by Children’s National Hospital A mouse model of glioblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain, suggests that this recalcitrant cancer originates from a pool of stem cells that can be a significant distance away from the resulting tumors. The findings of a new study, led by Children’s National Hospital researchers...
Neutralizing antibodies isolated from COVID-19 patients may suppress virus
by Columbia University Irving Medical Center Cryo-EM reconstructions show how two different antibodies (blue) bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Credit: David Ho / Columbia University Irving Medical Center Researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center have isolated antibodies from several COVID-19 patients that, to date, are among the most potent in...
Skin cancer treatments could be used to treat other forms of the disease
by Institut national de la recherche scientifique – INRS The creation of a silica nanocapsule could allow treatments that use light to destroy cancerous or precancerous cells in the skin to also be used to treat other types of cancer. Such are the findings of a study by INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique)...
Researchers develop a portable blood ammonia detector
STANFORD UNIVERSITY A PROTOTYPE OF THE HANDHELD AMMONIA BLOOD DETECTOR AND ASSOCIATED TEST STRIPS, DEVELOPED BY RESEARCHERS AT STANFORD. view more CREDIT: THOMAS VELTMAN Seated around the dinner table, faculty affiliated with Stanford ChEM-H – one of Stanford University’s interdisciplinary institutes – spoke one-by-one, pitching ideas for collaborative research. Inspired by a recent medical conundrum,...
Silver-plated gold nanostars detect early cancer biomarkers
New optical sensing platform can detect genomic cancer biomarkers directly in patient tissues DUKE UNIVERSITY A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF A HANDFUL OF NANOSTARS USED TO CREATE A NEW TYPE OF CANCER DIAGNOSTIC. view more CREDIT: TUAN VO-DINH, DUKE UNIVERSITY Biomedical engineers at Duke University have engineered a method for simultaneously detecting the presence of multiple...
Non-invasive blood test can detect cancer four years before conventional diagnosis methods
by University of California – San Diego An international team of researchers has developed a non-invasive blood test that can detect whether an individual has one of five common types of cancers, four years before the condition can be diagnosed with current methods. The test detects stomach, esophageal, colorectal, lung and liver cancer. Called PanSeer,...
Study points to potential new approach to treating glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease
by Bill Snyder, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have shown for the first time that when one optic nerve in the eye is damaged, as in glaucoma, the opposite optic nerve comes to the rescue by sharing its metabolic energy. In doing so, however, the undamaged optic nerve becomes...
Researchers identify a cancer metabolic pathway that could be a valuable target for therapy
by Sonia Fernandez, University of California – Santa Barbara Fighting cancer often means employing a suite of techniques to target the tumor and prevent it from growing and spreading to other parts of the body. It’s no small feat—the American Cancer Society predicts roughly 1.8 million new cases of cancer in the country in 2020,...
New system uses X-ray images of patients’ lungs to diagnose COVID-19
Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor) Researchers from the Department of Computer Architecture and Technology at the University of Seville’s School of Computer Engineering (ETSII) are working on a system that uses X-ray images of patients’ lungs to help diagnose COVID-19. This system uses deep learning to train a neural network model that can distinguish...
TEAM CREATES VESICLES WITHOUT ANY LIPIDS
Scientists have created hollow, spherical sacks called vesicles by using protein and RNA. These bubble-like entities—which form spontaneously when specific protein and RNA molecules mix in an aqueous buffer solution—hold potential as biological storage compartments. They could serve as an alternative to traditional vesicles that are made from water-insoluble organic compounds called lipids, researchers say....