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Scientists identify gene mutation that causes color blindness

A rare eye disorder marked by color blindness, light sensitivity, and other vision problems can result from a newly discovered gene mutation identified by an international research team, including scientists from Columbia University Medical Center.

3 Jun 2015

Scientists develop human cortical spheroids

A patient tormented by suicidal thoughts gives his psychiatrist a few strands of his hair. She derives stem cells from them to grow budding brain tissue harboring the secrets of his unique illness in a petri dish. She uses the information to genetically engineer a personalized treatment to correct his brain circuit functioning. Just Sci-fi? Yes, but...

1 Jun 2015

Researchers identify gene vital to production of pain-sensing neurons in humans

A gene essential to the production of pain-sensing neurons in humans has been identified by an international team of researchers co-led by the University of Cambridge. The discovery, reported today in the journal Nature Genetics, could have implications for the development of new methods of pain relief.

26 May 2015

Scientists find key to light-induced color change in fish skin

The neon tetra fish from the Amazonas River, along with some reptiles, amphibians, and other fish, takes advantage of structural colors in its skin to change its appearance in response to a triggering signal. In the light-adapted state, its lateral stripe shimmers blue-green, in the dark it is indigo. Scientists from Israel have now found an unambiguous answer to how this intriguing mechanism works. They present their results, which favor the so-called "Venetian blind" model, in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

20 May 2015

OSU scientists develop more accurate method to evaluate cancer risk of pollutants

Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a faster, more accurate method to assess cancer risk from certain common environmental pollutants.

12 May 2015

Study finds that gene therapy can clip out genetic material associated with heart failure

Gene therapy can clip out genetic material linked to heart failure and replace it with the normal gene in human cardiac cells, according to a study led by researchers from the Cardiovascular Research Center at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

30 Apr 2015

Study suggests that inhibiting FOXO1 protein could speed diabetic wound healing

A protein that normally fosters tissue repair instead acts to inhibit healing when sugar levels are high, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The role reversal helps explain why wounds heal slowly in people with diabetes.

28 Apr 2015

Case Western Reserve and MIT receive $1.7 million to explore potential treatments for Down syndrome

Thanks to the generosity of a philanthropy dedicated to children's issues, renowned Down syndrome researcher Alberto Costa, MD, PhD, has taken yet another step toward making Northeast Ohio the nation's leader in exploring potential treatments of the genetic condition that affects 400,000 people in the U.S.

23 Apr 2015

Research: Stem cell injection may soon slow or reverse effects of age-related macular degeneration

An injection of stem cells into the eye may soon slow or reverse the effects of early-stage age-related macular degeneration, according to new research from scientists at Cedars-Sinai. Currently, there is no treatment that slows the progression of the disease, which is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 65.

16 Apr 2015

Johns Hopkins researchers create the largest library of brain cells from ALS patients

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have transformed skin cells from patients with Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), into brain cells affected by the progressive, fatal disease and deposited those human-made cells into the first public ALS cell library, enabling scientists to better study the disease.

15 Apr 2015

Stem cell disease model reveals how tumor suppressor may drive bone cancer

Using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a team led by Mount Sinai researchers has gained new insight into genetic changes that may turn a well known anti-cancer signaling gene into a driver of risk for bone cancers, where the survival rate has not improved in 40 years despite treatment advances.

10 Apr 2015

Protein-degrading enzyme can trigger strong allergic reactions through skin

Papain is an important industrial protein-degrading enzyme that is used, for example, in the food and cosmetic industries.

10 Apr 2015

New biodegradable membrane reduces wound healing time by 50%

Treatments to regenerate skin from burns become tedious and long lasting; however, Mexican researchers developed a biodegradable membrane that allows to transfer skin cells (keratinocytes) to burn wounds, when placed on the wound. The method reduces healing time by 50 percent.

3 Apr 2015

Patient's own skin cells may hold key to new treatments for neurological diseases

A patient's very own skin cells may hold the key to new treatments and even cures for devastating neurological diseases. A generous $1 million donation from Mr. J. Sebastian van Berkom, and critical partnerships with Brain Canada, Laval University, Marigold Foundation and the FRQS-Réseau Parkinson Quebec are driving an innovative, iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell) research platform that will transform research into Parkinson's and other neurological diseases.

31 Mar 2015

Rare genetic mutation explains why flu can kill in rare cases

Nobody likes getting the flu, but for some people, fluids and rest aren't enough. A small number of children who catch the influenza virus fall so ill they end up in the hospital — perhaps needing ventilators to breathe — even while their family and friends recover easily. New research by Rockefeller University scientists, published March 26 in Science, helps explain why: a rare genetic mutation.

30 Mar 2015

Experimental nanoparticle therapy speeds healing of all sorts of wounds

An experimental therapy developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University cut in half the time it takes to heal wounds compared to no treatment at all. Details of the therapy, which was successfully tested in mice, were published online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

30 Mar 2015

Cambridge scientists successfully create 'mini-lungs' to study cystic fibrosis

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have successfully created 'mini-lungs' using stem cells derived from skin cells of patients with cystic fibrosis, and have shown that these can be used to test potential new drugs for this debilitating lung disease.

20 Mar 2015

New antibody treatment blocks immune signaling protein crucial to psoriasis

Many patients suffering from psoriasis showed significant recovery after just a single dose of an experimental treatment with a human antibody that blocks an immune signaling protein crucial to the disease, researchers report.

16 Mar 2015

Gene variant may help predict people’s response to investigational Alzheimer's therapy

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a gene variant that may be used to predict people most likely to respond to an investigational therapy under development for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

13 Mar 2015

Myriad Publishes myPath™ Melanoma Pivotal Validation Study in the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology

Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) today announced the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology published data from a pivotal clinical validation study that showed the myPath™ Melanoma test is highly effective at differentiating benign skin moles from malignant melanoma with greater than 90 percent diagnostic accuracy. Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer and more than 76,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in the United States.

6 Mar 2015