News by Subject Biology

In the first study published about Alzheimer's disease among identical triplets, researchers found that despite sharing the same DNA, two of the triplets developed Alzheimer's while one did not, according to recently published results in the journal Brain.

The microscopic organisms populating the human body have an outsize impact on health and disease, but how these microbes communicate with each other and with human cells is currently largely unknown. By developing and employing a new suite of tools, researchers at Princeton have identified novel microbial small molecules encoded in human clinical samples, leading to new insights into host-microbiome interactions and opening new paths toward drug discovery.

In a new review paper, MIT neuroscientists lay out the the few knowns and many unknowns that must be understood to determine why sensory stimuluation of 40Hz brain rhythms have broad effects, particularly in Alzheimer's models.

Experts at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), in collaboration with the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), have achieved a new milestone. By developing a bio-platform that integrates in its core an organic electronic device called Electrolyte Gated Organic Field Effect Transistor (EGOFETs), researchers have been able to monitor the electrical signal of cells and micro-tissues during long periods of time.

Nano-sized vesicles released by certain bacteria that inhabit the vagina may protect against HIV infection, suggests a study of human cells and tissues by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Bologna, Italy. Known as extracellular vesicles, these bubble-like particles are produced by many kinds of cells and are thought to transport molecules from one cell to another.

Patients with well-supported immune cells in their tumors are more likely to control their cancers' growth for a longer time, an observation that could guide treatment decisions after surgery for kidney cancer. In addition, the findings could help researchers expand the dramatic but sparse benefits of cancer immunotherapy to more people.