Our Very Own Skull… Alzheimer’s, stroke, multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases cause severe damage due to neuroinflammation mediated by immune cells. Managing this inflammation poses a significant medical challenge because the brain is protected by the skull and additional surrounding membranes that make the brain less accessible for treatment approaches. Scientists had previously discovered pathways going from the bone marrow of the skull towards the brain, allowing immune cell movement. Now, new research revealed that cells in the skull’s…
LJI researchers reveal a hidden side of how Ebola virus replicates inside host cells. New research in the journal Nature Communications gives scientists an important window into how Ebola virus replicates inside host cells. The study, led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), reveals the inner workings of “viral factories,” clusters of viral proteins and genomes that form in host cells. The research team, which included experts from Scripps Research and UC San Diego School of Medicine,…
UC San Diego study shows hematopoietic stem cell transplants can protect against memory loss, neuroinflammation and β-amyloid build-up in Alzheimer’s mice. In the ongoing search for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, a burgeoning branch of medicine is bringing new hope. Stem cell therapies are already being used to treat various cancers and disorders of the blood and immune system. In a new proof-of-concept study, scientists at University of California San Diego show stem cell transplants may also be a promising…
Scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of USC identify key cells involved in the process of cartilage regeneration in lizards— a discovery which could offer insights into novel approaches to treating osteoarthritis. A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have published the first detailed description of the interplay between two cell types that allow lizards to regenerate their tails. This research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and published on August 10 in Nature…
While engaging in cell division research, Silke Hauf and members of her lab made a surprisingly quiet discovery. When cells express RNA, there is always some fluctuation, or noise, in how much RNA is produced. Hauf’s group found several genes whose noise dips below a previously established threshold, known as the noise floor, during expression. “We have solid data for this phenomenon,” said Hauf, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. “There are some genes that are…
Developing new materials requires significant time and labor, but some chemists are now hopeful that artificial intelligence (AI) could one day shoulder much of this burden. In a new study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a team prompted a popular AI model, ChatGPT, to perform one particularly time-consuming task: searching scientific literature. With that data, they built a second tool, a model to predict experimental results. Reports from previous studies offer a vast trove of information that…
Scientists to reveal the atomic-level workings inside the crushing and grinding of mechanical chemistry, with the potential to scale up their advances to make chemical manufacturing more sustainable and cost-effective. CUNY ASRC researcher Adam Braunschweig’s lab is part of a newly awarded $20 million center from the U.S. National Science Foundation to understand the atomic-scale mysteries of “crushing” chemistry. The multi-institutional award will establish the Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry (CMCC), which will conduct work to understand how…
Aspergillus fumigatus adapts to life in humans – and shapes their lung microbiome. Aspergillus fumigatus strains that infect humans have a significantly altered metabolism compared to other strains in the environment. At the same time, infection with the fungus leads to an apparent change in the human lung microbiome. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) came to this conclusion after using machine learning models to analyze genome data from about 250 fungal strains…
Came to stay: Once infected – always infected: Herpes viruses lie dormant in the body and can be reactivated by certain circumstances. The herpes virus HCMV is particularly widespread, yet despite its impact, well-tolerated and effective antiviral drugs or vaccinations do not exist. However, a team of researchers from FMP and Charité has now found out a lot about the interaction between HCMV and its host cells, which could also be useful for the development of antiviral agents. The paper…
Heliconius butterflies are capable of spatial learning, scientists have discovered. The results provide the first experimental evidence of spatial learning in any butterfly or moth species. The findings, published today in Current Biology, also suggest Heliconius butterflies may be able to learn spatial information at large scales, consistent with the apparent importance of long-range spatial learning for traplining, which involves foraging within a home range of a few hundred square metres. Spatial learning is known in insects, but much of…
New technology could provide early warnings for health problems. Engineers have developed nanoscale tattoos—dots and wires that adhere to live cells—in a breakthrough that puts researchers one step closer to tracking the health of individual cells. The new technology allows for the first time the placement of optical elements or electronics on live cells with tattoo-like arrays that stick on cells while flexing and conforming to the cells’wet and fluid outer structure. “If you imagine where this is all going…
Researchers with the University of Oklahoma’s Natural Products Discovery Group recently published findings that indicate a novel breakthrough treatment for fungal infections. Fungal infections are killing thousands of Americans each year, some with a morbidity rate of nearly 80%. To make matters worse, only a handful of antifungal treatments are available, and even those are becoming less effective as fungi become more resistant. However, University of Oklahoma researchers recently published findings in the Journal of Natural Products indicating that a…
Catalytic molecules can form metabolically active clusters by creating and following concentration gradients – this is the result of a new study by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS). Their model predicts the self-organization of molecules involved in metabolic pathways, adding a possible new mechanism to the theory of the origin of life. The results can help to better understand how molecules participating in complex biological networks can form dynamic functional structures, and provide a…
Scripps Research scientists discovered the unique molecular structure, which could have implications in age-related diseases like neurodegeneration. Often referred to as the “powerhouses of the cell,” mitochondria are well known for their role as energy suppliers, but these organelles are also critical for maintaining our overall health. Mitochondrial stress is associated with aging and age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration, but there has been a limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind this mitochondrial stress signaling. Now, a study by Scripps Research…
How does it work? Scientists from the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham have received nearly £600,000 to research how sexual development and gene shuffling within the malaria parasite could help to control malaria transmission. Scientists from the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham have received nearly £600,000 to research how sexual development and gene shuffling within the malaria parasite could help to control malaria transmission. Led by Dr David Guttery from the University of Leicester and Professor Rita Tewari from the…
Bacteria make up more than 10% of all living things but until recently we had little realization that, as in humans, soil bacteria have internal clocks that synchronize their activities with the 24-hour cycles of day and night on Earth. New research shows just how complex and sophisticated these bacterial circadian clocks are, clearing the way for an exciting new phase of study. This work will provide diverse opportunities, from precision timing of the use of antibiotics, to bioengineering smarter…
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