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Researchers identify key genetic players in dopamine signaling using transparent worms With The Help Of A Tin...

Dopamine, a powerful brain chemical and neurotransmitter, is a key regulator of many important functions such as attention, experiencing pleasure and reward, and coordinating movement.

12 Aug 2024

Can odors help fight infection? Nematode research suggests so

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, used the nematode model Caenorhabditis elegans to determine whether the olfactory nervous system could non-autonomously control the mitochondrial unfolded protein response in response to cellular stress.

12 Aug 2024

EZH2's role in cancer progression and therapy explored

Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a catalytic subunit of the Polycomb-repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which plays a crucial role in transcriptional repression through the methylation of histone H3 on lysine 27 (H3K27me3).

9 Aug 2024

Machine learning revolutionizes gene delivery

Gene therapy could potentially cure genetic diseases but it remains a challenge to package and deliver new genes to specific cells safely and effectively. Existing methods of engineering one of the most commonly used gene-delivery vehicles, adeno-associated viruses (AAV), are often slow and inefficient.

9 Aug 2024

Breakthrough study uncovers TIP60’s role in DNA access and disease mechanisms

To transcribe the information contained in our genes or to repair the dozens of breaks that occur daily in our DNA, our enzymes must be able to directly access the DNA to perform their functions.

9 Aug 2024

Columbia study reveals bacteria create free-floating genes, challenging genetic code norms

Since the genetic code was first deciphered in the 1960s, our genes seemed like an open book. By reading and decoding our chromosomes as linear strings of letters, like sentences in a novel, we can identify the genes in our genome and learn why changes in a gene's code affect health.

9 Aug 2024

NIH awards $3.5M grant to study link between traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's

A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is caused by a contusion to the head that may result in injury to the brain.

8 Aug 2024

Gene activity can predict severe side effects from melanoma treatment

An activity pattern in certain genes responsible for building proteins known as spleen tyrosine kinases can predict which melanoma patients are likely to have severe side effects from immunotherapy designed to treat the most deadly skin cancer, a new study shows.

8 Aug 2024

New $11.3 million grant to explore endothelial cell dysfunction in cardiovascular disease

With a new $11.3 million Program Project grant from the National Institutes of Health, experts from the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University are working to better understand the underlying mechanisms of cardiovascular disease.

8 Aug 2024

Researchers identify distinct molecular profiles in Down syndrome

A new study published in Nature Communications by researchers from the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome (Crnic Institute) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus reports a significant breakthrough.

7 Aug 2024

How C. elegans uses smell to preemptively guard against pathogen attacks

Many organisms react to the smell of deadly pathogens by reflexively avoiding them. But a recent study from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that the nematode C. elegans also reacts to the odor of pathogenic bacteria by preparing its intestinal cells to withstand a potential onslaught.

7 Aug 2024

New treatment boosts pluripotent stem cell production in mice

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have discovered a treatment which accelerates the production and quality of pluripotent stem cells in mice.

7 Aug 2024

Social genomics: How friends' genes impact a person's mental health

Mom always said, "Choose your friends wisely." Now a study led by a Rutgers Health professor shows she was onto something: Their traits can rub off on you – especially ones that are in their genes.

7 Aug 2024

Seaweed extract shows promise in protecting neurons in Parkinson’s disease

Ecklonia cava polyphenols (ECPs) show promise in reducing neuronal damage caused by rotenone in Parkinson’s disease (PD) by activating the Nrf2-ARE pathway, highlighting their potential as a neuroprotective treatment.

7 Aug 2024

Sensory nerves drive breast cancer growth and spread, study reveals

Cancer doesn't grow in a vacuum - each tumor grows in a particular microenvironment within the body and spreads through a tangled web of vasculature and nerves.

7 Aug 2024

From discovery to approval: Vorasidenib approved by FDA for treatment of IDH-mutant gliomas

A new drug for treatment of a type of brain cancer, called IDH-mutant low-grade glioma, was approved Aug. 6 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

7 Aug 2024

Understanding the age gap in leukemia survival rates

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) affects both children and adults, but children have better chances to be cured, with long-term survival rates over 85% compared to 50-75% in adults. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital conducted a comprehensive study to understand the biological causes driving this difference. The work, published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, provides a blueprint for understanding B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common form of the disease.

7 Aug 2024

METRNL protein identified as key player in cancer progression

A protein called Meteorin-like (METRNL) in the tumor microenvironment saps energy from T cells, thereby severely limiting their ability to fight cancer, according to new research directed by investigators at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Finding ways to block the effects of METRNL signaling on tumor-infiltrating T cells may allow these immune cells to regain the energy necessary to eliminate tumors.

7 Aug 2024

Study advances understanding of complex neurological disorder

To effectively treat a disease or disorder, doctors must first know the root cause. Such is the case for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), whose root causes can be hugely complex and heterogeneous. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital demonstrated the value of DNA methylation patterns for identifying the root cause of DEEs, showing specific gene methylation and genome-wide methylation "episignatures" can help identify the genes that cause DEE. The findings were published today in Nature Communications.

7 Aug 2024

Study uncovers roles of certain brain cells in Alzheimer's plaque formation

A study in Nature Neuroscience found that both neurons and oligodendrocytes contribute to amyloid-β plaque burden in Alzheimer's disease, highlighting new therapeutic targets.

7 Aug 2024