Locus News and Research

RSS

Smell loss emerges as the early behavioural sign of Alzheimer’s

Research reveals immune cells target brainstem nerves, linking smell loss to early Alzheimer's, offering potential for earlier diagnosis and intervention.

4 Sep 2025

Breastfeeding at six months boosts children’s IQ and academic skills into adolescence

Breastfeeding at six months was linked to higher IQ, better reading and math skills, and improved conversational abilities in children, according to the ALSPAC study. The findings, based on 42 significant outcomes, highlight long-term cognitive advantages but stop short of proving causality.

1 Sep 2025

Alzheimer’s gene risks differ by ancestry, major study reveals 133 new variants

Researchers used whole-genome sequencing from diverse populations to identify 156 variants, including 133 novel ones, linked to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The study highlights ancestry-specific genetic risk and protective factors, challenging one-size-fits-all approaches to dementia genetics.

17 Aug 2025

Study shows probiotics help preterm babies fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Researchers found that probiotics help reduce antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the guts of very-low-birth-weight preterm infants, but cannot fully prevent resistance genes from spreading. Antibiotic use still promotes gene swapping, highlighting the limits of probiotics alone in neonatal care.

17 Aug 2025

Researchers uncover dozens of traits driven by maternal versus paternal genes

Researchers developed a high-accuracy method to infer whether genetic variants come from the mother or father without needing parental genomes, analysing 286,666 UK Biobank participants. They uncovered over 30 parent-of-origin effects on traits from growth and metabolism to diabetes, many showing opposite effects depending on parental source.

7 Aug 2025

HOXB13 emerges as a context-dependent regulator in cancer biology

HOXB13, a B-class homeobox transcription factor, sits at the hub of developmental gene networks yet has emerged as a double-edged sword in human cancer.

5 Aug 2025

Scientists reveal how rare gene mutations drive schizophrenia risk

Researchers analyzed the largest exome-sequencing dataset to date and identified new rare coding variants and genes linked to schizophrenia risk. The study highlights converging genetic pathways, implicating chromatin organization and GABAergic signaling in schizophrenia neurobiology.

4 Aug 2025

Researchers trace metabolic superpowers of hibernators to shared DNA

Animals that hibernate are incredibly resilient. They can spend months without food or water, muscles refusing to atrophy, body temperature dropping to near freezing as their metabolism and brain activity slow to a crawl.

1 Aug 2025

Scientists open new atlas of genetic diversity with advanced sequencing

A global team mapped over 100,000 structural variants in human genomes by applying Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing and a novel graph-based analytical approach to samples from 26 populations. The study reveals the extraordinary complexity and diversity of human DNA, providing an open-access atlas that will accelerate discoveries in genetic disease and human evolution.

24 Jul 2025

AI identifies novel gene variants linked to Alzheimer’s risk

This study reveals how machine learning models uncover new genetic variants linked to Alzheimer’s, advancing predictive accuracy in genetic epidemiology.

24 Jul 2025

New genetic marker improves kidney transplant match predictions

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have identified a new way of predicting whether a kidney donor and recipient are a good match for transplantation.

17 Jul 2025

Brain's tiny region dictates how memories are formed and separated

Life may unfold as a continuous stream, but our memories tell a different story. We do not recall the past as one long, unbroken text. Instead, we remember it as a series of meaningful events, like how sentences are structured with grammar and punctuation.

16 Jul 2025

Mindfulness meditation boosts attention across all age groups

A new study from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology reveals that just 30 days of guided mindfulness meditation can significantly enhance key aspects of attentional control - especially how quickly and accurately people direct their focus - regardless of age.

9 Jul 2025

Scientists trace leprosy’s roots in South America back 4,000 years

Researchers have recovered and sequenced Mycobacterium lepromatosis genomes from 4,000-year-old human remains in Chile, providing the first molecular evidence of ancient leprosy in the Americas. The findings reveal the deep evolutionary roots and complex spread of Hansen’s disease long before European contact.

1 Jul 2025

Aging brain adapts to read ambiguous facial expressions

Because aging weakens cognitive skills, older people can struggle to read difficult social cues. A brain region involved in attention and arousal-the locus coeruleus (LC)-helps with complex tasks, and its connections to the cortex may adapt as humans age to support cognition.

30 Jun 2025

Why Alzheimer’s DNA tests don’t treat all populations equally

A major global study tested whether European-derived polygenic risk scores (PGS) for Alzheimer’s disease can predict risk across diverse populations. While PGS performed well in many groups, it was less accurate in individuals of sub-Saharan African and Indian ancestry, highlighting the urgent need for more inclusive genetic data.

19 Jun 2025

Estrogen-responsive cells found to heighten gut pain in females

Researchers uncovered how estrogen heightens gut sensitivity in females by activating PYY-secreting L-cells, which stimulate serotonin release from EC cells. This paracrine circuit intensifies pain signaling and may explain the sex bias in conditions like IBS.

16 Jun 2025

RNA steps up to protect the genome from DNA knots

Not all DNA looks like the familiar twisted ladder. Sometimes, parts of our genetic code fold into unusual shapes. One such structure, the G-quadruplex (G4), looks like a knot.

13 Jun 2025

Protein ELAV identified as key regulator of circular RNAs in the brain

Deep within our nerve cells, a molecule is at work that has no beginning and no end. Instead of a straight chain, as is it common for most RNA strands, it forms a closed loop.

10 Jun 2025

When old diseases find new ways in: Europe’s latest diphtheria outbreak explained

A large multicountry outbreak of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae occurred among migrants entering Europe in 2022, driven primarily by cutaneous infections and involving multiple genetic lineages. Despite the unprecedented surge, transmission to resident populations was limited, but rising antimicrobial resistance and delayed treatment highlight ongoing public health risks.

10 Jun 2025