Salk researchers discover protein Mitf mediates the repair function in the peripheral nervous systems of mice, offering potential new therapeutic target. Each year in the United States there are more than 3 million cases of peripheral neuropathy, wherein nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord are damaged and cause pain and loss of feeling in the affected areas. Peripheral neuropathy can occur from diabetes, injury, genetically inherited disease, infection, and more. Salk scientists have now uncovered in mice a…

Computational model allows researchers to simulate cellular-scale interactions across unprecedented distances in the human vasculature. Biomedical engineers at Duke University have significantly enhanced the capabilities of a computational model that simulates the movement of individual cancer cells across long distances within the entire human body. Called “Adaptive Physics Refinement (APR),” the approach captures detailed cellular interactions and their effects on cellular trajectory, offering invaluable insights into the travels of metastatic cancer cells. “Cancer cells in our bloodstream are influenced by…

New devices were tested on a range of patients, from premature babies to the elderly. During even the most routine visits, physicians listen to sounds inside their patients’ bodies — air moving in and out of the lungs, heart beats and even digested food progressing through the long gastrointestinal tract. These sounds provide valuable information about a person’s health. And when these sounds subtly change or downright stop, it can signal a serious problem that warrants time-sensitive intervention. Now, Northwestern…

Texas A&M University researchers are co-leading a $20 million project to develop a $1 cancer treatment. What if a single one-dollar dose could cure cancer? A multi-university team of researchers, supported by federal funding, is developing a highly efficient bacterial therapeutic to target cancer more precisely to make treatment safer through a single $1 dose. Traditionally, cancer therapies have been limited in their efficacy in treating patients. Some, like radiation and chemotherapy, cause harmful side effects, while others tend to…

Growth is a fundamental biological process and a prerequisite for living organisms to develop and reproduce. The processes of cell growth (i.e. the production of new biomass) and of cell division must be coordinated with each other. In multicellular organisms such as humans, the growth of cells must also be coordinated with their environment so that cells are present in the right number and size to form functional tissue or organs. Cell growth is therefore strictly regulated and takes place…

Unlike humans, zebrafish can completely regenerate their hearts after injury. They owe this ability to the interaction between their nervous and immune systems, as researchers led by Suphansa Sawamiphak from the Max Delbrück Center now report in the journal Developmental Cell.  Each year, more than 300,000 people in Germany have a myocardial infarction – the technical term for heart attack. The number of people surviving a heart attack has increased significantly, but this severe cardiac event causes irreparable damage to their hearts….

A recently discovered genetic mutation could be the cause of some severe and baffling cases of osteoporosis – including in young people. The condition called idiopathic osteoporosis (IOP) occurs in younger adults and often involves bone fractures, even in patients with no history of physical trauma. Head of Hudson Institute’s Metabolic Bone Research Group, Associate Professor Frances Milat, says the condition is often challenging to diagnose and treat due to factors including a poor understanding of the underlying cause, a lack of management…

…in wide temperature range. A research team led by Prof. CHEN Wei from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) designed a rechargeable hydrogen-chlorine (H2-Cl2) battery which can operates in a wide temperature ranging from -70 ℃ to 40 ℃. Their research was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society as the cover article on October 25th. Hydrogen fuel cell is a promising technology nowadays for its sustainability and the…

…could reduce daily diabetes shots to just three a year. Dietary management drugs have transformed Type 2 diabetes care, but daily injection routines are challenging for some patients. A new hydrogel could mean shots just three times a year. Materials engineers at Stanford University have developed a novel hydrogel drug delivery system that transforms daily or weekly injections of diabetes and weight control drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro, Trulicity, Victoza, and others to just once every four months. In a new…

Targeting cholesterol potentially could help treat Alzheimer’s, related dementias. In Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, cognitive decline is driven by the overaccumulation of a normal brain protein known as tau. Wherever tau builds up, nearby brain tissue starts to degenerate and die. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found — in mice — that Alzheimer’s-like tau deposits in the brain lead to the accumulation of a form of cholesterol known as cholesteryl esters, and…

Cell and organ transplants can be lifesaving, but patients often encounter long waiting lists due to the shortage of suitable donors. According to donatelife.net, in 2021 6,000 people died in the U.S. alone while waiting for a transplant. One day, transplants generated from stem cells may alleviate the constant organ donor shortage, making transplants available to a larger group of patients. An issue with donation, whether it’s with solid tissues or cells from deceased or living donors, is immune rejection….

Research team of the CRC 1182 at Kiel University uses the example of the freshwater polyp Hydra to show how nerve cells and microorganisms cooperate to control the animals’ feeding behaviour. An increasingly important field of work in modern life sciences is the study of the symbiotic coexistence of animals, plants and humans with their specific microbial populations. In recent years, researchers have gathered growing evidence that the composition and balance of the microbiome plays a decisive role in the…

New mechanism for the degradation of aldehyde-induced RNA-protein crosslinks. PRESS RELEASE OF THE INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (IMB) The research team of Professor Petra Beli and their collaborators have discovered that aldehydes, a type of toxic chemical produced by the body after drinking alcohol, damage cells by creating chemical crosslinks between RNA and proteins, thereby interfering with protein production. The scientists in Beli’s group, who come from the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), and the…

As biocatalysts, enzymes can make many chemical processes “greener” and open up promising opportunities for various industries from pharmaceuticals to environmental technology. New analytical methods, the enormous increase in data volumes and machine learning have helped boost the development of biocatalysis. A recent publication in the journal Science, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Uwe Bornscheuer from the University of Greifswald (DE) and Prof. Dr. Rebecca Buller from the ZHAW (CH), summarizes the developments in biocatalysis. Enzymes have been used in biocatalysis…

Using mini organs and other cutting edge research, researchers are finding clues that may enable them to treat rare and deadly diseases. A lot of research has been done over many decades on diseases that are widespread in large parts of the population, such as cancer and heart disease. As a result, treatment methods have improved enormously thanks to long-term research efforts on diseases that affect many people. However, there are many diseases that affect just a handful people. These…

Bacteria support each other across generations. When bacteria build communities, they cooperate and share nutrients across generations. Researchers at the University of Basel have been able to demonstrate this for the first time using a newly developed method. This innovative technique enables the tracking of gene expression during the development of bacterial communities over space and time. In nature, bacteria usually live in communities. They collectively colonize our gut, also known as the gut microbiome, or form biofilms such as…