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University of Missouri researchers identify key protein component that causes cystic fibrosis

Nearly 70,000 people worldwide are living with cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disease. There currently is no cure for the condition, but researchers from the University of Missouri have identified a key component in the protein that causes the disease. It is a finding that may lay the foundation for the development of new medications and improved therapies.

19 May 2015

Vitamin E helps build strong muscles

Body builders have it right: vitamin E does help build strong muscles, and scientists appear to have figured out one important way it does it.

19 May 2015

Researchers pinpoint new mechanism responsible for malaria progression

A team of researchers from four universities has pinpointed one of the mechanisms responsible for the progression of malaria, providing a new target for possible treatments.

28 Apr 2015

Common tapeworm drug effectively treats MRSA superbugs in lab

A new study provides evidence from lab experiments that a drug already used in people to fight tapeworms might also prove effective against strains of the superbug MRSA, which kills thousands of people a year in the United States.

24 Apr 2015

New automated tool rapidly delivers large particles into mammalian cells

A new device developed by UCLA engineers and doctors eventually help scientists study the development of disease, enable them to capture improved images of the inside of cells and lead to other improvements in medical and biological research.

10 Apr 2015

Researchers identify phenomenon that explains effects of oxidative stress on immune cells

You're up in the mountains, the snow is blindingly white, and the sun is blazing down from the sky: ideal skiing conditions - but any skiers carrying the herpes virus might also have to reckon with the onset of cold sores after their day out.

10 Apr 2015

Thomas Jefferson University, Exosome Sciences team up to evaluate new liquid biopsy platform

Today, Thomas Jefferson University announces a partnership with Exosome Sciences Inc. to evaluate a novel liquid biopsy platform that might offer clinicians new and actionable information about a patient's cancer as the disease progresses and changes, via a simple blood test.

3 Apr 2015

Purdue researchers identify new class of chemical insecticides to control mosquitoes

Purdue researchers have identified a new class of chemical insecticides that could provide a safer, more selective means of controlling mosquitoes that transmit key infectious diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and elephantiasis.

2 Apr 2015

Mitochondrial DNA movement: an interview with Professor Jiri Neuzil, Griffith University

According to our understanding, mitochondria undergo cycles of fusion-fission, i.e. they divide within the constraints of a cell and, upon cell division, each of the two daughter cells gets its ‘share’ of mitochondria.

29 Mar 2015

Cardiovascular researchers identify MG53 protein necessary for repairing injured kidney cells

Cardiovascular researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have shown that a protein known as MG53 is not only present in kidney cells, but necessary for the organ to repair itself after acute injury. Results from this animal model study are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

19 Mar 2015

New research lays groundwork for developing treatments for asthma, COPD

In diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the body produces too much mucus, making breathing difficult. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides clues to potentially counteract inappropriate mucus production.

18 Mar 2015

TSRI researchers show how ABC transporters cause multidrug resistance

Cancer patients fear the possibility that one day their cells might start rendering many different chemotherapy regimens ineffective. This phenomenon, called multidrug resistance, leads to tumors that defy treatment.

3 Mar 2015

Vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids may optimize brain serotonin concentrations and function

Although essential marine omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D have been shown to improve cognitive function and behavior in the context of certain brain disorders, the underlying mechanism has been unclear. In a new paper published in FASEB Journal by Rhonda Patrick, PhD and Bruce Ames, PhD of Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, serotonin is explained as the possible missing link tying together why vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acids might ameliorate the symptoms associated with a broad array of brain disorders.

27 Feb 2015

Finding opens avenues of research toward precision treatments to boost life expectancy for CF patients

Mutation of one gene is all it takes to get cystic fibrosis (CF), but disease severity depends on many other genes and proteins. For the first time, researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have identified genetic pathways - or clusters of genes - that play major roles in why one person with CF might never experience the worse kinds of symptoms while another person will battle severe airway infection for a lifetime.

23 Feb 2015

Research: Complex nerve circuits first evolved in common ancestor of humans and cnidarians

New research shows that a burst of evolutionary innovation in the genes responsible for electrical communication among nerve cells in our brains occurred over 600 million years ago in a common ancestor of humans and the sea anemone.

17 Feb 2015

KU Leuven researchers find aggressive form of HIV in Cuba

Engaging in unprotected sex with multiple partners increases the risk of contracting multiple strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Once inside a host, these strains can recombine into a new variant of the virus. One such recombinant variant observed in patients in Cuba appears to be much more aggressive than other known forms of HIV.

16 Feb 2015

Study shows how cannabidiol works within cells

A team of Stony Brook University researchers have identified fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) as intracellular transporters for two ingredients in marijuana, THC and CBD (cannabidiol).

13 Feb 2015

Research finds that mtDNA can move from healthy cell to dysfunctional tumour cell

Ground-breaking research from Griffith University on the Gold Coast has some scientists wondering if the entire study of cellular biology needs to be adjusted.

11 Feb 2015

Griffith research unlocks more about cancer

A research collaboration between Griffith and the Malaghan Institute in Wellington, New Zealand has made the discovery that mitochondria are capable of passing through the healthy membrane of a host cell into defective tumour cells, possibly kicking off the rapid proliferation of tumour cells which is the hallmark of cancer.

10 Feb 2015

Drugs designed to target NHE9 protein could help fight glioblastoma

Applying lessons learned from autism to brain cancer, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have discovered why elevated levels of the protein NHE9 add to the lethality of the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma. Their discovery suggests that drugs designed to target NHE9 could help to successfully fight the deadly disease.