Locus News and Research

RSS

Maternal obesity alters fetal liver metabolism via placental molecular signals

A mother's obesity during pregnancy may send molecular signals across the placenta that permanently alter her son's liver metabolism, according to a new study in mice published in Nature Communications.

26 Aug 2026

New studies reveal hidden control hub for MYC-driven cancers

In a rare pair of papers published back-to-back in the journal Genes & Development, research teams led by senior author Anindya Bagchi, PhD, associate professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, establish a unified framework that governs one of cancer's most powerful master regulators.

19 Aug 2026

Nocturnal micro-awakenings linked to genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease

What if certain signs of the disease were to manifest themselves subtly during sleep, long before the first memory problems appear? This is the line of inquiry being explored by a team of researchers at ULiège, with the support of the Stop Alzheimer's Foundation.

11 Aug 2026

Early-life stress rewires brain epigenetics to heighten sensitivity to future stress

. Early-life stress increased SETD7 and H3K4me1 in the ventral tegmental area of mice, creating an epigenetically primed state that heightened later transcriptional, neuronal, and behavioral responses to stress. Reducing Setd7 during development lowered H3K4me1 and weakened these stress-sensitizing effects, identifying a mechanism that may help explain how early adversity leaves lasting biological effects.

11 Aug 2026

Harnessing neuroplasticity to improve cochlear implant adaptation

Cochlear implants have transformed what is possible for people with profound hearing loss. But the next major advance may depend less on the device itself than on the brain's ability to learn how to use it.

10 Aug 2026

Scientists discover why bats survive deadly viruses without getting sick

It is a mystery that has puzzled scientists for years. How can the world's only winged mammals carry viruses that cause severe disease while rarely becoming seriously ill themselves?

29 Jul 2026

We underestimate how much personality changes with age, study finds

Researchers compared beliefs from 887 US adults with modeled lifespan trajectories from 166,971 participants across eight longitudinal studies. Population-average Big Five traits changed as much as or more than many health, financial, psychological, and social measures, despite people perceiving personality as unusually stable.

29 Jul 2026

CRISPR directs layered immune response against invading bacteriophages

The main function of CRISPR-Cas systems, the revolutionary tool scientists now employ to edit genes, is to defend bacteria against threats such as viruses called bacteriophages.

24 Jul 2026

Mitochondrial DNA mutations link to cardiometabolic parameters in metabolic syndrome

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability, especially heteroplasmy, is believed to affect cellular immunobiogenesis, particularly in monocytes in metabolic syndrome (MetS).

14 Jul 2026

MSU researchers develop tool to observe complex molecular choreography in real time

A lot of things need to go right on a molecular level for immune cells to launch an adaptive response to an infection.

23 Jun 2026

Plague emerged earlier than thought and hit hunter-gatherers hard

Ancient DNA from 46 Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers revealed two early plague outbreak phases about 5,500 years ago, with Yersinia pestis detected in 18 individuals. The findings suggest these basal plague strains caused lethal, child-heavy outbreaks long before dense farming societies, cities, or classical flea-borne bubonic plague emerged.

21 Jun 2026

New SMArT platform improves safety of CRISPR gene editing

A team of researchers led by Luigi Naldini at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) has developed a new strategy to significantly improve the precision and safety of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in human blood stem cells, potentially overcoming one of the major barriers limiting broader clinical application of genome editing therapies.

1 Jun 2026

One-time gene editing cuts LDL cholesterol in early hypercholesterolemia trial

A phase 1 NEJM interim analysis found that a single infusion of the investigational base-editing therapy VERVE-102 produced dose-dependent reductions in circulating PCSK9 protein and LDL cholesterol in adults with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or premature coronary artery disease.

26 May 2026

Key neural circuit helps the brain “change gears”

Most people have experienced the feeling: switching from one task to another, only to find the brain momentarily stuck in the old mode of thinking. Sometimes, even after realizing a strategy no longer works, the mind keeps returning to it anyway.

21 May 2026

Study defines realistic performance goals for pediatric emergency departments

A large, multi-center study led by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago derived "achievable benchmarks of care" (ABCs) using electronic health record data, which allows pediatric emergency departments across the country to set high yet realistic performance goals.

21 May 2026