Blood-based test accurately identifies viral infection before symptoms develop

The study, conducted prior to COVID-19, has broad potential for pandemic responses

29-Sep-2020 - A team of Duke Health scientists have identified biomarkers that accurately identify numerous viral infections across the clinical stages of disease, advancing a potential new way to guide treatment, quarantine decisions, and other clinical and public health interventions in the setting of ...

An errant editing enzyme promotes tumor suppressor loss and leukemia propagation

08-Jan-2019 - Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that detection of "copy editing" by a stem cell enzyme called ADAR1, which is active in more than 20 tumor types, may provide a kind of molecular radar for early detection of malignancies and represent a new therapeutic ...

Genetic variants reveal new targets for chronic kidney disease treatment

How specific cell types can lead to development of disease

04-Oct-2018 - The kidney does more than double or even triple duty compared to other organs - it extracts waste, balances body fluids, forms urine, regulates blood pressure, and secretes hormones. Given this complexity, when things go wrong, havoc can ensue, causing a suite of symptoms called chronic kidney ...

A new way to stimulate cellular recycling process

18-May-2018 - Brown University researchers studying the biology of aging have demonstrated a new strategy for stimulating autophagy, the process by which cells rebuild themselves by recycling their own worn-out parts. In a study the researchers show that the approach increased the lifespans of worms and flies, ...

Discovery of how HIV hedges its bets opens the door to new therapies

14-May-2018 - A stem cell is one with infinite possibilities. So, for decades, scientists have puzzled over how the cell chooses to keep being a stem cell and continue dividing, or specialize into a specific cell type, like a heart or brain cell. The same type of decision is made by HIV. When the virus infects ...

Biologists unravel another mystery of what makes DNA go 'loopy'

Precise methods of DNA 'packing' may affect gene expression

19-Mar-2018 - Scientists discovered another key to how DNA forms loops and wraps inside the cell nucleus -- a precise method of "packing" that may affect gene expression. The journal Science published the research by biologists at Emory University, showing that a process known as hemimethylation plays a role ...

New device for low-cost single-cell analysis identifies fibroblast subtypes in RA patients

26-Feb-2018 - Single-cell analysis holds enormous potential to study how individual cells influence disease and respond to treatment, but the lack of cost-effective and user-friendly instrumentation remains challenging. As described in a study researchers at the New York Genome Center (NYGC) and New York ...

Link found between genes in mosquitos and the spread of diseases

26-Jan-2018 - Researchers at the University of Missouri have found a link between genetic molecules in mosquitos and dengue fever. The results of the study, conducted by Susanta K. Behura and his colleagues, could lead to future breakthroughs in combating destructive tropical diseases like dengue fever, Zika ...

New details on aged brain, Alzheimer's and dementia revealed

23-Nov-2017 - In a comprehensive analysis of samples from 107 aged human brains, researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, UW Medicine and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute have discovered details that will help researchers better understand the biological bases for Alzheimer's ...

Genome architecture caught in motion

12-Oct-2017 - Researchers at The Wistar Institute have uncovered new aspects of the three-dimensional organization of the genome, specifically how the genetic material is compacted and de-compacted in a timely fashion during the different phases of the cell cycle. "We are just starting to appreciate that the ...