Seeing cancer’s spread through a computational window

Computational model allows researchers to simulate cellular-scale interactions across unprecedented distances in the human vasculature

29-Nov-2023 - Biomedical engineers at Duke University have significantly enhanced the capabilities of a computational model that simulates the movement of individual cancer cells across long distances within the entire human body. Called “Adaptive Physics Refinement (APR),” the approach captures detailed ...

Faulty immune receptor could be reason why many face HIV complications

10-Jan-2019 - For HIV patients, treatments that control the infection have come a long way. But many still struggle with a host of other disease-related complications such as neurocognitive disorders, cardiovascular issues, diabetes and chronic inflammation. Why these complications occur isn't exactly known, ...

Unmasking blood doping in athletes

RNA changes mark old blood cells among new ones, foiling self-transfusions

22-Oct-2018 - A Duke University research team has found a way to help sporting officials detect whether an athlete's blood has been doped by an infusion of their own stored blood. While tests have been developed to detect two of the three most common methods of dramatically boosting the oxygen-carrying ...

Live-cell microscopy reveals cell migration by direct forces

13-Dec-2017 - How do cells move in a certain direction in the body -- go to a wound site and repair it, for example, or hunt down infectious bacteria and kill it? Two new studies from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) show how cells respond to internal forces when they orient, gain traction, and migrate ...

Genetic model identifies primary myelofibrosis outcomes

11-Dec-2017 - A group of investigators from Mayo Clinic and multiple academic research centers in Italy have identified a genetic model for predicting outcomes in patients with primary myelofibrosis who are 70 years or younger and candidates for stem cell transplant to treat their disease. The group's findings ...

New genetic cause discovered for photosensitive blood disorder

18-Sep-2017 - Researchers from BWH have uncovered a new genetic cause for erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), a photosensitive blood disorder. In the past, the most well-known causes for EPP were two specific genetic disorders, but using an extended pedigree from France, the investigators found that EPP can ...

Research on crucial cutting enzyme maps sites of DNA damage in leukemias and other cancers

16-Jun-2017 - Researchers studying a DNA-cutting enzyme with a crucial role in regulating the structure of genes have discovered a broad role for its cutting activity in driving abnormal genetic rearrangements called translocations that cause cancer, including leukemias and solid tumors. The enzyme, type II ...

Breakthrough discovery may make blood test feasible for detecting cancer

08-Mar-2017 - Doctors may soon be able to detect and monitor a patient’s cancer with a simple blood test, reducing or eliminating the need for more invasive procedures, according to Purdue University research. W. Andy Tao, a professor of biochemistry and member of the Purdue University Center for Cancer ...

Fast-moving cells walk in a stepwise manner

19-Mar-2014 - A team of biologists and engineers at the University of California, San Diego has discovered that white blood cells, which repair damaged tissue as part of the body's immune response, move to inflamed sites by walking in a stepwise manner. The cells periodically form and break adhesions mainly ...

Capturing live tumor cells in the blood

12-Aug-2013 - Tumor cells circulating within a patient's bloodstream can carry cancer from a primary tumor site to distant sites of the body, spreading the disease. Now a team of researchers in China has developed a new microfluidic chip that can quickly and efficiently segregate and capture live circulating ...