A study published in The American Journal of Human Genetics by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital provides solutions to the...
Alpha-1-antitrypsin is a so-called protease inhibitor, a type of enzyme inhibitor. It is produced in the liver but exerts its effects in the lungs, where it regulates immune cell activity. This regulation is crucial, and an overactive...
The incidence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)–associated oropharyngeal cancers—tumors of the back of the mouth and throat—is rising. If caught early, most of these cancers have a high survival rate, but about 20% of patients have a poor...
Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common birth defects, occurring in about one in 1,050 births in the United States. These defects, which appear when the tissues that form the lip or the roof of the mouth do not join...
Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Medicine) have successfully employed an algorithm to identify potential mutations which increase...
Metformin, a widely used and affordable diabetes drug, could prevent a form of acute myeloid leukemia in people at high risk of the disease, a study in mice has suggested. Further research in clinical trials will be needed to confirm...
RIKEN researchers have demonstrated the protective effects of a specific genetic mutation against Alzheimer's disease in animals for the first time. This could eventually lead to the development of new ways to treat the neurodegenerative...
Physicians classify brain tumors and determine treatment options, in part, by the genes they express. According to World Health Organization standards, the abnormal activation of oncogene FOXR2 only occurs in central nervous system (CNS)...
Researchers have made significant advancements in understanding the earliest stages of stomach cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, through two recent innovative studies. With a prevalence rates particularly high...
There's a sensation that you experience -- near a plane taking off or a speaker bank at a concert -- from a sound so total that you feel it in your very being. When this happens, not only do your brain and ears perceive it, but your...
Starch and oils are known as storehouses of carbon in plants. However, the way in which carbon resources are allocated during metabolism in plants remained unknown. Now, however, using a forward genetics approach, researchers have...
New research shows Glycolysis -- the process of converting sugar into energy -- plays a key role in early development. More than fuel, Glycolysis doesn't just power cells -- it helps steer them toward specific tissue types at critical...
A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a novel strategy for treating acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer for which the median survival time following diagnosis remains just 8.5 months.
As we age, blood stem cells, the essential source of new blood cells in the body, can accumulate genetic mutations. These mutations can give the cells a growth advantage, laying the foundation for developing serious health conditions....
The number of people who have the gene that causes Huntington's disease in Northern Scotland has been accurately counted for the first time in 35 years in new research from the University of Aberdeen in partnership with NHS Grampian.
Bacteria naturally present in the human intestine (known as the gut microbiota) can transform cholesterol-derived bile acids into powerful metabolites that strengthen anti-cancer immunity by blocking androgen signaling, according to a...
Certain common genetic changes might make some people with focal epilepsy less responsive to seizure medications, finds a new global study led by researchers at UCL and UTHealth Houston.
Researchers have demonstrated a way to use corn protein to improve the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries, a finding that holds promise for expanding the use of the high-energy, lighter-weight batteries in electric vehicles,...
Colorectal cancer (CRC), a type of cancer that affects the large intestine and rectum, is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The mutational landscape of CRC is well-characterized, revealing key pathogenic...
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers and has one of the lowest survival rates—only 10% after five years. One of the factors contributing to its aggressiveness is its tumor microenvironment, known as the stroma, which...
Research on gastrointestinal diseases, especially cancer, has mainly focused on epithelial cells, which line the surfaces of organs, are important for various functions, and are believed to be the cells that go awry to cause these...
Medical information will be available from UK Biobank, despite western intelligence agencies’ security fears Researchers from China are to be allowed access to half a million UK GP records despite western intelligence agencies’ fears...
Robin McKie reflects on his 40 years as science editor for the Observer and tells Madeleine Finlay about the game-changing discoveries and scientific controversies that he’s reported on during that time. He describes how the discovery of...
Researchers have demonstrated the potential of the innovative optical genome mapping (OGM) technique for the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic management of multiple myeloma. This new study in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics,...
