News by Subject Biology

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have found that NTRK fusions are more common in pediatric tumors and also involve a wider range of tumors than adult cancers, information that could help prioritize screening for NTRK fusions in pediatric cancer patients who might benefit from treatment with TRK inhibitors.

Molybdenum cofactor (Moco) is a compound that is little known but is essential for life. Children born without the ability to synthesize Moco die young. It has not been possible to create Moco supplements because the compound is so unstable. Studies in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans suggest that by combining, Moco with certain proteins, it becomes stable and can repair deficiency.

A team of biophysicists set out to tackle the long-standing question about the nature of force generation by myosin, the molecular motor responsible for muscle contraction. The key question they addressed - one of the most controversial topics in the field - was: how does myosin convert chemical energy, in the form of ATP, into mechanical work? The answer revealed new details into how myosin, the engine of muscle and related motor proteins, transduces energy.

WRAIR scientists have shown that traumatic brain injury causes coordinated microRNA dysregulation followed by increased amounts of the beta-site amyloid cleaving enzyme, or BACE1, and loss of amyloid precursor protein. BACE-1 cleaves APP to generate amyloid beta peptides, a hallmark of neurodegenerative disease pathology and brain cells loss, which are the focus of several clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease. Future research will characterize the direct role of miRNAs and their relationship to BACE1 within TBI.

Acute Pancreatitis (AP) is one of the most common diseases around the world. Associated with a considerable risk of morbidity and even death in patients who suffer a severe form of the disease, to date there is no specific treatment for it. Now international AP experts have published a roadmap in the journal Gut (BMJ) pinpointing the two most significant thresholds in the disease that could serve as a starting point for targeting treatment strategies for this extremely painful condition.