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Study reveals climate as main driver of changes in body size for the past million years

An interdisciplinary team of researchers, led by the Universities of Cambridge and Tübingen, has gathered measurements of body and brain size for over 300 fossils from the genus Homo found across the globe.

8 Jul 2021

Do lockdowns exert selection pressure on overdispersion of SARS-CoV-2 variants?

New research recently released on the medRxiv* preprint server describes a mathematical model that has been developed to evaluate competitions between variants that differ in their level of overdispersion (k) and their mean infectiousness.

8 Jul 2021

Insight into the impact of physical activity on sleep

In this interview, News-Medical speaks to Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis about the health problems linked to poor sleep.

8 Jul 2021

Climate directly contributed to changes in body size and indirectly to brain size throughout human evolution

Humans have evolved larger body sizes in colder regions and smaller bodies in warmer regions, with brain size showing little correlation with temperature.

8 Jul 2021

How SARS-CoV-2 has evolved over the course of the pandemic

In an effort to understand the ongoing evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, researchers constructed a phylogenetic tree of all available SARS-CoV-2 genomes.

7 Jul 2021

Researchers identify early functional deficiencies in neurons derived from Parkinson's patients

Researchers from IDIBELL and the University of Barcelona have described that neurons derived from Parkinson's patients show impairments in their transmission before neurodegeneration.

7 Jul 2021

COVID-19 vaccination may be stemming evolution of “fitter” SARS-CoV-2 variants

Researchers in the United States and India have presented the first known evidence that the rollout of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination is restricting the evolutionary and immune escape pathways accessible to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

6 Jul 2021

Study provides a reliable early prognostic biomarker for COVID-19 severity

In a retrospective, multi-centre cohort study conducted by researchers from Nanjing University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jinling Hospital and the Second Hospital of Nanjing, a microRNA-like small RNA encoded by SARS-CoV-2 was identified in the serum of COVID-19 patients, which can be developed as a non-invasive biomarker for stratification of severe patients from mild/moderate ones and for identification of high-risk individuals before clinical manifestation of severe symptoms.

6 Jul 2021

Study examines evolution and avidity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies after mRNA vaccination

New research released on the medRxiv* preprint server has measured antibody responses in 71 mRNA vaccinated adults (54 vaccinated with Pfizer and 17 vaccinated with Moderna).

6 Jul 2021

Study explores how human ACE2 variants can modify SARS-CoV-2 binding

A recent tour-de-force study by researchers from the United Kingdom reveals variants of the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) that can improve or decrease binding of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – including two variants with distinct population distributions showing an enhanced affinity for viral spike glycoprotein.

5 Jul 2021

Phylogenetic network analysis reveals recombinant origin of the SARS-CoV-2 alpha (B.1.1.7) variant

Researchers from the U.S. recently used the phylogenetic network approach to analyze the origin of the VOC202012/01 (alpha) or the PANGO Lineage B.1.1.7 variant, which was first reported in U.K. in 2020 and soon spread to other countries. This study is published on the bioRxiv preprint server while the paper undergoes peer review.

5 Jul 2021

Researchers develop random priming amplification method for whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1

Researchers from the UK recently compared the performance of 4 different random priming amplification methods to recover SARS-CoV-2 RNA. In method 1 (H-P), the reverse transcriptase (RT) step included random hexamers, whereas, in methods 2-4, RT incorporated an octamer primer with a known tag. This study is published on the bioRxiv preprint server.

5 Jul 2021

New open-source camera system captures the mouse's view of natural environment

Researchers based in Munich and Tuebingen have developed an open-source camera system that images natural habitats as they appear to rodents.

2 Jul 2021

New technique identifies specific neural pathways involved in executive functions of the brain

The human brain is a wonderfully enigmatic organ, helping to juggle multiple tasks efficiently to help us get through a long day! This feature, called executive function, seats primates like us at the pinnacle of evolution.

2 Jul 2021

Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 could last longer than originally believed

One year after infection by SARS-CoV-2, most people maintain anti-Spike antibodies regardless of the severity of their symptoms, according to a study with healthcare workers co-led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) and the Jordi Gol Institute (IDIAP JG), with the collaboration of the Daniel Bravo Andreu Private Foundation.

2 Jul 2021

Mutations in the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 select for amino acid changes, increasing protein stability

A team of researchers recently demonstrated that mutations in the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 select for amino acid changes that result in a more stable protein than would otherwise be expected.

1 Jul 2021

Researchers evaluate tools for identification of microRNAs in plants

Almost twenty years ago, the process of RNA silencing was discovered in plants, whereby small fragments of RNA inactivate a portion of a gene during protein synthesis.

1 Jul 2021

Study highlights the importance of T cell cross reactivity in stopping severe COVID-19 infections

Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology have found that T cells from people who have recovered from COVID-19 or received the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are still able to recognize several concerning SARS-CoV-2 variants.

1 Jul 2021

New study maps evolutionary history and interrelationships of protein domains

Proteins have been quietly taking over our lives since the COVID-19 pandemic began. We've been living at the whim of the virus's so-called "spike" protein, which has mutated dozens of times to create increasingly deadly variants. But the truth is, we have always been ruled by proteins. At the cellular level, they're responsible for pretty much everything.

1 Jul 2021

BUSM receives $2.7 million grant to reduce disparities in cardio-oncology

With a growing need to better understand the many links between heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death worldwide, the American Heart Association, the world's leading voluntary organization dedicated to a world of longer, healthier lives, announced grants focused on this area of scientific research.

29 Jun 2021

Evolution News and Research

Study reveals climate as main driver of changes in body size for the past million years

Do lockdowns exert selection pressure on overdispersion of SARS-CoV-2 variants?

Insight into the impact of physical activity on sleep

Climate directly contributed to changes in body size and indirectly to brain size throughout human evolution

How SARS-CoV-2 has evolved over the course of the pandemic

Researchers identify early functional deficiencies in neurons derived from Parkinson's patients

COVID-19 vaccination may be stemming evolution of “fitter” SARS-CoV-2 variants

Study provides a reliable early prognostic biomarker for COVID-19 severity

Study examines evolution and avidity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies after mRNA vaccination

Study explores how human ACE2 variants can modify SARS-CoV-2 binding

Phylogenetic network analysis reveals recombinant origin of the SARS-CoV-2 alpha (B.1.1.7) variant

Researchers develop random priming amplification method for whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1

New open-source camera system captures the mouse's view of natural environment

New technique identifies specific neural pathways involved in executive functions of the brain

Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 could last longer than originally believed

Mutations in the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 select for amino acid changes, increasing protein stability

Researchers evaluate tools for identification of microRNAs in plants

Study highlights the importance of T cell cross reactivity in stopping severe COVID-19 infections

New study maps evolutionary history and interrelationships of protein domains

BUSM receives $2.7 million grant to reduce disparities in cardio-oncology

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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