by The Francis Crick Institute Dendritic cells are white blood cells that get their name from their tree-like shape. Credit: The Francis Crick Institute Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have uncovered an important process in how our immune system detects signs of disease and activates a protective response. This understanding could improve efforts to find new...
by Nicole Fawcett, University of Michigan The Chinnaiyan Lab leveraged its work in prostate cancer to understand how a key protein functions in COVID-19. Credit: University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center By taking a lesson from prostate cancer, researchers now have a promising lead on a treatment for COVID-19. Two proteins, ACE2 and TMPRSS2, help the coronavirus gain...
by La Jolla Institute for Immunology Enhancers serve as specific switches that turn on genes in a cell specific manner but it has been difficult to determine which switch is connected to which gene. Credit: Alex Fung The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how our small genetic differences can have a tremendous effect on how our bodies...
by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center This genetic “heat map” shows that several key genes associated with cell proliferation become more active in mice bred to lack the mTOR gene. This activity helps build signaling pathways that can allow cancerous cells to avoid disruption from mTOR inhibitors, according to a study in PNAS led by experts...
by UT Southwestern Medical Center Histopathology of gastrocnemius muscle from patient who died of pseudohypertrophic muscular dystrophy, Duchenne type. Cross section of muscle shows extensive replacement of muscle fibers by adipose cells. Credit: Public Domain A UT Southwestern research team has cataloged gene activity in the skeletal muscle of mice, comparing healthy animals to those carrying a genetic...
Vector Trace cells allow us to remember where we put our personal belongings Damage to these cells may help explain memory loss in many types of dementia Study builds on Nobel Prize-winning research into the brain’s ‘inner GPS system’ By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE Scientists have discovered a new type of brain cell that helps us remember where...
Here, researchers explore the mechanisms governing changes in cell behavior during reprogramming. Many of the aspects of aging found in cells taken from old tissues can be reversed via the process of reprogramming these cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Mitochondrial function is restored to youthful levels, for example, as well as much of the epigenetic signature that determines protein production and...
MAX DELBRÜCK CENTER FOR MOLECULAR MEDICINE IN THE HELMHOLTZ ASSOCIATION IMAGE: EXPANDING CANCER STEM CELLS (GREEN) IN A COLON TUMOR WITH AN ONCOGENIC ACTIVATED WNT/BETA-CATENIN SIGNALING PATHWAY (RED). CREDIT: BIRCHMER LAB, MDC Since colonoscopies were introduced in Germany for early cancer detection, the number of diagnoses of advanced cancer every year has decreased, as precancerous...
by Vanessa Hrvatin, University of British Columbia Credit: CC0 Public Domain The notion that a bit of stress makes people perform better has been baked into our everyday lives. But research from UBC neuroscientist Dr. Adele Diamond suggests it might not be so good for us after all. The study, published recently in Cerebral Cortex, found that even mild...
Senescent cell accumulation is an important cause of degenerative aging. Senescent cells cease replication and begin to secrete an inflammatory mix of signals that disrupt tissue structure and function. These cells are created constantly, largely as a result of somatic cells hitting the Hayflick limit on cellular replication, but also as a result of injury,...
