TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY IMAGE: GRADUATE STUDENT PATRICK LEE (PICTURED) IS WORKING WITH DR. AKHILESH GAHARWAR TO DEVELOP NEW METHODS FOR WORKING WITH LIGHT?RESPONSIVE HYDROGELS, WHICH HAVE APPLICATIONS IN DRUG DELIVERY AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE. CREDIT: TEXAS A&M ENGINEERING Hydrogels are commonly used inside the body to help in tissue regeneration and drug delivery. However, once inside,...
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 identified a protein that helps tumors evade the immune system and, in certain types of cancers, is linked to a poorer chance of survival. The protein...
A first-in-human, Phase 1 trial assessing the safety and immunogenicity of an investigational nanoparticle influenza vaccine designed to provide long-lasting protection against multiple flu virus strains has begun at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Healthy participants 18 to 50 years old will receive either a licensed seasonal influenza vaccine or...
A protein involved in cholesterol metabolism plays a previously unknown role in suppressing the body’s natural immune defenders in and around pancreatic tumors, research led by the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center finds. ApoE, an apolipoprotein known to play roles in cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s, is elevated in the blood of people with pancreatic...
To analyze the genome or the genetic characteristics of a living organism, scientists typically rely on samples of millions of cells. The problem is that the DNA in each of our cells is not identical. Until recently, the amount of DNA that could be extracted from a single cell couldn’t provide enough material for genetic...
UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA IMAGE: Researchers from the University of Tsukuba showed that cardiac scar tissue (fibroblasts) can be directly reprogrammed to heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) in mice. By treating mice post-heart attack with a virus carrying cardiac transcription factors, they found that new cardiomyocytes were formed by fibroblasts converting into cardiomyocytes as opposed to fibroblasts...
WORLDWIDE CANCER RESEARCH The study, published in the journal Nature, shows how a drug available on the NHS can boost the fitness of healthy stem cells in the gut, making them more resistant to sabotage from mutant stem cells that cause cancer. Researchers in the Netherlands, funded by the UK charity Worldwide Cancer Research, have discovered...
UNIVERSITY OF BASEL Metastases can develop in the body even years after apparently successful cancer treatment. They originate from cancer cells that migrated from the original tumor to other organs, and which can lie there inactive for a considerable time. Researchers have now discovered how these “sleeping cells” are kept dormant and how they wake up and...
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY IMAGE: FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, STUDY AUTHORS YUENING LIU, PENG XIA, ZHAOKANG CHENG, AND JINGRUI CHEN AND GRADUATE STUDENT JOSHUA GALLO. THEIR WORK TO UNCOVER THE MECHANISMS BY WHICH HEART MUSCLE CELLS DIE AFTER HEART ATTACK TREATMENT COULD SOMEDAY LEAD TO NEW TREATMENT STRATEGIES TO INCREASE THE SURVIVAL AND LIFESPAN OF HEART...
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM IMAGE: IMRE NOTH, MD, THE CHIEF OF UVA HEALTH’S DIVISION OF PULMONARY AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE, SAYS THE LARGE STUDY OF IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY FIBROSIS WILL STILL BENEFIT EFFORTS TO BATTLE THE LUNG-SCARRING DISEASE. CREDIT: UVA HEALTH Doctors have hoped that antibiotics could benefit patients with chronic lung diseases, but a...
