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New synthetic gene drives could one day improve human health and the environment

Gene drives are genetic elements - found naturally in the genomes of most of the world's organisms - that increase the chance of the gene they carry being passed on to all offspring, and thus, they can quickly spread through populations. Looking to these natural systems, researchers around the world, including some Wyss Institute scientists, are developing synthetic gene drives that could one day be leveraged by humans to purposefully alter the traits of wild populations of organisms to prevent disease transmission and eradicate invasive species.

31 Jul 2015

Researchers reconstruct ancient virus to improve gene therapy

Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute have reconstructed an ancient virus that is highly effective at delivering gene therapies to the liver, muscle, and retina. This discovery, published July 30 in Cell Reports, could potentially be used to design gene therapies that are not only safer and more potent than therapies currently available, but may also help a greater number of patients.

31 Jul 2015

Researchers uncover new mechanism that p53 protein uses to trigger cell death

Researchers have identified a new mechanism that the tumor suppressor protein p53 uses to trigger cell death via apoptosis and have shown how the process could be harnessed to kill cancer cells. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists led the study, which appears today in the scientific journal Molecular Cell.

31 Jul 2015

Study reveals how brain work leads to physical fatigue

Do you ever notice how stress and mental frustration can affect your physical abilities? When you are worried about something at work, do you find yourself more exhausted at the end of the day? This phenomenon is a result of the activation of a specific area of the brain when we attempt to participate in both physical and mental tasks simultaneously.

31 Jul 2015

Scientists produce functional liver cells from human embryonic and genetic engineered stem cells

The liver plays a critical role in human metabolism. As the gatekeeper of the digestive track, this massive organ is responsible for drug breakdown and is therefore the first to be injured due to overdose or misuse. Evaluating this drug-induced liver injury is a critical part of pharmaceutical drug discovery and must be carried out on human liver cells. Regretfully, human liver cells, called hepatocytes, are in scarce supply as they can only be isolated from donated organs.

31 Jul 2015

DNA study reveals potential treatments to delay or prevent onset of Huntington's disease

Scientists from Cardiff University believe that a treatment to prevent or delay the symptoms of Huntington’s disease could now be much closer, following a major breakthrough.

31 Jul 2015

Female patients with depression have abnormally high expression levels of glutamate receptor genes

Numerous genes that regulate the activity of a neurotransmitter in the brain have been found to be abundant in brain tissue of depressed females. This could be an underlying cause of the higher incidence of suicide among women, according to research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

31 Jul 2015

Researchers uncover master regulators that govern the fate of TFH cells

Follicular helper Tcells (TFH cells), a rare type of immune cell that is essential for inducing a strong and lasting antibody response to viruses and other microbes, have garnered intense interest in recent years but the molecular signals that drive their differentiation had remained unclear.

31 Jul 2015

New Penn study questions relevance of fish oil-derived SPMs and their anti-inflammatory effects in humans

The importance of a diet rich in fish oils - now a billion dollar food-supplement industry -- has been debated for over half a century. A few large clinical trials have supported the idea that fish oils confer therapeutic benefits to patients with cardiovascular disease. Researchers think that hearts and blood vessels may benefit in part from their anti-inflammatory properties.

31 Jul 2015

IU scientists find evidence that invisible war between microorganisms may affect human health

Health experts have warned for years that the overuse of antibiotics is creating "superbugs" able to resist drugs treating infection.

31 Jul 2015

Study shows link between liver-produced molecules, pneumonia susceptibility during sepsis

New evidence highlights the importance of the liver in immunity against bacterial pneumonia. The study is the first of its kind to directly show such a link between liver-produced molecules and pneumonia susceptibility during sepsis.

31 Jul 2015

Cryoport to offer cryogenic logistics solutions to HemaCare

Cryoport, Inc., the leading provider of advanced cryogenic logistics solutions for the life sciences industry, serving markets including immunotherapies, stem cells, cell lines, clinical research organizations, vaccine manufacturers, animal health, and reproductive medicine, today announced that the Company will provide cryogenic logistics solutions to HemaCare Corporation, a leading global provider of high-quality biological material to the scientific community.

