Body

Athens, Ga. - Researchers at the University of Georgia have created a new therapeutic for prostate cancer that has shown great efficacy in mouse models of the disease. They published their findings recently in the journal Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine.

The treatment is designed to inhibit the activity of a protein called PAK-1, which contributes to the development of highly invasive prostate cancer cells.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--Indiana University researchers have found that conditions common in the production of certain types of craft beers can inhibit the successful production of these brews, risking a growing segment of an industry whose economic impact was recently estimated at $55 billion.

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- March 21, 2016 -- Uncovering the genetic makeup of patients using DNA sequencing has in recent years provided physicians and their patients with a greater understanding of how best to diagnose and treat the diseases that plague humanity. This is the essence of precision medicine.

(Philadelphia, PA) - A specialized gene editing system designed by scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University is paving the way to an eventual cure for patients infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In a study published online this month in the Nature journal, Scientific Reports, the researchers show that they can both effectively and safely eliminate the virus from the DNA of human cells grown in culture.

A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered a way to improve production of biofuels, pharmaceuticals, materials and other useful chemicals by capitalizing on the work ethic of cells.

The research team, led by Fuzhong Zhang, assistant professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, discovered that genetically identical microbial cells have different work ethics. The team developed a tool to ensure that the hard-working cells keep working hard and the low-performing cells are eliminated.

LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Mosquitoes are deadly efficient at spreading disease. Despite vaccines and efforts to eradicate the pesky insects, they continue to infect humans with feared diseases like Zika virus, malaria and West Nile virus.

Gaining the upper hand on mosquitoes requires speed. Their life cycle is typically two weeks or less and they need only warm weather and standing water to breed.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The "dumb blonde" stereotype is simply wrong, according to a new national study of young baby boomers.

The study of 10,878 Americans found that white women who said their natural hair color was blonde had an average IQ score within 3 points of brunettes and those with red or black hair.

While jokes about blondes may seem harmless to some, it can have real-world implications, said Jay Zagorsky, author of the study and a research scientist at The Ohio State University.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- March 18, 2016 -- The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has helped state, local and tribal health officials identify an outbreak of "hypervirulent" strep bacteria in the American Southwest.

Skin regeneration, either after injury or normally to replace dead skin, is difficult to observe at the cellular level. A new system--based on the Brainbow technology that labels individual neurons--genetically color-codes skin cells in zebrafish, allowing researchers to track cell populations in real time. The system, which they call Skinbow, is described March 21 in Developmental Cell.

Conservation managers who try to keep members of endangered animal species parasite-free are well-intentioned but this approach is misguided, according to a new research paper co-authored by a zoologist at New Zealand's University of Otago.

In a paper appearing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Otago's Professor Hamish Spencer and US evolutionary biologist Professor Marlene Zuk argue that there are good reasons why parasites should be conserved along with their endangered hosts.

A healthy gut could help prevent deadly side effect of bone marrow transplant

Could playing better defense make bone marrow transplants more successful?

With this question in mind, researchers began looking at whether the trillions of little bugs and bacteria living in our gastrointestinal tract could be the key to playing defense.

Pavan Reddy, M.D. Credit: University of Michigan Health System

Worldwide, 400 million people live with diabetes, with rapid increases projected. Patients with diabetes mostly fall into one of two categories, type 1 diabetics, triggered by autoimmunity at a young age, and type 2 diabetics, caused by metabolic dysfunction of the liver. Despite being labeled a "lifestyle disease", diabetes has a strong genetic basis. New research under the direction of Adrian Liston (VIB/KU Leuven) has discovered that a common genetic defect in beta cells may underlie both forms of diabetes.

AMHERST, Mass. - In the current issue of Nature Materials, polymer scientists Greg Grason, Douglas Hall and Isaac Bruss at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with Justin Barone at Virginia Tech, identify for the first time the factors that govern the final morphology of self-assembling chiral filament bundles. They also report experimental results supporting their new model.

New light has been shed on the genetic relationship between autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and ASD-related traits in the wider population, by a team of international researchers including academics from the University of Bristol, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

DURHAM, N.C. -- Scientists can now watch how hundreds of individual cells work together to maintain and regenerate skin tissue, thanks to a genetically engineered line of technicolor zebrafish.

Every cell on the surface of the fish, from the center of the eye to the tip of each scale, is genetically programmed to glow with a slightly different hue. But these zebrafish weren't bred to brighten up an aquarium; the colors effectively stamp each cell with a permanent barcode, letting scientists track its movements in a live animal for days or even weeks at a time.