a better idea of which areas get stimulated by certain feelings or actions and the ability to get vital information without penetrating the skull.

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Using an informatics tool that identifies “hotspots” of post-translational modification (PTM) activity on proteins, researchers have found a previously-unknown mechanism that puts the brakes on an important cell signaling process involving the G proteins found in most living organisms.

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Economic tumult in the early 2000s persuaded many young people to keep living with their parents, but the reasons why differ starkly by race, a study concludes.

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A new study by Sanford Burnham Prebys (SBP) researchers describes how a specific nuclear pore component is critical for the survival of circulating T cells. The findings, published in Nature Immunology, identify a new node of T cell receptor signaling and could pave the way for the development of future immunotherapies.

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A new Johns Hopkins Medicine analysis of national trauma data shows that trauma patients were four times more likely to die from gunshot wounds and nearly nine times more likely to die from stab wounds before getting to a trauma center in 2014, compared with rates in 2007.

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Denis Evseenko, MD, PhD, receives $4 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Defense for research about the development and treatment of osteoarthritis.

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Researchers at the National Eye Institute have discovered cellular mechanisms that help the 13-lined ground squirrel survive hibernation. Their findings could be a step toward extending storage of human donor tissues awaiting transplantation and protecting traumatic brain injury patients who undergo induced hypothermia. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health. The findings were published in the May 3 issue of Cell.

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Researchers in China have discovered that an enzyme called UGT8 drives the progression of basal-like breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that is largely untreatable. But the study, which will be published May 4 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that the widely used osteoporosis drug zoledronic acid inhibits UGT8 and prevents the spread of basal-like breast cancer in mice, suggesting that this drug could also be used to treat the disease in humans.

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New research led by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health suggest that long-term exposure to traffic-related pollution significantly increases the risk of pediatric asthma, especially in early childhood.

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Scientists at the Washington University Center for the Study of Itch have found that itching caused by touch is directly related to the number of touch receptors embedded in the skin. His team found, in mice, that fewer receptors make it more likely touching will induce itching.

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The research points to a possible new role for proteins in sensory processing in some people with autism spectrum disorder.

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Researchers discover how “good” intestinal bacteria can help protect us from inflammation, and how their disruption can increase susceptibility of the liver to more harmful forms of disease. Their study identified two metabolites from the bacteria that modulate inflammation in the host and reduce the severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

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In studies with monkeys, Johns Hopkins researchers report that they have uncovered significant new details about how the cerebellum — the “learning machine” of the mammalian brain — makes predictions and learns from its mistakes, helping us execute complex motor actions such as accurately shooting a basketball into a net or focusing your eyes on an object across the room.

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SBP researchers recently discovered an alternative metabolic pathway that might be used by cancer cells to survive nutrient deprivation. Targeting these proteins to disrupt autophagy in cancer cells is an exciting therapeutic strategy that could minimize toxicity.

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Researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle University have created CrowdFit, a platform for exercise planning that relies on crowdsourcing from nonexperts to create workout regimens guided by national exercise recommendations and tailored around user schedules and interests.

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Researchers at the UCLA School of Nursing and the department of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have reported a promising drug strategy that blocks tau transmission. The study was published online in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

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With the new funding from the Gates Foundation, the Scripps Research team will expand their studies of neutralizing antibodies.

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Vanderbilt researchers have developed a new process that can rapidly and inexpensively identify personalized cancer drugs derived from nature.

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Medical aid-in-dying is now legal in eight U.S. jurisdictions, but patients still face substantial barriers to access, according to a new analysis by Dr. Mara Buchbinder of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

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Some potentially toxic chemicals in water may be created, ironically, during the water treatment process itself.

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New research led by investigators at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center suggests that the location of immune cells in the body determines whether they help or harm the development of heart disease. The study supports the view that the immune system directly impacts heart failure—still the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded approval for a personalized cellular therapy developed at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center, this time for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-Cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy. Today’s approval includes treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) – the most common form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – as well as high grade B-cell lymphoma and DLBCL arising from follicular lymphoma.

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Approach could guide research for inherited blindness treatment in humans

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Getting the results of a cancer biopsy can take up to two weeks. What if it could happen in 10 minutes? In two new papers, a team of chemists and engineers from Michigan Technological University lay the groundwork for cancer detection and diagnostics based on a fluorescent GLUT5 probe. Documented in the new research, a cancer's type and malignancy changes the GLUT5 activity in a cell, creating a detectable "fingerprint" of cancer.

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A new study published in JMIR Medical Informatics describes how a “smart home” prototype may help people with dementia dress themselves through automated assistance, enabling them to maintain independence and dignity and providing their caregivers with a much-needed respite.