Curated News: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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19-Jul-2021 3:30 PM EDT
C Is for Vitamin C—a Key Ingredient for Immune Cell Function
La Jolla Institute for Immunology

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) help control inflammation and autoimmunity in the body. Unfortunately, it has proven difficult to find the right molecular ingredients to induce stable iTregs. A new study reports that Vitamin C and TET proteins can work together to give Tregs their life-saving power.

Released: 20-Jul-2021 3:40 PM EDT
Research: Cells Expressing Tendon Markers Fuse Into Muscles
American Technion Society

Israeli researchers have made a breakthrough discovery that muscle fibers are of hybrid origins. The findings highlight a mechanism that enables a smooth transition from muscle fiber characteristics towards tendon features that is essential for forming robust muscle tendon junctions (MTJs).

Released: 20-Jul-2021 3:05 PM EDT
New Discoveries Reveal How Acute Myeloid Leukemia Walks a Fine Line Between Growth and Cell Death
University of Chicago Medical Center

Researchers revealed new insights into how acute myeloid leukemia (AML) develops and progresses, according to a study published in Molecular Cell on July 20, 2021. They describe a mechanism by which AML cells regulate a cancer-related protein, mutant IDH2, to increase the buildup of blood cancer cells—a distinguishing characteristic of the disease.

Released: 20-Jul-2021 1:15 PM EDT
UCI-Led Study Finds Unleashing Certain T Cells May Lead to New Treatments for Multiple Sclerosis
University of California, Irvine

In a new University of California, Irvine-led study, researchers found that a certain protein prevented regulatory T cells (Tregs) from effectively doing their job in controlling the damaging effects of inflammation in a model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a devastating autoimmune disease of the nervous system.

Released: 19-Jul-2021 3:15 PM EDT
New High-Tech Portal Launched to Speed Hearing Loss Innovations
University of Maryland Medical Center

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) launched a new online tool that could more quickly advance medical discoveries to reverse progressive hearing loss. The tool enables easy access to genetic and other molecular data from hundreds of technical research studies involving hearing function and the ear.

Released: 15-Jul-2021 6:30 PM EDT
Ludwig Cancer Research Study Reveals Even Transient Chromosomal Errors Can Initiate Cancer
Ludwig Cancer Research

A Ludwig Cancer Research study has found that inducing random chromosome instability (CIN) events in mice for as little as one week is enough to trigger harmful chromosomal patterns in cells that spur the formation of tumors.

Released: 15-Jul-2021 3:15 PM EDT
Study Shows Strong Association Between Perceived Risk, Availability and Past-Year Cannabis Use
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health

Combined perceptions of the risk and availability of cannabis influence the risk of cannabis use more than perceived risk and perceived availability alone, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Released: 14-Jul-2021 12:20 PM EDT
Researchers Discover How Hunger Boosts Learning About Food in Mice
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

A study sheds new light on the complex interplay among the neurons that govern hunger, behavior and learning.

11-Jul-2021 11:00 AM EDT
Fungi That Live in the Gut Influence Health and Disease
University of Utah Health

Bacteria’s role in gut health has received a lot of attention in recent years. But new research publishing in Nature shows that fungi—another microorganism that lives within us—may be equally important in health and disease. Fungi thrive in the healthy gut, but when interactions with the immune system are off-balance, they cause intestinal damage that may contribute to gastrointestinal disease. Additional investigation demonstrate that vaccines could be developed as therapeutics to improve gut health.

Released: 13-Jul-2021 1:35 PM EDT
Computational Modeling Results in New Findings for Preeclampsia Patients
University of California San Diego

Researchers used Comet at the San Diego Supercomputer Center to conduct cellular modeling to detail the differences between normal and preeclampsia placental tissue.

   
Released: 13-Jul-2021 8:05 AM EDT
Recent Study Identifies 11 Candidate Genetic Variants for Alzheimer’s Disease
University of Kentucky

A recently published study co-authored by University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging researcher Justin Miller, Ph.D., identifies 11 rare candidate variants for Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers found 19 different families in Utah that suffered from Alzheimer’s disease more frequently than what is considered normal.

Released: 12-Jul-2021 3:05 PM EDT
Selective, Toxin-Bearing Antibodies Could Help Treat Liver Fibrosis
UC San Diego Health

UC San Diego researchers discovered that immunotoxins targeting the protein mesothelin prevent liver cells from producing collagen, a precursor to fibrosis and cirrhosis, in mouse models of human disease.

