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A study of gene expression in leukemia cells has identified an RNA binding protein that plays an important role in driving the development of cancer. The protein is normally active in fetal tissue and switched off in adults, but it is reactivated in some cancer cells. This expression pattern makes it an attractive target for cancer-fighting drugs, because blocking its activity is unlikely to cause serious side effects.

UCLA scientists have uncovered how a cellular protein contributes to an aggressive form of leukemia prevalent in young children. The discovery is an important step forward in the effort to better understand and treat aggressive childhood leukemia.

The study, which is currently under embargo, will be published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

When a team of researchers at the University of Cincinnati discovered a new nanostructure that showed significantly higher properties for use in technology that may allow doctors to see and destroy cancerous cells, they knew they were on to something exciting.

But the structure of the new SERS nanotag, as it's called, was so novel that the team -- led by Laura Sagle, an assistant professor of chemistry, with UC graduate students Debrina Jana, Jie He and Ian Bruzas -- was at a loss in understanding what generated the promising data or how to best optimize it.

What if we could program living cells to do what we would like them to do in the body? Having such control -- a major goal of synthetic biology -- could allow for the development of cell-based therapies that might one day replace traditional drugs for diseases such as cancer. In order to reach this long-term goal, however, scientists must first learn to program many of the key things that cells do, such as communicate with one another, change their fate to become a particular cell type, and remember the chemical signals they have encountered.

Today, there is only one class of antiviral medicines against herpesviruses -- a family of viruses that cause mononucleosis, herpes, and shingles, among other illnesses - meaning options for treating these infections are limited. If viruses become resistant to these frontline treatments, a growing problem particularly in clinical settings, there are no alternative drugs to serve as backup.

Teens being classified as overweight in school fitness reports does not appear to have any impact on short-term changes in body mass index, finds a new study by New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy, the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and Columbia University.

The study appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A new class of miniature biological robots, or bio-bots, has seen the light - and is following where the light shines.

The bio-bots are powered by muscle cells that have been genetically engineered to respond to light, giving researchers control over the bots' motion, a key step toward their use in applications for health, sensing and the environment. Led by Rashid Bashir, the University of Illinois head of bioengineering, the researchers published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

By analyzing the molecular details of how artificially created drug-resistant flu strains manage to survive treatment, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have developed insights to guide development of powerful new anti-influenza drugs. These compounds will target a viral enzyme critical to the virus' proliferation in the body.

Tempe, Ariz., (Mar. 14, 2016) - Human impact on Earth is becoming indelible and as a result humans, like no other species, have an obligation to take care of the planet and all of those who inhabit it. One case in point is the human effort to save endangered species.

Researchers have used a non-invasive method of observing how the process leading to Parkinson's disease takes place at the nanoscale, and identified the point in the process at which proteins in the brain become toxic, eventually leading to the death of brain cells.

Inbred animals have fewer surviving offspring compared with others, a study of red deer in the wild has found.

The insight could aid the conservation and management of endangered populations of animals in which inbreeding carries a high risk of extinction.

The findings from a long-term study on a Scottish island shows that hinds whose parents were first cousins raise far fewer offspring - about one-quarter as many - to adulthood over their lifetimes compared with others.

TORONTO, March 14, 2016--The vast majority of Canadians in correctional facilities have mental health and substance abuse issues as well as a high rate of suicide attempts and completions compared to the general population, a comprehensive review of studies on detainees' health has found.

The study led by Dr. Fiona Kouyoumdjian, a post-doctoral fellow with the Centre for Research on Inner City Health of St. Michael's Hospital, also found that more than half the people incarcerated in federal prisons or provincial jails have experienced childhood abuse.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of visual impairment in people over 50 in developed countries. Although this condition affects up to 20% of people between the ages of 65 and 75, what drives abnormal blood vessels to invade the retina is unknown. Researchers from Montreal and Boston now provide a new mechanism for that blinding retinal disease in a study just published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Medicine.

DALLAS - March 14, 2016 - UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers today report on a strategy to make a major advance in cancer treatment even better, and a means to test and refine this new type of immunotherapy.

Tumor cells contain immune checkpoint molecules that make tumors nearly invisible to the immune system. Immune checkpoint blockade therapies are drugs that rev up the body's immune system to fight cancer.

To more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of at-risk families, a Georgia State University study suggests the introduction of a technological enhancement to improve acquisition of skills developed during parent-infant sessions.

The researchers' study has been published in the journal Child & Family Behavior Therapy.