In a recent study, led by UC San Diego’s Rommie Amaro, researchers broke new ground with their molecular simulations in terms of size, complexity and methodological analyses of the viral envelope.
Human fingers are sculpted from a primitive pad-like structure during embryonic development. Sometimes, this process goes awry and babies are born with fused fingers or toes. A new study from the University of California, Irvine reveals new factors involved in the congenital malformation called syndactyly.
Parkinson’s disease researchers have used gene-editing tools to introduce the disorder’s most common genetic mutation into marmoset monkey stem cells and to successfully tamp down cellular chemistry that often goes awry in Parkinson’s patients.
Combined therapy may improve clinical responses for endometrial, colorectal and gastric tumors. Enzyme inhibitor with anti-PD1 checkpoint blockade boosted efficacy over either treatment alone
New research shows brain imaging may be able to predict when a blood test known as a liquid biopsy would or would not produce clinically actionable information
Having health issues such as smoking, high cholesterol or a high body mass index (BMI) in your 20s may make you more likely to have problems with thinking and memory skills and even the brain’s ability to properly regulate its blood flow, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada, April 25 to May 1, 2020.
The deadly brain cancer glioblastoma (GBM) is often resistant to chemotherapy and radiation, but new research shows targeting stromal cells – the cells that serve as the connective tissue of the organs – may be an effective way of overcoming that resistance
The National Institutes of Health has launched a $1 million Technology Accelerator Challenge (TAC) to spur the design and development of non-invasive, handheld, digital technologies to detect, diagnose and guide therapies for diseases with high global and public health impact. The Challenge is focused on sickle cell disease, malaria and anemia and is led by NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).
Studying eczema, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that boosting the number of natural killer cells in the blood is a possible treatment strategy for the skin condition and also may help with related health problems, such as asthma.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have designed and successfully tested an experimental, super small package able to deliver molecular signals that tag implanted human cancer cells in mice and make them visible for destruction by the animals’ immune systems. The new method was developed, say the researchers, to deliver an immune system “uncloaking” device directly to cancer cells.
A comparison of normal and germ-free mice revealed that as much as 70 percent of a mouse’s gut chemistry is determined by its gut microbiome. Even in distant organs, such as the uterus or the brain, approximately 20 percent of molecules were different in the mice with gut microbes.
More than $3.7 million was awarded to Mahesh Mohan, DVM, MS, Ph.D., Professor at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, and Chioma M. Okeoma, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Stony Brook University, to explore the link between cannabinoids (THC) and chronic intestinal inflammation in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Adults who drank sugary beverages daily had an increased risk of developing abnormal blood cholesterol and triglycerides compared to those who did not, according to new findings from a prospective study by researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.
Preclinical research shows a pivotal role for cellular metabolism to regulate the fate decision of CD4 T cells as they differentiate into either destructive Th17 cells that mediate chronic inflammation or regulatory Treg T cells, a decision that occurs very early in the activation of CD4 T cells.
A new study has uncovered key details for how the Salmonella bacteria that causes typhoid fever identifies a host’s immune cells and delivers toxins that disrupt the immune system and allow the pathogen to spread.
UC San Diego researchers suggest that prolonged exposure to a pair of antioxidant proteins may contribute to enlargement of the liver and fatty liver diseases.
In search of new ways to sequence human genomes and read critical alterations in DNA, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used the gene cutting tool CRISPR to make cuts in DNA around lengthy tumor genes, which can be used to collect sequence information.
The insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas unwittingly produce a signal that may aid their own demise in Type 1 diabetes, according to a study of the lipid signals that drive macrophage cells in the body to two different phenotypes of activated immune cells.
New cancer immunotherapy approaches are revolutionizing treatment options for breast cancer patients. However, many lead to insufficient immune responses rendering the therapies incapable of completely eradicating tumors.
In a new study, published today in Science Immunology, University of California, Irvine researchers determined the molecular features of certain cells associated with breast cancer, which may open up new avenues into improving cancer immunotherapy.
An experimental drug already shown to be safe and help some patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a deadly form of kidney cancer, effectively disables its molecular target.
Scientists find that normal intestinal cells “de-differentiate” en masse into stem cells that generate the cells needed for a healthy intestinal lining. New study establishes de-differentiation as the predominant mode of stem cell recover in the intestine
UC San Diego bioengineers have developed a control system that could make CAR T-cell therapy safer and more powerful when treating cancer. By programming CAR T cells to switch on when exposed to blue light, the researchers controlled the cells to destroy skin tumors in mice without harming healthy tissue.
Harvard researchers have discovered a new mechanism for how the brain and its arteries communicate to supply blood to areas of heightened neural activity. The findings enable new avenues of study into the role of this process in neurological diseases.
A molecule identified by UCLA researchers helps maintain a healthy balance of cells in airway and lung tissue. If the compound, so far only studied in isolated human and mouse cells, has the same effect in people, it may lead to new drugs to treat or prevent lung cancer.
