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A Cinderella Story: Stem Cells in Personalized Medicine
April 17, 2024 1:17 pm | CommentsIn part four of our video series, Andrew Wiecek is back to discuss the role that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells play in personalized medicine. How do they help? Well, iPS cells are kind of like Cinderella's glass slipper.
Protein Essential for Fertilization Discovered
April 17, 2024 1:06 pm | CommentsResearchers have discovered interacting proteins on the surface of the sperm and the egg essential to begin mammalian life. These proteins offer new paths towards improved fertility treatments and the development of new contraceptives.
Brain Activity May Mark the Beginning of Memories
April 14, 2024 2:30 pm | CommentsBy tracking brain activity when an animal stops to look around its environment, neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins University believe they can mark the birth of a memory. Using lab rats on a circular track, a team of brain scientists, noticed that the rats frequently paused to inspect their environment with head movements as they ran.
How the Brain Pays Attention
April 11, 2024 1:46 pm | CommentsPicking out a face in the crowd is a complicated task: Your brain has to retrieve the memory of the face you’re seeking, then hold it in place while scanning the crowd, paying special attention to finding a match. A new study reveals how the brain achieves this type of focused attention on faces or other objects.
Potential Link Between Brain Development and Breast Cancer Gene
April 9, 2024 2:09 pm | CommentsScientists at the Salk Institute have uncovered details into a surprising—and crucial—link between brain development and a gene whose mutation is tied to breast and ovarian cancer. Aside from better understanding neurological damage associated in a small percentage of people susceptible to breast cancers, the new work also helps to better understand the evolution of the brain.
Scientists ID Key Cells in Touch Sensation
April 7, 2024 1:49 pm | CommentsIn a new study, researchers solved an age-old mystery of touch: how cells just beneath the skin surface enable us to feel fine details and textures.
Examination of a Cave-Dwelling Fish Finds a Possible Genetic Link to Human Disorders
April 4, 2024 2:35 pm | CommentsResearchers have identified a genetic association with facial asymmetry in an ancient cavefish, a natural trait that may solve mysteries surrounding facial asymmetries in humans—conditions such as cleft palate or hemifacial microsomia.
Nanoparticles Cause Cancer to Self-destruct
April 3, 2024 1:59 pm | CommentsUsing magnetically controlled nanoparticles to force tumor cells to ‘self-destruct’ sounds like science fiction, but could be a future part of cancer treatment, according to research from Lund University in Sweden. The new technique is much more targeted than trying to kill cancer cells with techniques such as chemotherapy.
How Personalized Medicine Works: Bioinformaticians to the Rescue
April 3, 2024 12:14 pm | CommentsIn our third video, Rob Fee is back to discuss how informatics can help to overcome one of the biggest challenges in personalized medicine: organizing and examining the mountains of data that are generated during the gene sequencing process. Rob's advice? Find a bioinformatician...fast!
Researcher Invents ‘Mini Heart’ to Help Return Venous Blood
March 27, 2024 2:16 pm | CommentsGeorge Washington University researcher Narine Sarvazyan, PhD, has invented a new organ to help return blood flow from veins lacking functional valves. A rhythmically contracting cuff made of cardiac muscle cells surrounds the vein acting as a 'mini heart' to aid blood flow through venous segments. The cuff can be made of a patient’s own adult stem cells, eliminating the chance of implant rejection.
Autism Linked to Flawed Prenatal Brain Growth
March 27, 2024 11:46 am | by Lindsey Tanner - AP Medical Writer | CommentsA small study that examined brains from children who died found abnormal patterns of cell growth in autistic children. The research bolsters evidence that something before birth might cause autism, at least in some cases.
Catheter Innovation Destroys Dangerous Biofilms
March 25, 2024 1:26 pm | CommentsFor the millions of people forced to rely on a plastic tube to eliminate their urine, developing an infection is nearly a 100 percent guarantee after just four weeks. But with the help of a little bubble-blowing, biomedical engineers hope to bring relief to urethras everywhere.
New Technique Sheds Light on Human Neural Networks
March 25, 2024 11:24 am | CommentsA new technique, developed by researchers in the Quantitative Light Imaging Laboratory at the Beckman Institute, provides a method to noninvasively measure human neural networks in order to characterize how they form. Using spatial light interference microscopy techniques, the researchers were able to show how human embryonic stem cell derived neurons within a network grow, organize, and dynamically transport materials to one another.
How Personalized Medicine Works: Bananas and Biomarkers
March 20, 2024 1:25 pm | CommentsIn part two of a six-part video series on personalized medicine, Andrew Wiecek discusses how personalized medicine works by highlighting the importance of biomarkers (and bananas) and showing that they play a key role in identifying genetic variations associated with disease.
Scientists Slow Development of Alzheimer's Trademark Cell-killing Plaques
March 18, 2024 2:44 pm | CommentsUniversity of Michigan researchers have learned how to fix a cellular structure called the Golgi that mysteriously becomes fragmented in all Alzheimer's patients and appears to be a major cause of the disease. They say that understanding this mechanism helps decode amyloid plaque formation in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
