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Gene medication shows promise to treat spinal cord injuries

The two-gene medication has been proven to recover motor functions in rats. After several months of treatment, rodents were able to use previously paralyzed limbs. Researchers at Kazan Federal University are now seeking pre-clinical trial investment.

18 Mar 2019

World's oldest semen viable for artificial insemination

Semen stored since 1968 in a laboratory in Sydney has been defrosted and successfully used to impregnate 34 Merino ewes, with the resulting live birth rate as high sperm frozen for just 12 months.

18 Mar 2019

Call for halt to human gene editing and designer babies experiments

Powerful gene editing tools could soon face a global regulations on their use on human embryos, sperms or eggs.

18 Mar 2019

Breast cancer relapse predictor may soon be a reality

Breast cancer survivors like many other cancer survivors live in fear of relapse of their cancer after they have been in remission. Researchers have now developed a tool by which they can predict accurately the time when the cancer is likely to return. The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

18 Mar 2019

A call for more comprehensive research models to study different aspects of puberty

Puberty is much more than just a time of biological overdrive, propelled by sexual maturation. Progress in developmental science has greatly broadened the perspective of this critical maturational milestone.

15 Mar 2019

Promising gene therapy could restore vision in humans

It was surprisingly simple. University of California, Berkeley, scientists inserted a gene for a green-light receptor into the eyes of blind mice and, a month later, they were navigating around obstacles as easily as mice with no vision problems.

15 Mar 2019

Key discoveries could shed light on retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma is a tumor of the retina that generally affects children under 5 years of age and accounts for approximately 4% of childhood cancers. If not diagnosed early, retinoblastoma may result in loss of one or both eyes and can be fatal.

15 Mar 2019

Machine learning approach sheds light on the biology of liver and kidneys after toxin exposure

Exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is a reality of life. Our ancestors, faced with naturally occurring toxins, evolved mechanisms to detoxify and expel damaging substances.

15 Mar 2019

Deadly inherited blood disorders cured with bone marrow transplant

Doubling the low amount of total body radiation delivered to patients undergoing bone marrow transplants with donor cells that are only "half-matched" increased the rate of engraftment from only about 50 percent to nearly 100 percent, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

15 Mar 2019

Natural speed limit on DNA replication sets pace for life's first steps

Fruit flies make for stingy mothers, imparting only a portion of the genetic building blocks their offspring need to survive. The rest must be produced by the fertilized egg in its first few steps of growth.

15 Mar 2019

New treatment approach could minimize brain damage caused by stroke

In a study published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers successfully used a new approach that significantly minimized brain damage caused by stroke in mouse models.

14 Mar 2019

Medication could mitigate side effects of chemotherapy for breast cancer patients

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have demonstrated a method of forecasting which breast cancer patients will suffer heart problems from a commonly used chemotherapy drug.

14 Mar 2019

Molecular patterns could help predict relapse risk in breast cancer patients

The genetic and molecular make-up of individual breast tumors holds clues to how a woman’s disease could progress, including the likelihood of it coming back after treatment, and in what time frame, according to a Cancer Research UK-funded study published in Nature today (Wednesday).

14 Mar 2019

Success for new cholesterol-lowering drug

A new, oral drug that effectively lowers LDL or "bad" cholesterol, looks set for clinical approval.

14 Mar 2019

Free fatty acids in the blood linked with elevated risk of breast cancer in obese women

Scientists at the University of Illinois have found that free fatty acids in the blood appear to boost proliferation and growth of breast cancer cells. The finding could help explain obese women's elevated risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.

14 Mar 2019