By recreating the helical structure of heart muscles, researchers improve understanding of how the heart beats. Heart disease — the leading cause of death in the U.S. — is so deadly in part because the heart, unlike other organs, cannot repair itself after injury. That is why tissue engineering, ultimately including the wholesale fabrication of an entire human heart for transplant, is so important for the future of cardiac medicine. To build a human heart from the ground up, researchers…

Two of the most common genetic changes that cause cells to become cancerous, which were previously thought to be separate and regulated by different cellular signals, are working in concert, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. To date, researchers have focused on finding drugs that block one or the other to treat cancer. Understanding their cooperative effects may lead to more effective treatments. Cells muster a protein, called p53, which acts inside the cell nucleus to respond…

Newly identified brain circuits may point to more effective pain therapies. An international team of scientists has identified the neural mechanisms through which sound blunts pain in mice. The findings, which could inform development of safer methods to treat pain, were published in Science. The study was led by researchers at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR); the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei; and Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. NIDCR is part of the…

Scientists have identified more than 1,500 genetic differences between migratory and non-migratory hoverflies. A team led by the University of Exeter captured migrating insects as they flew through a mountain pass, and sequenced active genes to identify which determine migratory behaviour. This genetic information was then compared to that of non-migrating summer hoverflies. “We identified 1,543 genes whose activity levels were different in the migrants,” said lead author Toby Doyle, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn…

Ultrafast electrons shed light on the web of hydrogen bonds that gives water its strange properties, vital for many chemical and biological processes. The Science Water is the most abundant liquid in nature, but it’s also one of the least understood. Water has unusual properties. For example, most materials get denser when they get colder, but water is densest a few degrees above freezing. That’s why ice floats. Scientists suggest that water’s so-called “proton quantum effect” may be at the…

Researchers have solved a medical mystery in a poorly understood disease by uncovering which cells cause tumours in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). As described in Cell Reports, they did this by creating genetically engineered kidney organoids, or “mini-kidneys” grown from human tissue. “The cells at the origin of tuberous sclerosis tumours have been a mystery for decades,” said senior author Dr. Bill Stanford, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. “Our results…

Caught in the act: Researchers from the University of Tsukuba and collaborating partners experimentally measured hydrogenation of metal-adsorbed formate. This development will facilitate practical conversion of carbon dioxide pollutant into methanol fuel. Carbon dioxide pollution continues to change the global climate. Researchers know how to pinpoint such pollution, even on a regional and near-real-time basis, as highlighted this year in Science Advances (April 22). As part of a solution to carbon dioxide pollution, many studies focus on how to convert this pollutant…

University of Rochester biologists used population genomics to study a selfish ‘supergene’ that skews genetic inheritance. The human genome is littered with “selfish genetic elements,” which do not seem to benefit their hosts, but instead seek only to propagate themselves. Selfish genetic elements can wreak havoc by, for instance, distorting sex ratios, impairing fertility, causing harmful mutations, and even potentially causing population extinction. Biologists at the University of Rochester, including Amanda Larracuente, an associate professor of biology, and Daven Presgraves, a University Dean’s…

A nanotechnology platform developed by KAUST scientists could lead to new treatments for degenerative bone diseases. The system takes advantage of tiny iron wires that bend in response to magnetic fields. Bone-forming stem cells grown on a mesh of these nanowires get a kind of physical workout on the moving substrate. They then transform into mature bone much faster than is typical of other culturing conditions, with a differentiation protocol that lasts just a few days instead of a few…

A protein from a heat-loving bacterium allows specific detection of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in a one-pot assay based on RT-LAMP technology. This test could simplify point-of-care diagnoses of COVID-19 and other infections. RT-LAMP tests are similar to PCR tests: they detect tiny amounts of viral genetic material in a sample by amplifying it to detectable amounts. One advantage of an RT-test over PCR tests is that it is performed at a single temperature (55-65 degrees Celsius) instead of repeated…

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have definitively linked the function of a specific domain of proteins important in plant-microbe biology to a cancer trigger in humans, knowledge that had eluded scientists for decades. The team’s findings, published in Nature Communications Biology, open up a new avenue for the development of selective drug therapies to fight a variety of cancers such as those that begin in the breast and stomach. ORNL scientists set out to prove…

Insight into the way the EGF receptor sends signals into cells could help researchers design new cancer drugs that target this protein. Receptors found on cell surfaces bind to hormones, proteins, and other molecules, helping cells respond to their environment. MIT chemists have now discovered how one of these receptors changes its shape when it binds to its target, and how those changes trigger cells to grow and proliferate. This receptor, known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), is overexpressed…

Study identifies a new signaling molecule that increases the energy consumption of brown fat cells. Normally, fat cells store energy. In brown fat cells, however, energy is dissipated as heat – brown fat thus serves as a biological heater. Most mammals therefore have this mechanism. In humans it keeps newborns warm, in human adults, brown fat activation positively correlates with cardio-metabolic health. “Nowadays, however, we’re toasty warm even in winter,” explains Prof. Dr. Alexander Pfeifer from the Institute of Pharmacology…

Researchers from Kiel and Düsseldorf use the example of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis to investigate the contribution of the microbiome to thermal adaptation of living organisms. All multicellular organisms are colonized by an unimaginably large number of microorganisms and have co-evolved with them from the very beginning of life’s evolutionary history. The natural microbiome, i.e. the totality of these bacteria, viruses and fungi living in and on a body, is of fundamental importance for the organism as a whole:…

For patients with a broken shin bone, a new generation of smart orthopaedic implants is being developed that can not only monitor healing progression at the bone fracture site, but can use controlled micromotions to actively stimulate the repair process. At Saarland University, this innovative medical technology is being developed by an interdisciplinary team of medical specialists, engineers and computer scientists. The team led by Professors Bergita Ganse and Tim Pohlemann has now collated all of the available data on…

… and show drug effectiveness. With no current treatments for hepatitis A, UNC School of Medicine scientists discovered how a protein and enzymes interact to allow hepatitis A virus to replicate, and they used a known drug to stop viral replication in an animal model. The viral replication cycle is crucial for a virus to spread inside the body and cause disease. Focusing on that cycle in the hepatitis A virus (HAV), UNC School of Medicine scientists discovered that replication…