Low oxygen levels in the heart have long been known to produce life-threatening arrhythmias, even sudden death. Until now, it was not clear how.
New findings, in a study led by Steve A. N. Goldstein, MD, PhD, vice chancellor for Health Affairs at the University of California, Irvine, and distinguished professor in the UCI School of Medicine Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology & Biophysics, reveal the underlying mechanism for this dangerous heart disorder.
Karen Lewis, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas State University, has received a $460,000 competitive grant renewal from the National Institutes of Health to study the RNA-to-protein translation process that is controlled by La-Related Proteins (LaRPs).
Traditional cardiovascular risk factors often assessed in an annual physical, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, diabetes, and smoking status, are at least as valuable in predicting who will develop coronary heart disease (CHD) as a sophisticated genetic test that surveys millions of different points in DNA.
Maternal factors, such as breast milk, have been shown to affect a baby’s development, and previous animal studies have determined that a carbohydrate, the oligosaccharide 2’FL found in maternal milk, positively influences neurodevelopment.
With the support of a recent $3 million grant renewal from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), Mariana Figueiro is perfecting a treatment she developed for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias that helps to regulate sleep and reduce symptoms of depression — and requires no drugs, only light.
Ever wonder how mice talk to each other? We don’t have a dictionary quite yet, but UD neuroscientist Josh Neunuebel and his lab have linked the ultrasonic vocalizations made by mice with specific behaviors. It’s a significant advance of our understanding of communication science.
A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a mechanism by which regulatory T cells, which suppress immune responses, adapt their metabolism to thrive in the harsh microenvironment of the tumor.
A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that chemotherapy results in increased heterogeneity within small cell lung cancer, leading to the evolution of multiple resistance mechanisms.
Genes are like instructions, but with options for building more than one thing. Daniel Larson, senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, studies this gene “splicing” process, which happens in normal cells and goes awry in blood cancers like leukemia.
A research team from Wayne State University recently received a $1.5 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH to work on potential new targets for treating Barth syndrome, a rare and life-threatening, X-linked genetic disorder that causes cardiomyopathy and other pathologies.
Consumption of cocoa may improve walking performance for patients with peripheral artery disease, according to the results of a small, preliminary, phase II research trial published today in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation Research.
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have implicated two microRNAs in the biological processes that underlie the ventricle enlargement observed in models of schizophrenia.
SDSC researchers used SDSC’s ‘Comet’ Supercomputer to analyze genome sequences in a recent study published in Nature Medicine by an international team of scientists led by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine. The study describes a method to measure disease-causing mutations found only in the sperm of the father, providing a more accurate assessment of autism spectrum disease (ASD) risk in future children.
We know that stress can have a profound impact on health. But it’s rare to discover a health issue that is caused directly by stress. That’s exactly what one Michigan State University researcher and his team have found. Nathan Tykocki, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, set out to understand why children who seemingly have nothing wrong with them lose bladder function, a condition also known as stress-induced bladder dysfunction, or SIBD.
In a new Cleveland Clinic-led study published in JAMA Oncology, researchers show that a testosterone-related genetic variant – HSD3B1(1245C) – is associated with more aggressive disease and shorter survival in men with metastatic prostate cancer.
A team of scientists from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University has gained insight into how electric fields affect the way energy from light drives molecular motion and transformation in a protein commonly used in biological imaging.
The insights from the PEXIVAS Trial, a 10-year study, shows treatment for ANCA-associated vasculitis can become much more patient-friendly by using half the typical dose of steroids and no blood plasma exchanges
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered a novel combination of two classes of drugs that, together, cause the highest rate of proliferation ever observed in adult human beta cells—the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin—without harming most other cells in the body. The result is an important step toward a diabetes treatment that restores the body’s ability to produce insulin.
Columbia Engineers have engineered probiotics to safely deliver immunotherapies within tumors, including nanobodies against two proven therapeutic targets—PD-L1 and CTLA-4. Continuously released by bacteria, the drugs continue to attack the tumor after just one dose, facilitating an immune response resulting in tumor regression. The versatile probiotic platform can also be used to deliver multiple immunotherapies simultaneously, enabling the release of effective therapeutic combinations within the tumor for more difficult-to-treat cancers like colorectal cancer.
Loss of an important tumor-suppressing gene allows head and neck cancer to spin off signals to nearby nerves, changing their function and recruiting them to the tumor, where they fuel growth and cancer progress.
Popular diets low in carbs and high in fat and protein might be good for the waistline, but a new UNLV study shows that just the opposite may help to alleviate the hospital-acquired infection Clostridioides difficile. The results appeared in a study published Feb. 11 in mSystems, an open access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
If translatable into humans, this research published in Nature could help scientists create targeted therapies to mimic or counteract the actions of melatonin, which is implicated in numerous circadian disorders, in problems associated with working night shifts, and especially in jetlag.
New research, published today in the journal Cancer Research, outlines findings scientists hope will advance our understanding of endometrial cancer and lead to more effective treatments.