A mouse study finds that when blood platelets are activated during exercise, they release factors that increase the number of newborn neurons in the hippocampus. It’s well established that exercise is good for the mammalian brain. As early as 1999, researchers discovered considerably more newborn neurons in the hippocampi of mice that had access to
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare, genetic disease in which damaged muscle and soft tissue turn into bone It affects just 800 people worldwide and there is currently no known cure Three drugs have entered clinical trials as potential treatments for the condition They target the genes and proteins responsible for the hyperactive bone growth
The formidable price tag of the new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies has sent shock waves through the blood cancers community, which is struggling to incorporate this novel approach because of the remarkable responses that have been seen. But the price tags — enormous as they are (nearly half a million [$475,000] for tisagenlecleucel [Kymriah, Novartis]
Study uncovers genes that control process of whole-body regeneration A new study looks at how three-banded panther worms are able to regenerate their whole bodies and how this regeneration could be applied to humans. Video by Yi-Jyun Luo When it comes to regeneration, some animals are capable of amazing feats. If you cut off a
It was surprisingly simple. University of California, Berkeley, scientists inserted a gene for a green-light receptor into the eyes of blind mice and, a month later, they were navigating around obstacles as easily as mice with no vision problems. They were able to see motion, brightness changes over a thousandfold range and fine detail on
The partnership between the US software giant and UK-based biotech company is designed to increase the yield and improve the purity of lentiviral vectors in gene therapy. A British cell and gene therapy company is partnering up with the world’s largest software company to improve gene therapy vectors using cloud computing and machine learning. Oxford,
Eric Lander, Françoise Baylis, Feng Zhang, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Paul Berg and specialists from seven countries call for an international governance framework. We call for a global moratorium on all clinical uses of human germline editing — that is, changing heritable DNA (in sperm, eggs or embryos) to make genetically modified children. By ‘global moratorium’, we
NIH-funded discovery uses common antifungal drug to improve lungs’ ability to fight infection. Researchers say a widely-used antifungal drug may hold promise for treating people with cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disorder that causes serious damage to the lungs. In studies using human cells and animals models, the researchers found that the medication, called amphotericin,
Here’s why that’s undermining personalized medicine In a paper published last week, scientists led by Dr. Pui-Yan Kwok of the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed 154 genomes from 26 ethnic populations, from Han Chinese and Tuscans to Yoruba, Esan, Puerto Ricans, and Peruvians. They found 60 million bases in one or more of these populations
Researchers invent a resistance-sensing injection device that knows where to go Syringes and hollow needles—among the most feared and most commonly used tools in medical practice—have been around for more than a century. However, the precise insertion of these devices depends largely on the technique and skill of the person delivering the injection. And some anatomical
