A team of researchers from Cologne and Helsinki has discovered a mechanism that prevents hair loss: hair follicle stem cells, essential for hair to regrow, can prolong their life by switching their metabolic state in response to low oxygen concentration in the tissue. The team was led by Associate Professor Sara Wickström (University of Helsinki and Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing) and the dermatologist Professor Sabine Eming (University of Cologne), and included researchers from the University of…
The immune system will memorize the pathogen after an infection and can therefore react promptly after reinfection with the same pathogen. Now, scientists at the University of Würzburg have deciphered new details of this process. After an infection of the human body with a pathogen, a cascade of reactions will usually be set into motion. Amongst others, specific cells of the immune system known as T cells get activated in the lymph node and will subsequently divide and proliferate. At…
How many “listeners” a nerve cell has in the brain is strictly regulated. This is shown by an international study led by the University College London and the universities of Bonn, Bordeaux and Milton Keynes (England). In the environment of learning neurons, certain processes are set in motion that make signal transmission less exclusive. The results have now been published in the journal Neuron. If you want to share a secret with a friend in a busy environment, you may…
Human intestinal organoids grown from stem cells used to model congenital disorder in babies. Scientists at Cincinnati Children’s used human intestinal organoids grown from stem cells to discover how our bodies control the absorption of nutrients from the food we eat. They further found that one hormone might be able to reverse a congenital disorder in babies who cannot adequately absorb nutrients and need intravenous feeding to survive. Heather A. McCauley, PhD, a research associate at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical…
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists’ finding has implications for brain diseases. Hard skulls help protect our brains from physical injuries. In addition to a tough outer shell, brains have internal defenses, including a powerful shield called the blood-brain barrier that defends brain cells from substances in the bloodstream that are toxic and dangerous to nerve cells. If the blood-brain barrier is breached, then health problems arise. Now, in a study with potential impacts on a variety of neurological diseases, Virginia…
A scientific first This work, published in Cell and led by the UNC-Chapel Hill lab of Bryan L. Roth, MD, PhD, sets the stage for the discovery of new kinds of antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and treatments for substance use disorders. Psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline cause severe and often long-lasting hallucinations, but they show great potential in treating serious psychiatric conditions, such as major depressive disorder. To fully investigate this potential, scientists need to know how these…
A team of researchers headed by Münster University physiologist Prof. Wolfgang Linke has shown that oxidative stress, in combination with the extension of the heart walls, triggers a change in cardiac stiffness. A key role is played by the giant protein titin. This newly discovered mechanism is relevant, for example, in cases of an acute heart attack or chronic heart disease. The results have been published in the journal “PNAS”. A healthy heart beats 50 to 100 times a minute…
Finding could lead to future treatments for hearing loss Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have conducted a study that has determined the role that a critical protein plays in the development of hair cells. These hair cells are vital for hearing. Some of these cells amplify sounds that come into the ear, and others transform sound waves into electrical signals that travel to the brain. Ronna Hertzano, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of…
Light-sensing technology promises to make COVID-19 antibody testing cheaper, easier, faster and more accurate. Robust and widespread antibody testing has emerged as a key strategy in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. However current testing methods are too inaccurate or too expensive to be feasible on a global scale. But now, scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have developed a rapid, reliable and low-cost antibody test. The device, described…
Organoid-related discovery may also help drug makers screen potential pharmaceuticals. Scientists who were working on a way to determine the viability of batches of tiny liver organoids have discovered a testing method that may have far broader implications. Their study published Sept. 7, 2020, in Nature Medicine, reports identifying a “polygenic risk score” that shows when a drug, be it an approved medication or an experimental one, poses a risk of drug-induced liver injury (DILI). The work was conducted by…
Fibroblast growth factor 1 effects on specific brain cell types, and on nets that enmesh neurons, inform how it restores blood sugar levels to normal in diabetic animals. In rodents with type 2 diabetes, a single surgical injection of a protein called fibroblast growth factor 1 can restore blood sugar levels to normal for weeks or months. Yet how this growth factor acts in the brain to generate this lasting benefit has been poorly understood. Clarifying how this occurs might…
New gel deposition technique developed at UIC Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a unique method for precisely controlling the deposition of hydrogel, which is made of water-soluble polymers commonly used to support cells in experiments or for therapeutic purposes. Hydrogel mimics the extracellular matrix – the natural environment of cells in the body. The researchers noticed that their technique – which allows for the encapsulation of a single cell within a minute hydrogel droplet – can…
The hemoglobin in the red blood cells ensures that our body cells receive sufficient oxygen. When the blood pigment is broken down, “heme” is produced, which in turn can influence the protein cocktail in the blood. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now discovered in complex detective work that the “activated protein C” (APC) can be commandeered by heme. At the same time, APC can also reduce the toxic effect of heme. Perspectively, the findings may provide the basis…
Scientists reveal key steps in the formation of the recycling centers of the cell Autophagosomes first form as cup-shaped membranes in the cell, which then grow to engulf the cellular material designated for destruction. The formation of these membranes is catalyzed by a complex machinery of proteins. “We have a very good knowledge of the factors involved in autophagosomes formation”, explains group leader Sascha Martens, “but how they come together to initiate the formation of these membranes has so far…
City of Hope scientists have combined two potent immunotherapies — an oncolytic virus and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy — to target and eradicate solid tumors that are otherwise difficult to treat with CAR T therapy alone, according to a new Science Translational Medicine study. In preclinical research that could lead to a clinical trial for patients with intractable solid tumors, City of Hope scientists genetically engineered an oncolytic virus to enter tumor cells and force their expression…
All cancers are the result of cells that have gone haywire, multiplying out of control and expanding beyond their normal constraints. But not all tumors are the same: for reasons that remain poorly understood, some are more likely to become aggressive and metastasize to other parts of the body. New research highlights a long-overlooked aspect of how and why some tumors become more dangerous than others. A team led by Rockefeller’s Elaine Fuchs found that mechanical properties of the tissue…
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