Released: 12-Jul-2021 9:00 AM EDT
Protein Appears to Prevent Tumor Cells from Spreading Via Blood Vessels
 Johns Hopkins University

Researchers have identified a specialized protein that appears to help prevent tumor cells from entering the bloodstream and spreading to other parts of the body.

Released: 8-Jul-2021 1:55 PM EDT
UCLA Fielding School Professor’s Team Awarded more than $5.2 Million in Grants for HIV Prevention
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

A team of researchers co-led by UCLA Fielding School of Public Health epidemiology professor Dr. Matthew Mimiaga has received more than $5.2 million in grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop and test interventions in the U.S. and Brazil.

7-Jul-2021 4:30 PM EDT
New Alzheimer’s Treatment Targets Identified
Washington University in St. Louis

A research team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified potential new treatment targets for Alzheimer’s disease, as well as existing drugs with therapeutic potential.

Released: 8-Jul-2021 10:30 AM EDT
ALS: Study Shows Role of Brain's Immune Cells
Cedars-Sinai

Hyperactive immune cells in the brain may play a role in the early development of the neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and a form of dementia that strikes younger people, according to a study conducted by investigators from Cedars-Sinai and published in the journal Neuron.

Released: 8-Jul-2021 10:15 AM EDT
Precision medicine helps identify “at-risk rapid decliners” in early-stage kidney disease
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

A novel therapeutic may halt rapid kidney function in some type 1 diabetic kidney disease patients.

Released: 7-Jul-2021 12:35 PM EDT
Discovery Shows How Tuning the Immune System May Enhance Vaccines and Ease Disease
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

A metabolic control pathway that regulates T follicular helper cells offers targets for drugs to stimulate the adaptive immune response.

Released: 7-Jul-2021 9:00 AM EDT
Gene Editing Therapy in Early Stages of Huntington’s Disease May Slow Down Symptom Progression, Mouse Study Shows
Johns Hopkins Medicine

In a new study on mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that using MRI scans to measure blood volume in the brain can serve as a noninvasive way to potentially track the progress of gene editing therapies for early-stage Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that attacks brain cells. The researchers say that by identifying and treating the mutation known to cause Huntington’s disease with this type of gene therapy, before a patient starts showing symptoms, it may slow progression of the disease.

Released: 6-Jul-2021 5:00 PM EDT
UT Southwestern Scientists Closing in on Map of The Mammalian Immune System
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Using artificial intelligence, UT Southwestern scientists have identified thousands of genetic mutations likely to affect the immune system in mice. The work is part of one Nobel laureate’s quest to find virtually all such variations in mammals.

Released: 6-Jul-2021 12:20 PM EDT
Melanoma Registry Results Shine Light on Rare Pediatric Cancer
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists created a registry for molecular analysis of pediatric melanoma that provides insight into treatment.

Released: 2-Jul-2021 5:05 PM EDT
UCLA Team Awarded Almost $3 Million for “Safe Return to School” Effort
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

UCLA team awarded almost $3 million by National Institutes of Health to increase COVID-19 testing access and uptake for underserved and vulnerable populations

30-Jun-2021 2:10 PM EDT
Potential Drug Target for Difficult-To-Treat Breast Cancer: RNA-Binding Proteins
UC San Diego Health

UC San Diego studies using human cell lines and tumors grown in mice provide early evidence that inhibiting RNA-binding proteins, a previously overlooked family of molecules, might provide a new approach for treating some cancers.

Released: 1-Jul-2021 7:05 AM EDT
Prenatal exposure to THC, CBD affects offspring's responsiveness to fluoxetine
Indiana University

Scientists at Indiana University have found that significant amounts of the two main components of cannabis, THC and CBD, enter the embryonic brain of mice in utero and impair the mice's ability as adults to respond to fluoxetine, a drug commonly known by the brand name Prozac.

Released: 30-Jun-2021 1:15 PM EDT
Machine learning algorithm predicts how genes are regulated in individual cells
University of Illinois Chicago

Researchers have developed a software tool that identify the regulators of genes. The system leverages a machine learning algorithm to predict which transcription factors are most likely to be active in individual cells.

Released: 30-Jun-2021 11:55 AM EDT
Dry Eye Awareness Month 2021 Focuses on a Looming Lifestyle Epidemic—Ocular Surface Disease
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)

The vision community and its coalition partners announce awareness and educational activities in July 2021 around the annual recognition of Dry Eye Awareness Month.

