An international team of scientists using a new X-ray method recorded the internal structure and cell movement inside a living frog embryo in greater detail than ever before.
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Raising hopes for cell-based therapies, UC San Francisco researchers have created the first functioning human thymus tissue from embryonic stem cells, in the laboratory. The researchers showed that, in mice, the tissue can be used to foster the development of white blood cells the body needs to mount healthy immune responses and to prevent harmful autoimmune reactions.
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Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, one type of "blue baby" syndrome, is a potentially deadly congenital disorder that occurs when pulmonary veins don't connect normally to the left atrium of the heart.
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Many medical issues affect nerves, from injuries in car accidents and side effects of chemotherapy to glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. The common theme in these scenarios is destruction of nerve axons, the long wires that transmit signals to other parts of the body, allowing movement, sight and sense of touch, among other vital functions.
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Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah have discovered that while the genes provided by the father arrive at fertilization pre-programmed to the state needed by the embryo, the genes provided by the mother are in a different state and must be reprogrammed to match.
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A large, multi-institutional research team involved in the NIH Epigenome Roadmap Project has published a sweeping analysis in the current issue of the journal Cell of how genes are turned on and off to direct early human development.
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The human body contains trillions of cells, all derived from a single cell, or zygote, made by the fusion of an egg and a sperm. That single cell contains all the genetic information needed to develop into a human, and passes identical copies of that information to each new cell as it divides into the many diverse types of cells that make up a complex organism like a human being.
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Scientists have made a fundamental discovery about how the properties of embryonic stem cells are controlled.
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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a gene that, when repressed in tumor cells, puts a halt to cell growth and a range of processes needed for tumors to enlarge and spread to distant sites. The researchers hope that this so-called "master regulator" gene may be the key to developing a new treatment for tumors resistant to current drugs.
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Solving the structure of a critical human molecule involved in cancer, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found what they call a good example of structural conservation-dissimilar genes that keep very similar shapes.
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Through a collaborative genome-wide study on individuals, researchers have discovered 14 new genetic variations that are associated with heart rate.
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The intrauterine environment plays an important role in the health of the offspring. Now, experts from the University of Navarra affirm that the mother's stress, due to socio-economic or psycho-social causes, is associated with the development of pathologies related with obesity.
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Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown they can coax cells to move toward a beam of light. The feat is a first step toward manipulating cells to control insulin secretion or heart rate using light.
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South Korea's Ho-Am Foundation announced that Johns Hopkins researcher Se-Jin Lee, M.D., Ph.D., has won this year's Ho-Am Prize in Medicine.
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Anirban Maitra, M.B.B.S., a pre-eminent expert in the genetics of pancreatic cancer and the development of targeted therapies for the disease, will lead research at a new center at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center devoted to this highly lethal cancer.
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Researchers have been able to reprogram cells experimentally, but few have shown that cells can change their identities under normal physiological conditions in the body, particularly in mammals.
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When our noses pick up a scent, whether the aroma of a sweet rose or the sweat of a stranger at the gym, two types of sensory neurons are at work in sensing that odor or pheromone.
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Biologist Mary Gehring, Ph.D. is The Pew Charitable Trusts' featured biomedical researcher of the month for her creative research on epigenetics in plants.
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The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, the first and only U.S. extension of the prestigious Max Planck Society, today announced it has received approximately $1,257,500 in grant funding from prestigious national and international organizations to fund research into Parkinson-s, epilepsy and other neurological disorders.
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New research shows that a tiny piece of RNA has an essential role in ensuring that embryonic tissue segments form properly.
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