When we get a wound on our skin, the cells in our bodies quickly mobilize to repair it. While it has been known how cells heal wounds and how scars form, a team led by researchers from Washington University in St. Louis has determined for the first time how the process begins, which may provide...
How the brain senses smell
The study published in Nature identifies the mechanism used by our brain to distinguish smells. The research was conducted by IIT and Harvard University and may have an impact on the creation of the artificial sense of smell in robots ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA – IIT Rovereto, Italy, 29th July 2020 – An Italian-American research...
COVID-19 research: Anti-viral strategy with double effect
Frankfurt scientists identify possible Achilles’ heel of SARS-CoV-2 virus GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT In the case of an infection, the SARS-CoV-2 virus must overcome various defense mechanisms of the human body, including its non-specific or innate immune defense. During this process, infected body cells release messenger substances known as type 1 interferons. These attract natural killer...
Phosphoprotein biomarkers to guide cancer therapy are identified
by University of Alabama at Birmingham Precision medicine in cancer treatment uses genetic changes in the cancer cells to select the best therapies for individual patients. Now researchers led by James Bibb, Ph.D., professor of surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, suggest using a broader lens of post-translational modification analysis to identify new...
Dry powder inhalation could be a potent tool in COVID-19 antiviral treatment
by Nick Nobel, University of Texas at Austin A microscopic image of remdesivir powder formulations after the thin-film freezing process. All formulations exhibited a brittle matrix structure of highly porous particles. Credit: University of Texas at Austin The only antiviral drug currently used to treat SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, is remdesivir, but administering...
Researchers detangle protein interaction implicated in Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s
by Brittany Uhlorn, University of Arizona The powerful biomolecular NMR spectrometers at the University of Arizona have allowed scientists to gain molecular details of the interaction between RCAN1 and calcineurin, two proteins that have long been implicated in Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: University of Arizona From the movement of a finger to the...
A new cell & gene therapy approach to treat common bleeding disorder
WAKE FOREST BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER In a new study from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) researchers have developed an optimized cellular platform for delivering Factor 8 to better treat patients with hemophilia A. Hemophilia A is a genetic disorder caused by a deficiency in, or the absence of, coagulation Factor 8), an...
Investigational drug for Alzheimer’s disease may help autistic children
Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc. An extensive international study led by Prof. Illana Gozes of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry found deposits of the tau protein typically found in Alzheimer’s patients in tissues taken from the postmortem brain of a 7-year-old autistic child. The child suffered from the ADNP syndrome,...
Neurons are genetically programmed to have long lives
When our neurons — the principal cells of the brain — die, so do we. Most neurons are created during embryonic development and have no “backup” after birth. Researchers have generally believed that their survival is determined nearly extrinsically, or by outside forces, such as the tissues and cells that neurons supply with nerve cells....
“Self-eating” Process of Stem Cells May be the Key to New Regenerative Therapies
The self-eating process in embryonic stem cells known as chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) and a related metabolite may serve as promising new therapeutic targets to repair or regenerate damaged cells and organs, Penn Medicine researchers show in a new study published online in Science. Human bodies contain over 200 different types of specialized cells. All of...