30 Jul 2015

Intracellular microlasers may allow accurate measurement of small changes occurring within cells

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have induced structures incorporated within individual cells to produce laser light.

30 Jul 2015

Novel 3D human skin tissue model could help detect presence of known skin sensitizers in medical device extracts

New research shows that exposing a 3D human skin tissue model to extracts of medical device materials can detect the presence of sensitizers known to cause an allergic response on contact in some individuals. Conventional skin sensitization testing of medical devices relies on animal testing, whereas human skin models could replace animal methods, according to an article in the new journal Applied In Vitro Toxicology, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

30 Jul 2015

Study sheds light on certain antagonist drugs that block physiological responses

Members of the Consolidated Research Group of Molecular Neurobiology of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Barcelona (UB), affiliated with the Centre for Networked Biomedical Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), have published a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) about the formation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) which allows understanding the unexpected behaviour of some antagonists that block physiological responses.

30 Jul 2015

Plants send out stress signals normally associated with animals

University of Adelaide research has shown for the first time that, despite not having a nervous system, plants use signals normally associated with animals when they encounter stress.

30 Jul 2015

Balancing cellular aging and cancer risk through biotechnology

In a way, trying to repair age-related heart damage and trying to fight cancer are opposite problems. Your heart cells' ability to regenerate themselves and proliferate into new, young cells degrades as you get older.

30 Jul 2015

Research: Algae’s natural sunscreen molecules absorb UVA and UVB radiation with high efficiency

For consumers searching for just the right sunblock this summer, the options can be overwhelming. But scientists are now turning to the natural sunscreen of algae -- which is also found in fish slime -- to make a novel kind of shield against the sun's rays that could protect not only people, but also textiles and outdoor materials.

30 Jul 2015

Study on marine snails could help better understand underlying mechanisms of age-related memory loss

A new research study on marine snails uncovered the first cells in the nervous system to fail during aging. The University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science researchers' findings are important to better understanding the underlying mechanisms of age-related memory loss in humans.

30 Jul 2015

New chemical reaction breaks strongest bond in molecules instead of weakest

Researchers at Princeton have developed a new chemical reaction that breaks the strongest bond in a molecule instead of the weakest, completely reversing the norm for reactions in which bonds are evenly split to form reactive intermediates.

30 Jul 2015

Medical Science News

New synthetic gene drives could one day improve human health and the environment

Researchers reconstruct ancient virus to improve gene therapy

Researchers uncover new mechanism that p53 protein uses to trigger cell death

Study reveals how brain work leads to physical fatigue

Scientists produce functional liver cells from human embryonic and genetic engineered stem cells

DNA study reveals potential treatments to delay or prevent onset of Huntington's disease

Female patients with depression have abnormally high expression levels of glutamate receptor genes

Researchers uncover master regulators that govern the fate of TFH cells

New Penn study questions relevance of fish oil-derived SPMs and their anti-inflammatory effects in humans

IU scientists find evidence that invisible war between microorganisms may affect human health

Study shows link between liver-produced molecules, pneumonia susceptibility during sepsis

Cryoport to offer cryogenic logistics solutions to HemaCare

Intracellular microlasers may allow accurate measurement of small changes occurring within cells

Novel 3D human skin tissue model could help detect presence of known skin sensitizers in medical device extracts

Study sheds light on certain antagonist drugs that block physiological responses

Plants send out stress signals normally associated with animals

Balancing cellular aging and cancer risk through biotechnology

Research: Algae’s natural sunscreen molecules absorb UVA and UVB radiation with high efficiency

Study on marine snails could help better understand underlying mechanisms of age-related memory loss

New chemical reaction breaks strongest bond in molecules instead of weakest

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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