… treating severe complication of Crohn’s disease. Johns Hopkins researchers develop injectable biomimetic hydrogel composite that promotes regenerative healing in an animal model of Crohn’s perianal fistulas. In a new study using a rat model of Crohn’s disease, a biodegradable hydrogel composite loaded with stem cells, developed by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, in a collaborative effort with the Whiting School of Engineering, has shown significant success in treating perianal fistulas (PAF) — one of the many complications of Crohn’s disease….
In preclinical models, investigators uncovered a novel mechanism underlying the development of diabetic cataracts that undermines current hypothesis. New findings from investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, contradict previous notions about sugar’s role in the onset of diabetic cataracts. Using an animal model that more closely recapitulates type 2 diabetes in humans, the research team found early signs of damage in the eye before the onset of type 2 diabetes,…
How and with what effort does a bacterium – or a virus – enter a cell and cause an infection? Researchers from Freiburg have now made an important contribution to answering this question: A team led by physicist Prof. Dr. Alexander Rohrbach and his collaborator Dr. Yareni Ayala was able to show how thermal fluctuations of a model bacterium and membrane oscillation modes of a model cell influence the energy with which the model bacteria dock and enter the membrane….
Researchers discover previously unknown way cells protect their genomes during replication. Cells zealously protect the integrity of their genomes, because damage can lead to cancer or cell death. The genome — a cell’s complete set of DNA — is most vulnerable while it is being duplicated before a cell divides. Cancer cells constantly are dividing, so their genomes are constantly in jeopardy. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a previously unknown signaling pathway cells…
Kiel research team discovers links between certain gene mutation and the spatial structure of DNA in blood cancer at an advanced age. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant disease of the haematopoietic system that originates from immature precursors of red blood cells, platelets and part of the white blood cells. While in healthy people the multiplication and renewal of blood cells is strictly regulated this process gets out of control in AML: an early precursor of the so-called myeloid…
Organic chemist develop new catalyst to selectively activate carbon-hydrogen bonds. Substituted aromatics are among the most important building blocks for organic compounds such as drugs, cropprotecting agents, and many materials. The function of the molecules is determined by the spatial arrangement of the different building blocks, the substitution pattern. A research team from the Otto Diels Institute of Organic Chemistry at Kiel University has now presented a method in the journal Chem to produce compounds with a particularly attractive but…
A DZHK research team at the University Medical Center Mainz has discovered a new signaling pathway of the coagulation system that controls scar formation after a heart attack. If this signaling pathway could be inhibited, heart attacks could heal with less subsequent damage. When you have a heart attack, you need to act quickly. Because the heart tissue does not receive enough blood, it begins to die. If revascularization occurs shortly after the onset of symptoms, i.e. reopening of the…
Researchers uncover neuronal circuitry tuned to rewarding forms of social touch, opening leads for harnessing touch as a treatment of social and emotional disorders. A parent’s reassuring touch. A friend’s warm hug. A lover’s enticing embrace. These are among the tactile joys in our lives. Now, scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and two partner institutions report previously unidentified starting points in the neurobiological pathways underlying pleasurable, sexual and otherwise rewarding social touch. Most notably in their mouse studies, they for…
– how a sugar cane pathogen is gearing up a new era of antibiotic discovery. A potent plant toxin with a unique way of killing harmful bacteria has emerged as one of the strongest new antibiotic candidates in decades. The antibiotic, called albicidin, is produced by the bacterial plant pathogen Xanthomonas albilineans, which causes the devastating leaf scald disease in sugar cane. Albicidin is thought to be used by the pathogen to attack the plant, enabling its spread. It has…
SPOP is the most mutated protein in prostate cancer and plays a role in endometrial, uterine and other cancers. Despite this importance, how SPOP mutations drive cancer has been incompletely understood. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to capture the first 3D structure of the entire SPOP assembly. The study, published today in Molecular Cell,revealed previously unknown SPOP interfaces that harbor clusters of cancer-causing mutations. The normal function of SPOP is to control the level of certain proteins within…
New study uses AlphaFold and AI to accelerate design of novel drug for liver cancer. New research uses AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered protein structure database, to accelerate the design and synthesis of a drug to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of primary liver cancer. It is the first successful application of AlphaFold to hit identification process in drug discovery. This study by an international team of researchers, published last week in Chemical Science, is led by…
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology reveal how a methane-generating microbe can grow on toxic sulfite without becoming poisoned. Methanogens are microorganisms that produce methane when little or no oxygen is present in their surroundings. Their methane production – for example in the digestive tract of ruminants – is relevant for global carbon cycling, as methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, but can also be used as an energy source to heat our houses. A toxic base…
… into layered materials impacts ion storage capability. Investigating the interplay between the structure of water molecules that have been incorporated into layered materials such as clays and the configuration of ions in such materials has long proved a great experimental challenge. But researchers have now used a technique elsewhere commonly used to measure extremely tiny masses and molecular interactions at the nano level to observe these interactions for the first time. Their research was published in Nature Communications on…
Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have discovered a new drug target for Ewing sarcoma, a rare kind of cancer usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Their experiments show that the cells causing this cancer can essentially be reprogrammed with the flick of a genetic switch. Shutting down a single protein forces the cancer cells to take on a new identity and behave like normal connective tissue cells, a dramatic change that reins in their growth. This discovery suggests…
Researchers are building detailed maps of colorectal cancer to better understand the dynamics of the disease. At a glance: Researchers are building detailed 2D and 3D maps of colorectal cancer to better understand the dynamics of the disease The maps have revealed new information about colorectal cancers, including tumors’ molecular structure and how they interact with the immune system The ultimate goal of the colorectal cancer atlas is to propel cancer research, improve diagnosis and treatment In the United States,…
… leads to reduced warning signal conspicuousness. Monarch butterflies that sequester large amounts of plant toxins to defend against predators do so at the cost of increased oxidative damage, which is visible in the conspicuousness of their orange wings. An international research team including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena has discovered that the striking orange and black wings of monarch butterflies not only send the message to predators that these butterflies are highly toxic,…
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