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Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate.

Two-drug combo shows durable benefit in advanced kidney cancer

A two-drug combination for treating advanced kidney cancer had sustained and durable clinical benefit in more than five years of follow-up, according to a study published Aug. 1 in Nature Medicine.

1 Aug 2025

Salk Institute's ShortStop revolutionizes genetic search

Proteins sustain life as we know it, serving many important structural and functional roles throughout the body. But these large molecules have cast a long shadow over a smaller subclass of proteins called microproteins.

1 Aug 2025

Researchers uncover PSAT1 gene as key to heart repair post-heart attack

Heart attacks remain a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The permanent loss of heart muscle cells-known as cardiomyocytes-and the heart's limited regenerative capacity often led to chronic heart failure.

1 Aug 2025

Study sheds light on molecular mechanisms of brain aging

Aging and neurodegeneration are both known to disrupt the production of functional proteins in cells – a process called "proteostasis," or protein homeostasis.

31 Jul 2025

Chemotherapy treatment linked to lasting cognitive changes in rats

Researchers at The City College of New York have linked chemotherapy treatment to lasting cognitive changes in rats – potentially shading light, for the first time, on cognitive problems some cancer survivors experience long after treatment ends.

31 Jul 2025

New molecular insights reveal why some bladder cancers resist chemotherapy

About one quarter of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) may be treated and derive a benefit with the current standard chemotherapy.

31 Jul 2025

Selective impairment of translation contributes to brain aging in killifish

Aging selectively impairs the production of crucial DNA- and RNA-binding proteins, which contributes to hallmarks of aging in the brains of killifish, according to a new study.

31 Jul 2025

New RNA therapy reverses symptoms of progeria in mouse models

Children who develop deep wrinkles, stunted growth, and rapidly aging bones and blood vessels as early as 1 to 2 years of age may be suffering from Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), a rare and incurable genetic disorder that affects approximately one in eight million people.

29 Jul 2025

Immunotherapy shows promise in changing leukemia’s cellular environment

Scientists studying a hard-to-treat form of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have found that a type of treatment - immunotherapy - may help change the environment where cancer cells live, possibly helping the immune system respond more effectively.

29 Jul 2025

New computer program mimics cell behavior for faster medical discoveries

Using mathematical analysis of patterns of human and animal cell behavior, scientists say they have developed a computer program that mimics the behavior of such cells in any part of the body.

28 Jul 2025

Study maps RNA shape-shifting mechanisms in human and bacterial cells

Apart from carrying the information to encode proteins in, RNA molecules can adopt intricate 2D and 3D structures.

28 Jul 2025

TraMA offers breakthrough in measuring biological age

A new research paper was published in Aging (Aging-US) Volume 17, Issue 6, on June 13, 2025, titled "Development of a novel transcriptomic measure of aging: Transcriptomic Mortality-risk Age (TraMA)."

28 Jul 2025

Advancing precision medicine in colorectal cancer with multi-omics approaches

Colorectal cancer is among the most prevalent and lethal malignancies worldwide, with liver metastases occurring in nearly one-third of patients and accounting for a major share of cancer-related deaths.

28 Jul 2025

Australian scientists uncover new way to halt aggressive cancer growth

Australian researchers have discovered a promising new strategy to suppress the growth of aggressive and hard-to-treat cancers by targeting a specialized molecular process known as 'minor splicing'.

28 Jul 2025

New research identifies critical gene for ALS treatment

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - which you may know as the disease that affected Stephen Hawking - is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive muscle weakness. A research team at Tohoku University and Keio University has uncovered a unifying mechanism in ALS revolving around the expression of UNC13A (a gene crucial for neuronal communication) that represents a common target for developing effective treatment strategies that could improve the lives of patients with ALS.

26 Jul 2025

New model predicts mRNA protein production, accelerating drug and vaccine discovery

A new artificial intelligence model can improve the process of drug and vaccine discovery by predicting how efficiently specific mRNA sequences will produce proteins, both generally and in various cell types. The new advance, developed through an academic-industrial partnership between The University of Texas at Austin and Sanofi, helps predict how much protein cells will produce, which can minimize the need for trial-and-error experimentation, accelerating the next generation of mRNA therapeutics.

26 Jul 2025

Discovery of TAF1's role could revolutionize cancer treatment

A new study led by Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., director of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, shows how a key molecule regulates the generation of new blood cells, a process called hematopoiesis that goes awry in cancer. The findings have the potential to lead to new therapeutic strategies targeting the molecule, a regulator of gene activity called TAF1.

26 Jul 2025

Standard DNA tests miss most cases of NUT carcinoma

The diagnosis of a suspected lung, head, and neck cancer called NUT carcinoma should include additional testing capable of detecting gene fusions that are definitive markers of the disease, according to a study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators.

24 Jul 2025

CoVerage outperforms rivals in early detection of COVID mutations

The CoVerage system monitors SARS-CoV-2 evolution, predicting variants and scoring amino acid changes to inform vaccine efficacy and public health strategies.

24 Jul 2025