Scientists use small peptides to enhance symbiosis between plants and fungi, offering a sustainable alternative to artificial fertilizers. Plant biologists discover new plant molecule, CLE16, as well as a fungal CLE16 mimic, that...
A study by scientists at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) introduces a more cost-effective, scalable single-cell sequencing technique for co-sequencing RNA and DNA. The tool, called DEFND-seq (DNA and Expression...
Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developed a longitudinal atlas of neuroblastoma, a common and potentially deadly childhood cancer, to gain a deeper understanding into precise molecular mechanisms underlying why...
Understanding how genes influence complex behaviors remains one of biology's most fascinating challenges. Now, however, in a recent study, researchers have compiled a comprehensive dataset documenting the behaviors of over 30,000 fruit...
A team discovers a new family of enzymes capable of inducing targeted cuts in single-stranded DNA A few years ago, the advent of technology known as CRISPR was a major breakthrough in the scientific world. Developed from a derivative of...
A new study has revealed that a special group of cells in the intestines tamp down the immune responses caused by exposure to food proteins. Called 'tolerogenic dendritic cells,' these cells enable food to pass through the body without...
A team of researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) have discovered that a unique trio of medications could hold the key to improved treatment outcomes for hereditary cases of motor neuron disease (MND) caused by mutations in...
A new multicenter study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) and colleagues around the world, has discovered that the genes we are...
An estimated 18,000 people in the United States annually suffer from new injuries to their spinal cords. Unfortunately for those afflicted, no FDA-approved therapy is currently available. Scientists at UC San Diego are looking into the...
Differences among the DNA of seven ape species—including humans—are greater than originally thought, according to an international team led by researchers at Penn State, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the...
Every year, thousands of tons of brown algae are extracted from the seabed to obtain compounds such as alginates, a polymer composed of sugars that has high density and strength, offering potential biotechnological applications. An...
New candidate genes which could be responsible for deafness have been identified. Congenital deafness (hearing loss from birth) is common, impacting around one in 1,000 babies born in the UK. The condition affects communication, social...
A new study published in Nature Cardiovascular Research found that while carotid artery narrowing can lead to stroke in both men and women, the symptoms and plaque characteristics often differ between the sexes. Even though the main...
Treatment resistance and relapse in the most common type of lung cancer can be traced to a protein called agrin, according to a preclinical study led by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Results of the study, led by Sayan...
A longstanding mystery in Parkinson's disease research has been why some individuals carrying pathogenic variants that increase their risk of PD go on to develop the disease, while others who also carry such variants do not. The...
Engineers have made bacteria to produce hyperspectral signals that can be detected as far as 90 meters away. Their work could lead to the development of bacterial sensors for agricultural and other applications, which could be monitored...
Virology researchers have found that a specific protein modification to the immune protein MDA5 is key to how our bodies detect and respond to viruses and viral replication. The publication explains how two protein modifications activate...
Scientists have transformed RNA, a biological molecule present in all living cells, into a biosensor that can detect tiny chemicals relevant to human health. Research by scientists centers on RNA, a nucleic acid that plays a crucial role...
Bioinformaticians have established that the genes in bacterial genomes are arranged in a meaningful order. They describe that the genes are arranged by function: If they become increasingly important at faster growth, they are located...
Why do problems occur with a special variant of 'protein glues', the split inteins, that severely limit their use in producing proteins? A team has now answered this question.
Scientists have developed an innovative system -- called MetaFlowTrain -- that allows the study of metabolic exchange and interactions within microbial communities under different environmental conditions.
Researchers reveal that the guinea pig pre-implantation embryo is very similar to the human embryo, spurring a better understanding of infertility and early human development.
To grow, cancer tumors must hijack the immune system for their needs. One of the main tricks that most tumors use is to manipulate a type of immune cell called a macrophage, causing it to protect the tumor from the rest of the immune...
Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of genome regions containing thousands of genetic variants associated with asthma, but it's still not clear which variants have an actual causal link to the disease. This...