Released: 29-Jun-2021 5:45 PM EDT
Grant Awarded to Help Determine if Meningitis and Sepsis Increase a Person's Chances of Developing Alzheimer's Disease
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

The role of peripheral and brain infections in the development of Alzheimer's disease is the focus of new research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), funded with a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Released: 29-Jun-2021 1:50 PM EDT
New research on MRI Biomarkers may aid in evaluating potential treatments for peripheral nerve diseases
Wayne State University Division of Research

Jun Li, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, recently received a $246,172 R-21 grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop new strategies for assessing appropriate treatments of peripheral nerve diseases.

Released: 29-Jun-2021 1:45 PM EDT
Novel Microscopy Method At UT Southwestern Provides Look Into Future of Cell Biology
UT Southwestern Medical Center

What if a microscope allowed us to explore the 3D microcosm of blood vessels, nerves, and cancer cells instantaneously in virtual reality? What if it could provide views from multiple directions in real time without physically moving the specimen and worked up to 100 times faster than current technology?

Released: 29-Jun-2021 11:50 AM EDT
Major NIH Award to Wayne State to Offer State-Of-The-Art Proteomic Research Capabilities
Wayne State University Division of Research

Wayne State University has been awarded a $1.29 million high instrumentation grant from the National Institutes of Health to purchase a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer for identification and quantitation of proteins in biomedical research samples.

Released: 29-Jun-2021 10:05 AM EDT
Wistar Scientists Discover Blood-based Biomarkers to Predict HIV Remission After Stopping Antiretroviral Therapy
Wistar Institute

New biomarkers that predict HIV remission after antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption are critical for the development of new therapeutic strategies that can achieve infection control without ART, a condition defined as functional cure. Wistar Scientists have identified metabolic and glycomic signatures in the blood of a rare population of HIV-infected individuals who can naturally sustain viral suppression after ART cessation, known as post-treatment controllers. T

Released: 25-Jun-2021 10:05 AM EDT
Hard-working Enzyme Keeps Immune Cells in Line
La Jolla Institute for Immunology

Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have shed light on a process in immune cells that may explain why some people develop cardiovascular diseases. Their research, published recently in Genome Biology, shows the key role that TET enzymes play in keeping immune cells on a healthy track as they mature. The scientists found that other enzymes do play a role in this process—but TET enzymes do the heavy lifting.

Released: 25-Jun-2021 8:05 AM EDT
A Key Player in Brain Development, Cell Communication Uncovered
University of North Carolina School of Medicine

For the first, time UNC School of Medicine scientist Katie Baldwin, PhD, and colleagues revealed a central role of the glial protein hepaCAM in building the brain and affecting brain function early in life.

Released: 25-Jun-2021 7:05 AM EDT
An Educational Intervention Can Help Vapers Use Their E-Cigarettes to Quit Smoking, Moffitt Study Finds
Moffitt Cancer Center

In a new article published in The Lancet Public Health, they report results from a first-of-its kind nationwide study evaluating a targeted intervention aimed at transforming dual users’ e-cigarettes from a product that might maintain smoking into a tool that can be used to aid smoking cessation.

Released: 23-Jun-2021 3:05 PM EDT
New Study Finds Abnormal Response to Cellular Stress is Associated with Huntington’s Disease
University of California, Irvine

A new University of California, Irvine-led study finds that the persistence of a marker of chronic cellular stress, previously associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), also takes place in the brains of Huntington’s disease (HD) patients.

Released: 23-Jun-2021 11:15 AM EDT
New NIH Grant Supports Ongoing UTSW Investigation of Debilitating Complications of Blood Clots in Teens
UT Southwestern Medical Center

DALLAS – June 23, 2021 – UT Southwestern will lead a multicenter investigation into why children and young adults experience decreased physical activity and shortness of breath after experiencing blood clots, thanks to a four-year $2.97 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Released: 23-Jun-2021 8:30 AM EDT
Language Trade-off? No, Bilingual Children Reliably Acquire English by Age 5
Florida Atlantic University

A first-of-its kind study in U.S.-born children from Spanish-speaking families finds that minority language exposure does not threaten the acquisition of English by children in the U.S. and that there is no trade-off between English and Spanish. Rather, children reliably acquire English by age 5, and their total language knowledge is greater to the degree that they also acquire Spanish. Children’s level of English knowledge was independent of their level of Spanish knowledge.

16-Jun-2021 7:00 AM EDT
Implantable Brain Device Relieves Pain in Early Study
NYU Langone Health

A computerized brain implant effectively relieves short-term and chronic pain in rodents, a new study finds.

