News by Subject Biology

New UC Riverside research shows soybean oil not only leads to obesity and diabetes, but could also affect neurological conditions like autism, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, and depression.

For the first time, research shows that the contacts between cells, known as cell adhesion, are essential for cells to survive stress. The findings also suggest that impaired cell adhesion may sensitize cancer cells to drugs that damage cell proteins and cause stress.

Whether a sick cell dies, divides, or travels through the body is regulated by a sophisticat-ed interplay of signal molecules and receptors on the cell membrane. One of the most im-portant molecular cues in the immune system is Tumour Necrosis Factor α (TNFα). Now, for the first time, researchers from Goethe University have visualised the molecular organ-isation of individual TNFα receptor molecules and the binding of TNFα to the cell mem-brane in cells using optical microscopy.

A newly developed method can detect even low-dose human exposure to microcystins and nodularin in human urine. During harmful algal blooms (HABs), species of cyanobacteria release toxic peptides, including microcystins and nodularin into waterways, impacting wildlife and humans living in these marine environments. These findings are the first to report microcystin concentrations directly from exposed residents impacted by cyanobacteria in Florida, and is a critical step in developing and interpreting clinical diagnostic tests for HABs exposure worldwide.

A new study by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by 'la Caixa,' has identified a key biological mechanism that puts men at higher risk of cancer: loss of function in certain genes of the sex-determining Y chromosome, which is present only in men.

Water is all around us and essential for life. Nevertheless, research into its behaviour at the atomic level -- above all how it interacts with surfaces -- is thin on the ground. Thanks to a new experimental method, TU Graz researchers have now delivered insights into the atomic-level movement of water molecules, which they outline in a paper in Nature Communications.