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New breakthrough advances our understanding of how brain detects, prevents dehydration

Scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and Duke University have made a breakthrough that advances our understanding of how the brain detects and prevents dehydration.

16 Oct 2015

New hope for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

New hope for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients. A mouse genetic study in PLoS Medicine reports that targeting the P2RX7 gene, a purinoreceptor, may halt the progression of DMD.

14 Oct 2015

Researchers come up with new design for a better liposome

Using computational modeling, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the Colorado School of Mines and the University of California, Davis have come up with a design for a better liposome. Their findings, while theoretical, could provide the basis for efficiently constructing new vehicles for nanodrug delivery.

14 Oct 2015

ATA announces first-year research grants to support promising young researchers

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is pleased to announce the awarding of first-year grants to support two young researchers selected from among a pool of applicants who proposed projects that will contribute novel insights and information with the potential to lead to new drug targets and therapeutic strategies to improve the treatment of thyroid cancer and patient outcomes.

13 Oct 2015

Researchers find protein that plays crucial role in development of allergic airway inflammation

Allergies are becoming more commonplace, particularly in industrialised coun-tries. In addition to hay fever, allergic asthma is currently considered to be one of the most widespread allergies. UFZ researchers and their colleagues from the University of Leipzig have recently been successful in finding a protein that plays a critical role in the development of allergic airway inflammation.

12 Oct 2015

Finding could lead to potential new treatment for patients with autoimmune diseases

Antibodies protect the body against diseases - but can also harm their own organism if the reactions are misdirected. Researchers from the University of Zurich have now discovered that a particular sugar in the antibodies determines whether one of the body's own cells is destroyed or not. This result could lead to new treatment possibilities for patients with autoimmune diseases.

6 Oct 2015

Two studies identify promising new anti-retroviral strategy to combat HIV-1

A pair of studies by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the University of Trento in Italy, and the University of Geneva in Switzerland, point to a promising new anti-retroviral strategy for combating HIV-1.

1 Oct 2015

AFM Images of microvilli on live cells taken for the first time

In a just released article in the Journal of Molecular Recognition, Dr. Hermann Schillers et al. report the first visualization of individual microvilli on living cells with atomic force microscopy.

From Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology 1 Oct 2015

Research shows why microgravity leads to muscle loss

People can easily feel the presence - or absence - of gravity. Our individual cells actually may be able to sense gravity, too, and that ability could play a role in the loss of muscle that occurs when humans spend time in space.

1 Oct 2015

Glowing protein may replace fiber optic cable as light source in optogenetics research

Optogenetics has taken neuroscience by storm in recent years because the technique allows scientists to study the brain conveniently in animals, activating or inhibiting selected groups of neurons at the flip of a switch. Most often, scientists use a fiber optic cable to deliver light into the brain.

30 Sep 2015

Researchers develop a technique that uses platelet membranes to coat anticancer drugs

Researchers have for the first time developed a technique that coats anticancer drugs in membranes made from a patient's own platelets, allowing the drugs to last longer in the body and attack both primary cancer tumors and the circulating tumor cells that can cause a cancer to metastasize. The work was tested successfully in an animal model.

30 Sep 2015

Specialized proteins can inhibit HIV

There is little doubt that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is devastating. More than 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV and more than 47,000 people are diagnosed annually. Now, University of Missouri researchers have made a discovery in how specialized proteins can inhibit the virus, opening the door for progress in the fight against HIV and for the production of advanced therapeutics to combat the disease.

29 Sep 2015

New single-molecule tool may help detect interactions between DNA and enzymatic proteins

A team of scientists at the University of Washington and the biotechnology company Illumina have created an innovative tool to directly detect the delicate, single-molecule interactions between DNA and enzymatic proteins.

29 Sep 2015

New genetic cause identified for congenital heart arrhythmia

Scientists at The Ohio State University Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute have identified a new genetic cause for congenital heart arrhythmia. The results of their research are published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

23 Sep 2015

Scientists identify new drug target to treat heart arrhythmias

Scientists at The Ohio State University Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute have identified a new target they hope will help make the next drug discovery for patients suffering from heart arrhythmias happen sooner.

9 Sep 2015

Resin contains substances that may cure epilepsy, say Linköping University researchers

Sticky resin from conifers contains substances that could relieve or cure epilepsy. Researchers at Linköping University have synthesized and tested 71 substances known as resin acids, of which twelve are prime candidates for new medicines.

9 Sep 2015

Cells expressing faulty CFTR channel to TNF-α can 'fix' cystic fibrosis cells

Scientific experiments examining what happens to the faulty channel protein that causes cystic fibrosis during inflammation have yielded unexpected and exciting results. The study, conducted by Sara Bitam and her colleagues at INSERM in France, has just passed peer review on open science publishing platform F1000Research.

3 Sep 2015

Inhalation exposure to PM2.5 pollution triggers liver fibrosis

A research team led by Kezhong Zhang, Ph.D., at the Wayne State University School of Medicine's Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, has discovered that exposure to air pollution has a direct adverse health effect on the liver and causes liver fibrosis, an illness associated with metabolic disease and liver cancer.

3 Sep 2015

Novel chemical virus can cross double lipid layer surrounding cells to release drugs

Viruses are able to redirect the functioning of cells in order to infect them. Inspired by their mode of action, scientists from the CNRS and Université de Strasbourg have designed a "chemical virus" that can cross the double lipid layer that surrounds cells, and then disintegrate in the intracellular medium in order to release active compounds.

29 Aug 2015

Study sheds light on helper cells and killer cells

Scientists at the University of Bonn, together with colleagues from the USA and Japan, have shed light on an important immune mechanism. Their work shows how the body provides the important killer cells with a helper in the case of an infection. The study could point the way to better vaccines in the future.

21 Aug 2015