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Proteins are complex molecules that are made up of amino acids. They can be found in every cell in the body, and carry out vital processes that keep human beings alive. Mutations in proteins can lead to a multitude of diseases, the most common being cancer.

Coffee, tea and dementia risk: Why the amount you drink could matter

A targeted perspective synthesizes epidemiological and mechanistic evidence examining how caffeine consumption during midlife may influence dementia risk later in life. The authors highlight potential roles for dose, age, CYP1A2 genotype, adenosine signaling and cultural drinking practices, while stressing that current observational evidence cannot establish causality.

3 Sep 2026

Same foods, different timing, very different glucose patterns

In a randomized crossover study of 22 healthy, normal-weight Chinese men, consuming canola oil alone or with spinach before a high-glycemic mashed-potato meal produced flatter post-meal glucose and insulin responses than spinach alone or no preload. The effects were associated with increased GLP-1 signaling and slower gastric emptying, with the findings indicating that the unsaturated oil was the primary driver of the metabolic response.

3 Sep 2026

The four-day week has plenty of fans. Now researchers are testing what it really changes

The Sussex 4-Day Week study is a 14-week UK protocol designed to investigate how reduced working hours affect physical and mental health, wellbeing, sleep, work performance, and potential biological and psychological mechanisms. Researchers aim to combine questionnaires with actigraphy, inflammatory biomarkers, interoception testing, and brain imaging in at least 150 adults, with data collection expected to continue until 2027.

3 Sep 2026

Study finds biases in tools predicting dangerous genetic mutations

When a patient has their DNA read, it gets compared against a reference version of the human genome. It allows geneticists and rare disease experts to look at a list of places where the patient's DNA differs.

3 Sep 2026

Cancer-fighting T cells need small amounts of ROS to attack tumors, study finds

New research reveals a promising new target for treating cancer by harnessing a type of molecule previously thought to do more harm than good.

3 Sep 2026

Yeast study shows how membrane lipids slow protein transport

A study in budding yeast suggests that changes in membrane lipids trigger a braking system that slows internal protein transport when the endoplasmic reticulum comes under stress, comparable to modern logistics networks where shipments are slowed when distribution hubs are under stress.

3 Sep 2026

Cancer drug eliminates HIV-infected cells in animal model study

Emory University researchers have provided the first proof-of-concept in a nonhuman primate model for eliminating HIV-infected cells with venetoclax, a clinically approved medication for cancer.

3 Sep 2026

Brain-protecting immune cells may actually drive Alzheimer's disease

Immune cells that normally protect the body from damage by attacking foreign or infected cells are found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders at much higher levels than in healthy brains.

3 Sep 2026

Targeting KV7 proteins could help delay preterm labor

Scientists have found that targeting a particular group of proteins in the uterus muscle (myometrium) can suppress human uterine contractions in laboratory studies and delay preterm birth in a preclinical model.

3 Sep 2026

Maternal illness may reshape fetal brain development through epigenetics

Neurodevelopmental conditions, which include autism spectrum disorders, ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), and more, impact around ten percent of the American population.

2 Sep 2026

Menopause may start changing the gut years before periods stop

A longitudinal study of 964 women found that blood markers of gut epithelial barrier dysfunction and microbial product translocation began to rise around 2 to 2.5 years before the final menstrual period and remained elevated after menopause. The findings suggest that changes in gut barrier integrity may form part of the biological transition through menopause and could help explain links between menopause, inflammation, and later health outcomes.

2 Sep 2026

New drug class shows major promise for shrinking nerve tumors

A scientist at Cincinnati Children's who has hunted for decades for ways to shrink the painful and disfiguring nerve tumors caused by neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) has made a new breakthrough in the quest.

2 Sep 2026

Generative AI helps scientists design entirely new RNA transporters

Researchers at Helmholtz Munich and TUM have developed Synthetic Transfer Vehicles (STVs), an entirely new class of RNA transporters.

2 Sep 2026

Two scientists win Horwitz Prize for Rett syndrome breakthrough

Columbia University will award the 2026 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize to Adrian Bird and Huda Zoghbi for their pioneering work on epigenetic regulation in the nervous system and its role in human neurological disease, particularly Rett syndrome.

2 Sep 2026

Study reveals why many patients fail to recover after stroke

A clot forms. Blood flow to the brain is blocked. Starved of oxygen, neurons begin to die.

2 Sep 2026

Scientists develop lab-grown heart tissue model for heart failure

Scientists study the underlying causes of a disease or test new potential drugs in animal models or cells obtained from human biopsy specimens before clinical trials.

2 Sep 2026

Insilico Medicine releases frontier AI models for drug discovery

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced the release of a series of frontier specialist models for chemistry and biology, trained through its MMAI Gym for Science framework.

2 Sep 2026

Harvard scientists discover entirely new gene regulation system in mammals

For decades, scientists have understood that each of the roughly 20,000 genes in the human body carries the instructions for a single kind of protein.

2 Sep 2026

Giving immunotherapy before surgery boosts brain tumor treatment success

A team from UNIGE and HUG has shown that administering cell immunotherapy before surgery to remove a brain tumor is significantly more effective than administering it afterwards.

2 Sep 2026

Bacterial protein fragment corisin found to drive pulmonary fibrosis

A bacterial protein fragment called corisin drives the process of pulmonary fibrosis by infiltrating and disrupting the cell's quality-control system, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Mie University in Japan found in a new study.

2 Sep 2026