Released: 21-Jun-2021 9:45 AM EDT
NIH-Funded Study Shows Children Recycle Brain Regions When Acquiring New Skills
NIH, National Eye Institute (NEI)

Scientists studied the brain activity of school-aged children during development and found that regions that activated upon seeing limbs (hands, legs, etc.) subsequently activated upon seeing faces or words when the children grew older. The research, by scientists at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, reveals new insights about vision development in the brain and could help inform prevention and treatment strategies for learning disorders. The study was funded by the National Eye Institute and is published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Released: 21-Jun-2021 9:45 AM EDT
NIH-Funded Study Shows Children Recycle Brain Regions When Acquiring New Skills
NIH, National Eye Institute (NEI)

Scientists studied the brain activity of school-aged children during development and found that regions that activated upon seeing limbs (hands, legs, etc.) subsequently activated upon seeing faces or words when the children grew older. The research, by scientists at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, reveals new insights about vision development in the brain and could help inform prevention and treatment strategies for learning disorders. The study was funded by the National Eye Institute and is published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Released: 18-Jun-2021 12:05 PM EDT
Study Reveals New Therapeutic Target for C. Difficile Infection
University of California, Irvine

A new study paves the way for the development of next generation therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), the most frequent cause of healthcare-acquired gastrointestinal infections and death in developed countries.

Released: 17-Jun-2021 2:05 PM EDT
Trojan horses and tunneling nanotubes: Ebola virus research at Texas Biomed gets NIH funding boost
Texas Biomedical Research Institute

Scientists have a general idea of how viruses invade and spread in the body, but the precise mechanisms are actually not well understood, especially when it comes to Ebola virus. Olena Shtanko, Ph.D., a Staff Scientist at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed), has received more than $1 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore different aspects of Ebola virus infection.

Released: 17-Jun-2021 2:00 PM EDT
Study Adds to Evidence that Most Cancer Cells Grown in a Dish have Little in Common Genetically with Cancer Cells in People
Johns Hopkins Medicine

In a bid to find or refine laboratory research models for cancer that better compare with what happens in living people, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists report they have developed a new computer-based technique showing that human cancer cells grown in culture dishes are the least genetically similar to their human sources.

Released: 17-Jun-2021 1:50 PM EDT
How Cells “Read” Artificial Ingredients Tossed into Genetic Recipe
UC San Diego Health

UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers discovered that the enzyme RNA polymerase II recognizes and transcribes artificially added base pairs in genetic code, a new insight that could help advance the development of new vaccines and medicines.

Released: 17-Jun-2021 8:00 AM EDT
UC Davis Clinical Translational Science Center Awarded 5-year Grant Renewal From NIH
UC Davis Health (Defunct)

The UC Davis Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC) received notice of its third National Institutes of Health (NIH) award renewal. The 5-year award, almost $33 million, provides critical funding to continue CTSC’s essential services for the UC Davis research community.

Released: 16-Jun-2021 4:35 PM EDT
UCLA Health receives $4.8M NIH grant to improve genetic estimates of disease risk in diverse populations
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences

UCLA Health will receive a $4.8 million grant from The National Institutes of Health to develop methods that will improve genetic risk estimates – polygenic risk scores – for specific diseases in people from diverse populations and mixed ancestries.

Released: 16-Jun-2021 4:05 PM EDT
Scientists unravel the function of a sight-saving growth factor
NIH, National Eye Institute (NEI)

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have determined how certain short protein fragments, called peptides, can protect neuronal cells found in the light-sensing retina layer at the back of the eye. The peptides might someday be used to treat degenerative retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Released: 16-Jun-2021 4:05 PM EDT
Scientists unravel the function of a sight-saving growth factor
NIH, National Eye Institute (NEI)

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have determined how certain short protein fragments, called peptides, can protect neuronal cells found in the light-sensing retina layer at the back of the eye. The peptides might someday be used to treat degenerative retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

11-Jun-2021 12:50 PM EDT
Researchers Identify New Gene that May Increase Risk of ALS
American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

Researchers have identified a new gene that may increase a person’s risk of developing ALS, according to a new study published in the June 16, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The gene, called TP73, produces a protein to help regulate the life cycle of a cell. Researchers found that some people with ALS have mutations in this gene and that the mutations may interfere with nerve cell health.

15-Jun-2021 2:25 PM EDT
Genetically Engineered Nanoparticle Delivers Dexamethasone Directly to Inflamed Lungs
University of California San Diego

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed immune cell-mimicking nanoparticles that target inflammation in the lungs and deliver drugs directly where they’re needed. As a proof of concept, the researchers filled the nanoparticles with the drug dexamethasone and administered them to mice with inflamed lung tissue. Inflammation was completely treated in mice given the nanoparticles, at a drug concentration where standard delivery methods did not have any efficacy.



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