Scientists Take 'Tubular' Journey Through Brain Cells
June 16, 2024 2:38 pm | CommentsIn a new study, scientists took a molecular-level journey into microtubules, the hollow cylinders inside brain cells that act as skeletons and internal highways. They watched how a protein called tubulin acetyltransferase (TAT) labels the inside of microtubules.
Researchers Discover New Form of Cancer
June 11, 2024 2:01 pm | CommentsBy themselves, PAX3 and MAML3 don’t cause any problems. However, when they combine during an abnormal but recurring chromosomal mismatch, they can be dangerous. The result is a chimera—a gene that is half of each—and that causes biphenotypic sinonasal sarcoma. The tumor usually begins in the nose and may infiltrate the rest of the face, requiring disfiguring surgery to save the individual.
New Venture Aims to Understand, Heal Disrupted Brain Circuitry
May 27, 2024 1:57 pm | CommentsScientists and physicians at UC San Francisco are leading a $26 million, multi-institutional research program in which they will employ advanced technology to characterize human brain networks and better understand and treat a range of common, debilitating psychiatric disorders.
Genes Link Circadian Clock to Eating Schedule
May 22, 2024 1:51 pm | CommentsScientists have discovered a pair of genes that normally keeps eating schedules in sync with daily sleep rhythms, and, when mutated, may play a role in so-called night eating syndrome.
Scientists ID Potential Way to Halt Pancreatic Cancer Spread
May 21, 2024 12:49 pm | CommentsScientists have shown how switching off a key protein in pancreatic cells slows the spread of the disease to other tissues, a key step which can mean patients have just weeks to live.
Engineer Invents Safe Way to Transfer Energy to Medical Chips in the Body
May 20, 2024 12:23 pm | CommentsA Stanford electrical engineer has invented a way to wirelessly transfer power deep inside the body and then use this power to run tiny electronic medical gadgets such as pacemakers, nerve stimulators or new sensors and devices yet to be developed.
Watching HIV Bud from Cells
May 19, 2024 2:15 pm | CommentsUniversity of Utah researchers devised a way to watch newly forming AIDS virus particles emerging or “budding” from infected human cells without interfering with the process. The method shows a protein named ALIX gets involved during the final stages of virus replication, not earlier, as was believed previously.
Illuminating Neuron Activity in 3-D
May 19, 2024 1:37 pm | CommentsResearchers at MIT and the University of Vienna have created an imaging system that reveals neural activity throughout the brains of living animals. This technique, the first that can generate 3-D movies of entire brains at the millisecond timescale, could help scientists discover how neuronal networks process sensory information and generate behavior.
Research Leads to New Understanding of How Cells Grow, Shrink
May 16, 2024 1:19 pm | CommentsFor a century, biologists have thought they understood how the gooey growth that occurs inside cells causes their protective outer walls to expand. Now, researchers have captured the visual evidence to prove the prevailing wisdom wrong.
The Promise of Personalized Medicine: An Apples-to-Apples Approach
May 16, 2024 12:18 pm | CommentsIn our sixth video, Andrew Wiecek wraps up the discussion by taking a look at one of the therapeutic areas that could be significantly improved by personalized medicine: cancer. The approach is similar to comparing apples to apples, he says.
Where Have All the Mitochondria Gone?
May 15, 2024 11:16 am | CommentsIt’s common knowledge that all organisms inherit their mitochondria—the cell’s “power plants”—from their mothers. But what happens to all the father’s mitochondria? How—and why—paternal mitochondria are prevented from getting passed on to their offspring after fertilization is still shrouded in mystery.
Measles Vaccine Can Kill Multiple Myeloma Cells
May 15, 2024 11:00 am | CommentsIn a proof-of-principle clinical trial, researchers have demonstrated that virotherapy— destroying cancer with a virus that infects and kills cancer cells but spares normal tissues— can be effective against the deadly cancer multiple myeloma.
Microchip-Like Technology Allows Single-Cell Analysis
May 14, 2024 1:12 pm | CommentsA U.S. and Korean research team has developed a chip-like device that could be scaled up to sort and store hundreds of thousands of individual living cells in a matter of minutes. The system is similar to a random access memory chip, but it moves cells rather than electrons.
Implanted Transistors Wrap Around Tissues
May 13, 2024 2:16 pm | CommentsResearchers from The University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Tokyo have created electronic devices that become soft when implanted inside the body and can deploy to grip 3-D objects, such as large tissues, nerves and blood vessels. These biologically adaptive, flexible transistors might one day help doctors learn more about what is happening inside the body, and stimulate the body for treatments.
Autism-related Protein Plays Vital Role in Addiction
May 12, 2024 1:19 pm | CommentsInvestigators report that a gene essential for normal brain development, and previously linked to Autism Spectrum Disorders, also plays a critical role in addiction-related behaviors.
