Two drugs have failed to slow memory loss and cognitive decline in people in the early stages of a rare, inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease in a new clinical trial, researchers report. The researchers continue to explore data from the trial’s cognitive and clinical outcomes, however, and await analyses of biomarkers and other information so...
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Novel NMR Bioreactor Identifies Naturally-derived Drug Candidates
Modified natural products make attractive drug candidates, but their synthesis can be difficult. In addition, screening candidate drugs for activity can be expensive and time-consuming. A group of European researchers has invented a new method to synthesize and screen modified natural products in an NMR-tube bioreactor. A vast range of structurally and functionally diverse molecules...
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How flickering light can help fight Alzheimer’s
Using mice, scientists have gained a better understanding of the therapeutic benefits of flickering light exposure for Alzheimer’s disease. New research in mice suggests that future Alzheimer’s therapies might involve flickering lights. A team of scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta has discovered some reasons why lights flickering at 40 beats per...
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Unexpected insights into the dynamic structure of mitochondria
Publication in EMBO Reports HEINRICH-HEINE UNIVERSITY DUESSELDORF As power plants and energy stores, mitochondria are essential components of almost all cells in plants, fungi and animals. Until now, it has been assumed that these functions underlie a static structure of mitochondrial membranes. Researchers at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and the University of California...
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Study supports new approach for treating cerebral malaria
by National Institutes of Health Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found evidence that specific immune cells may play a key role in the devastating effects of cerebral malaria, a severe form of malaria that mainly affects young children. The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that drugs targeting T cells...
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Parkinson’s disease protein structure solved inside cells using novel technique
by Biophysical Society The top contributor to familial Parkinson’s disease is mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), whose large and difficult structure has finally been solved, paving the way for targeted therapies. University of California, San Diego researchers Reika Watanabe, Robert Buschauer, Jan Böhning, Martina Audagnotto in the laboratory led by Elizabeth Villa used...
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The (un)usual suspect—novel coronavirus identified
by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences In early December, a few people in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei province of China began falling sick after going to a local seafood market. They experienced symptoms like cough, fever, and shortness of breath, and even complications related to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The immediate...
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IU researcher makes skin cancer discovery
Scientist identifies new areas in human genomes linked to risk INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana University cancer researcher has identified eight new genomic regions that increase a person’s risk for skin cancer. Jiali Han, Ph.D., and colleagues discovered eight new loci–locations on a person’s genome–that are susceptible to the development of...
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Smart software detects early-stage esophageal cancer
Thanks to smart software doctors will soon be able to detect early signs of esophageal cancer in patients with so-called Barrett’s esophagus. This is the result of research conducted by Amsterdam UMC, the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). The results were published in the leading medical journals Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal...
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From obesity to liver cancer: Preventing the worst
by University of Geneva By identifying the role of a specific protein in the development of obesity-related liver diseases, UNIGE researchers pave the way for better diagnosis, and potentially better treatment. Hepatocellular carcinoma, a very common liver cancer linked to the presence of fat in the liver, is one of the leading causes of cancer...