by Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT researchers have developed an “organs-on-a-chip” system that replicates interactions between the brain, liver, and colon. Credit: Martin Trapecar, MIT In many ways, our brain and our digestive tract are deeply connected. Feeling nervous may lead to physical pain in the stomach, while hunger signals from the gut make us feel irritable. Recent...
Ewen Callaway & Smriti Mallapaty Novavax’s protein-based vaccine relies on tried-and-tested technology. Credit: PA Images/Alamy The biotech firm Novavax has unveiled that its experimental vaccine is effective against rapidly spreading variants of the coronavirus. But its data bring good news and bad news: although the vaccine was more than 85% effective against a COVID-19 variant...
Many forms of mild cellular stress produce benefits to health because they trigger the more efficient operation of cellular maintenance processes such as autophagy. That in turn causes better cell and tissue function, and thus improved health. This stress response and benefit is known as hormesis, and has been robustly proven to take place for...
Special immune cells found in the brain, microglia, play a key role in the processes that make you feel uneasy and depressed in correlation with inflammation. The findings from a new study on mice suggest that microglial cells contribute to the negative mood experienced during several neurological diseases. Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license) David...
A team of international researchers who study how gene mutations associated with autism interfere with social behaviour have found injections of the hormone oxytocin can normalize brain activity. Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license) The findings, which were presented recently at the 2021 Society for Neuroscience Global Connectome, point to the potential of oxytocin—known to influence behaviours such...
VETERANS AFFAIRS RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS IMAGE: STUDY RESEARCHERS DRS. SNIGDHA BANERJEE, SUMAN KAMBHAMPATI, SUSHANTA BANERJEE, AND A COLLEAGUE EXAMINE A PANCREATIC CANCER IMAGE. CREDIT: JEFF GATES Researchers with the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center and North Dakota State University have designed a new way to deliver pancreatic cancer drugs that could make fighting the disease much easier. Encapsulating...
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON HEALTH SCIENCES/UW MEDICINE IMAGE: AN ILLUSTRATION OF A NEW BIOSENSOR BINDING TO A TARGETED MOLECULE AND EMITTING LIGHT. THE CREATION OF THE BIOSENSOR WAS LED BY THE UW MEDICINE INSTITUTE FOR PROTEIN DESIGN. CREDIT: IAN HAYDON/UW MEDICINE INSTITUTE FOR PROTEIN DESIGN Scientists have created a new way to detect the proteins that...
TUFTS UNIVERSITY IMAGE: SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF CARBON INK-COATED THREADS. STRAIGHT THREAD ON LEFT. BENDING THE COATED THREADS CREATES STRAIN (RIGHT), WHICH CHANGES THEIR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY – A QUANTITY THAT CAN USED TO CALCULATE THE DEGREE OF DEFORMATION(SCALE BAR 200 MICRONS) CREDIT: YIWEN JIANG, TUFTS UNIVERSITY Engineers at Tufts University have created and demonstrated flexible...
UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE An international team of scientists, coordinated by the Seville Institute of Biomedicine (IBiS) and the University of Seville has solved one of the hitherto unresolved enigmas of basic biology: how exactly do lipids distribute proteins within a cell? To do this, they used a new, completely innovative microscopy technology, which they applied...
by University of North Carolina Health Care Credit: CC0 Public Domain Many molecules in our bodies help our immune system keep us healthy without overreacting so much that our immune cells cause problems, such as autoimmune diseases. One molecule, called AIM2, is part of our innate immunity—a defense system established since birth—to fight pathogens and keep...
