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New Research Examines the Role of Skeletal Stem Cells in Bone Growth and Regeneration

Researchers at UTHealth Houston have been awarded an $8.1 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine skeletal stem cells as potential drivers of craniofacial bone diseases and deformities. The study is led by Noriaki Ono, DDS, PhD, associate professor of orthodontics, and diagnostic and biomedical sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry.

14 Oct 2024

Neutron Scattering Reveals Enzyme Secrets

Scientists have uncovered amazing information about the role of an enzyme that could assist in the development of drugs for aggressive cancers in just two neutron experiments.

25 Sep 2024

Epigenetic Switch Found to Activate Genes in Embryos

Researchers led by the Institute of Molecular Biology have found that 5-formylcytosine (5fC), a DNA alteration, acts as an activating epigenetic switch to activate genes during the early stages of embryonic development.

19 Sep 2024

Study Reveals Immune Cells' Role in Lung Scarring After Viral Infections

Investigators involved in a multicenter study co-led by Cedars-Sinai discovered a pathway by which immune cells prevent the lungs' protective barrier from healing after viral infections like COVID-19.

5 Sep 2024

New AI Tool Predicts Protein Behavior in Cellular Context

A fish on land can still wave its fins, but the outcomes are very different when the creature is in water. The comparison, attributed to prominent computer scientist Alan Kay, is used to demonstrate the importance of context in clarifying research issues.

19 Aug 2024

Discovery of Largest Protein Sheds Light on Toxin Production in Marine Algae

While seeking to unravel how marine algae create their chemically complex toxins, scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography have discovered the largest protein yet identified in biology.

12 Aug 2024

Cryo-EM Reveals Structural Differences in Fetal and Adult Muscle Receptors

The connections between the nervous system and muscles develop differently across the kingdom of life. It takes newborn humans roughly a year to develop the proper muscular systems that support the ability to walk, while cows can walk mere minutes after birth and run not long after.

1 Aug 2024

New Gene Editing Technique Outperforms Existing Therapies

Cystic fibrosis, a prevalent genetic disorder, leads to thick mucus accumulation in the lungs and other parts of the body, resulting in breathing difficulties and infections.

11 Jul 2024

New mosTF Microscopy System Enhances Real-Time Brain Plasticity Research

The brain's ability to learn comes from "plasticity," in which neurons constantly edit and remodel the tiny connections called synapses that they make with other neurons to form circuits.

6 Jun 2024

How Seba's Short-Tailed Bats Navigate Their Acoustic World

The world of bats is full of sounds. They utilize vocalizations for both navigation and communication with their conspecifics. For the latter, they produce ultrasonic noises that reverberate and allow them to form a mental "image" of their environment

26 Feb 2024

The Intricate Network of Stick Insects’ Leg Muscles

Researchers at the University of Cologne have discovered new details on the process underlying the stick insect’s leg muscles’ rhythmic activation of nerve cells, or neurons. Unlike the neurons in the other leg muscles, the researchers demonstrated that the neurons in the leg depressor muscle are activated rhythmically.

12 Feb 2024

Toxic Plant Toxin Gets a Safety Upgrade for New Drugs and Pesticides

Picrotoxinin, a plant-derived toxin that Asian fishermen traditionally have used to paralyze and catch fish, has long been seen as a possible starting point for new human therapeutics and other neuroactive products.

26 Dec 2023

Breathing Patterns Linked to Memory Consolidation During Sleep

How are memories consolidated during sleep? In 2021, researchers led by Dr. Thomas Schreiner, leader of the Emmy Noether junior research group at LMU's Department of Psychology, had already shown there was a direct relationship between the emergence of certain sleep-related brain activity patterns and the reactivation of memory contents during sleep.

19 Dec 2023

Unraveling Oxygen's Impact on Protein Dynamics

Understanding the adverse effects of insufficient oxygen becomes apparent with the simple act of holding ones breath for too long.

11 Dec 2023

Study Reveals Crucial Protein’s Role in Brain Cell Development

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison have pinpointed a crucial protein associated with the formation of a specific type of brain cell implicated in conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

20 Nov 2023

Rising Prevalence of Chronic Rhinosinusitis in Japan: Causes and Implications

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is an inflammatory condition affecting the nasal cavity and sinuses, which can be categorized into eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic subtypes.

7 Nov 2023

Scientists Unlock the Structure of Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2

Neurons talk to each other using chemical signals called neurotransmitters. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have drawn on structural biology expertise to determine structures of vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2), a key component of neuronal communication.

2 Nov 2023