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New Insights into Cell Communication During Inflammation

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have made significant progress in understanding how cells communicate during inflammation.

16 Aug 2024

Researchers Uncover Role of OpgH in Bacterial Cell Shape

In what they labeled a "surprising" finding, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers studying bacteria from freshwater lakes and soil say they have determined a protein's essential role in maintaining the germ's shape. Because the integrity of a bacterial cell's "envelope" or enclosure is key to its survival, the finding could advance the search for new and better antibiotics.

16 Aug 2024

Spontaneous Brain Activity Drives Early Neural Circuit Formation

In humans, the process of learning is driven by different groups of cells in the brain firing together. For instance, when the neurons associated with the process of recognizing a dog begin to fire in a coordinated manner in response to the cells that encode the features of a dog -; four legs, fur, a tail, etc. -; a young child will eventually be able to identify dogs going forward. But brain wiring begins before humans are born, before they have experiences or senses like sight to guide this cellular circuitry. How does that happen?

16 Aug 2024

Flavivirus Hijacks Importin-7 for Nuclear Transport and Replication

Viruses of the family Flaviviridae, including Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), Dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), West Nile virus (WNV), and Tick-borne encephalitis virus, are significant arthropod-borne pathogens.

15 Aug 2024

Brain's Co-Rippling Activity Sheds Light on Consciousness

For many years, researchers have been concentrating on how the brain organizes information into hierarchical structures, with distinct regions of the brain designated for distinct functions.

13 Aug 2024

New Breast Cell Atlas Enhances Understanding of Cancer Origins

Scientists at the Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center at Indiana University have finished the largest mapping of healthy breast cells to date.

13 Aug 2024

Discovery of Efficient Glycosyltransferases for Pterocarpan Glycoside Biosynthesis

A research team has identified two highly efficient glycosyltransferases, AmGT28 and AmGT44, from Astragalus membranaceus, which convert medicarpin to medicarpin 3-O-glucoside and show a preference for pterocarpans over isoflavonoids.

13 Aug 2024

A Breakthrough in the Synthesis of Potent Bioactive Molecules

There are many chemical compounds with amazing medical capabilities found in the natural world. One famous example is penicillin, which was unintentionally found in the Penicillium mold. This discovery demonstrated the potential of natural substances in medicine and transformed the treatment of bacterial illnesses.

12 Aug 2024

Utah Scientists Begin New Project to Map Epigenetic Changes Across the Human Genome

The Human Genome Project changed everything. A map of the entire human sequence of DNA was the starting point for an enormous number of discoveries, from disease genes to how humans evolved.

12 Aug 2024

Discovery of Free-Floating Genes in Bacteria Challenges Genetic Code Assumptions

Since the genetic code was first deciphered in the 1960s, our genes seemed like an open book. By reading and decoding our chromosomes as linear strings of letters, like sentences in a novel, we can identify the genes in our genome and learn why changes in a gene's code affect health.

12 Aug 2024

Scientists Develop AI-Powered Tool to Optimize Gene Delivery

Gene therapy could potentially cure genetic diseases but it remains a challenge to package and deliver new genes to specific cells safely and effectively. Existing methods of engineering one of the most commonly used gene-delivery vehicles, adeno-associated viruses (AAV), are often slow and inefficient.

9 Aug 2024

Research Unlocks Secrets of Stem Cell Retention in Bone Marrow

A discovery by a three-member Albert Einstein College of Medicine research team may boost the effectiveness of stem-cell transplants, commonly used for patients with cancer, blood disorders, or autoimmune diseases caused by defective stem cells, which produce all the body's different blood cells. The findings, made in mice, were published today in the journal Science.

9 Aug 2024

Noninvasive Ultrasound Method Enables Tracking of Gene Expression in Specific Brain Regions

The ability to alter or prevent the expression of faulty genes in the brain could be leveraged as a powerful therapeutic against neurodegenerative disease. However, the molecular underpinnings of the living brain are still largely inaccessible, hampering progress on such promising therapeutics.

9 Aug 2024

Researchers Uncover Method to Boost Stem Cell Production Using Interferon Gamma

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have discovered a treatment which accelerates the production and quality of pluripotent stem cells in mice.

8 Aug 2024

Breakthrough Compound ZTA-261 Shows Promise for Safer Lipid Disorder Treatment

Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan have made a significant breakthrough in treating lipid disorders.

8 Aug 2024

Mini-Gut Model Unlocks Secrets of COVID-19 Diarrhea

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine claim to have identified multiple molecular pathways linked to diarrhea caused by COVID-19, offering possible therapeutic interventions utilizing human stem cells to create a sort of “mini intestine-in-a-dish.

7 Aug 2024

Genetic Analysis of Potato and Phytophthora infestans During and After the Irish Potato Famine

In an examination of the genetic material found in historic potato leaves, North Carolina State University researchers reveal more about the tit-for-tat evolutionary changes occurring in both potato plants and the pathogen that caused the 1840s Irish potato famine.

6 Aug 2024

Megamonas Bacteria Identified as Potential Obesity Culprit

A recent study from Cell Host & Microbe identifies Megamonas as a possible bacteria linked to obesity based on a large-scale cohort of obese Chinese people. This study demonstrates how the bacterium increases lipid absorption, breaks down intestinal myo-inositol, and causes obesity, which may lead to future approaches for managing obesity.

5 Aug 2024

Breakthrough Method Captures Aging Impact on Alzheimer’s Disease in Lab-Grown Neurons

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a way to capture the effects of aging in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

2 Aug 2024

Geographic Origin Plays Key Role in Tuberculosis Infection, Harvard Study Finds

For some forms of tuberculosis, the chances that an exposed person will get infected depend on whether the individual and the bacteria share a hometown, according to a new study comparing how different strains move through mixed populations in cosmopolitan cities.

2 Aug 2024