Using genetic engineering techniques, investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Ludwig Center, the Lustgarten Laboratory and Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy have designed a novel type of cell to recognize and fight cancer. To produce the cells, called Co-STAR (Co-stimulatory Synthetic T-cell receptor and Antigen Receptor) cells, the researchers combined genetic components of four types of cells that the body normally uses to defend against invaders to make ...

The study also looked at safety of the AAV-mediated genome editing approach and found it had a good safety profile that includes little off-target effect and no detectable long-term integration of the AAV vector in the genome. “Our research suggested minimal potential risk and supports the feasibility of future clinical applications in humans,” said Wenliang Zhu, PhD, and physician-scientist Wan Du, MD, PhD, members of Chen’s lab at Mass Eye and Ear and first authors on the paper. The study, led by Zheng-Yi Chen, DPhil, an associate scientist in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Mass Eye and Ear (a member of the ...

HOUSTON – (July 10, 2024) – The Controlled Release Society (CRS), the premier international, multidisciplinary society dedicated to the science and technology of drug delivery, has elected Rice University bioengineer Omid Veiseh to its College of Fellows. The recognition is a prestigious acknowledgement of “outstanding and sustained contributions in the field of delivery science and technology,” according to the organization website. “I am deeply honored to be elected to the CRS College ...

More than 70 high school students and science teachers gathered at Young Middle School in Arlington this summer to learn about quantum information science (QIS). The annual workshop and camp are part of a national pilot program called Quantum for All led by Karen Jo Matsler, assistant professor in practice and master teacher in the UTeach program at The University of Texas at Arlington. “Just the word ‘quantum’ scares people, which is why many teachers and school administrators ...

In a groundbreaking effort to tackle the pervasive issue of PFAS contamination in drinking water, a research team at New Jersey Institute of Technology has received funding from the Bureau of Reclamation's Desalination and Water Purification Research program. This highly competitive grant, awarded to only eight projects out of over eighty applicants, supports their innovative project titled "Enhanced Coagulation for the Removal of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances using Hydrophobic Ion Pairing Approach Project." Arjun Venkatesan, associate ...

Most known black holes are either extremely massive, like the supermassive black holes that lie at the cores of large galaxies, or relatively lightweight, with a mass of under 100 times that of the Sun. Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are scarce, however, and are considered rare "missing links" in black hole evolution. Now, an international team of astronomers has used more than 500 images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope — spanning two decades of observations — to search for evidence of an intermediate-mass black hole by following the motion of seven ...

Philadelphia, July 10, 2024 – Despite escalating disaster frequency and severity, guidance for addressing emergency food and nutrition needs is limited. However, existing literature offers insights on how to effectively address emergency food and nutrition assistance. A recent position paper issued by the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB) in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, states that for effective recovery from and resilience to disasters, it is essential that impacted individuals and communities have access to safe, nutritious, and culturally and contextually appropriate foods and beverages, and receive emergency-related ...

A new paper published today in Molecular Biology and Evolution reveals that it's not as straightforward as it might seem. Despite decades of data collection by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has been valuable to monitor changes in areas occupied by illegal coca plantations in South America, there is no reliable scientific method to distinguish between different types of coca plants. South American coca plants have been essential to Andean and Amazonian communities for at least 8,000 years. It is within these communities that they are thought to have evolved from wild to domesticated coca plants. Their ...

Solid-state batteries have several advantages: they can store more energy and are safer than batteries with liquid electrolytes. However, they do not last as long and their capacity decreases with each charge cycle. But it doesn't have to stay that way: Researchers are already on the trail of the causes. In the journal ACS Energy Letters, a team from HZB and Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, presents a new method for precisely monitoring electrochemical reactions during the operation of a solid-state battery using photoelectron spectroscopy at BESSY II. The results ...

Solar energy is critical for a clean-energy future. Traditionally, solar energy is harvested using silicon – the same semiconductor material used in everyday electronic devices.  But silicon solar panels have drawbacks: for instance, they’re expensive and hard to mount on curved surfaces. Researchers have developed alternative materials for solar-energy harvesting to solve such shortcomings. Among the most promising of these are called “organic” semiconductors, carbon-based semiconductors that are Earth-abundant, cheaper and environmentally friendly. “They can potentially lower the production cost for solar panels because these ...

University of Maryland Faculty Physicians has entered into an agreement to lease 17,000 square feet of space at The Village at Mondawmin, which would establish a new community "health village," University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, and Faculty Practice President William F. Regine, MD, announced today. It is part of a larger effort to work in partnership with the West Baltimore community to develop and implement health care delivery based on neighborhood needs and to improve patient access to healthcare. The Faculty Practice group of ...

In a study examining styles of pitching ideas to audiences, researchers found that pitches promoting radical ideas are better received when framed in concrete and explanatory ‘how’ terms, while progressive ideas do better with abstract ‘why’ style of pitches. Previous research found that professional audiences, like investors, prefer concrete pitches with how-style explanations, while lay audiences such as students and crowdfunders respond better to ‘why’ style pitches for abstract ideas. Professor Simone Ferriani, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Bayes Business School (formerly ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. – A new study led by Michigan State University researchers shows a significant increase in telemedicine services offered by U.S. hospitals from 2017 to 2022, while also highlighting persistent barriers to its full implementation. The comprehensive analysis of telemedicine adoption in U.S. hospitals during these years reveals both significant progress and ongoing challenges in the health care sector’s digital transformation. The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that the percentage of hospitals offering at least one form of telemedicine ...

LOS ANGELES — Cirrhosis is chronic, progressive end-stage liver disease that occurs when scar tissue prevents the liver from functioning normally. Studies have shown that two of the leading causes of cirrhosis — alcohol use disorder and viral hepatitis — occur more frequently in transgender individuals, but there has been little research examining if these risk factors translate into greater incidences of cirrhosis among transgender patients.   A new study from Keck Medicine ...

Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of about ten million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes. Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters: a spherical collection of stars, so dense towards the centre that it becomes impossible to distinguish individual stars. But now a new study, led by Maximilian Häberle (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), confirms what astronomers had been suspecting for some time: Omega Centauri contains a central black hole. The black hole appears to be the “missing link” between its stellar and ...

About The Study: Based on this longitudinal cohort study of 1,001 mental health treatment facilities, telehealth availability has declined since the public health emergency end with respect to scope and modality of services, suggesting targeted policies may be necessary to sustain telehealth access.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ryan K. McBain, Ph.D., M.P.H., email rmcbain@mail.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.20853) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that use of touch-screen, engaging, tablet games by toddlers may inhibit early social-communicative interactions.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Dimitri A. Christakis, M.D., M.P.H., email dimitri.christakis@seattlechildrens.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.18492) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. #  ...

A newly developed molecule, LK-2, could inform new therapies for stroke-related brain injury, finds scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).  An ischemic stroke occurs when blood flow to a part of the brain is interrupted, depriving the brain cells of oxygen and nutrients. Without timely treatment, brain cells can die, resulting in permanent damage to the brain and its functions. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, affecting millions every year.  An international study published in Nature co-led by Dr. Lu-Yang Wang, a Senior Scientist in the ...

· Lupus is an autoimmune disease affecting more than 1.5 million people in the U.S. · Until now, the causes of this disease remained unclear · Scientists are working to expand research into novel treatment CHICAGO --- Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists have discovered a molecular defect that promotes the pathologic immune response in systemic lupus erythematosus (known as lupus) and show that reversing this defect may potentially reverse the disease. Lupus affects more than 1.5 million ...

A new study found that the prevalence of nicotine pouch use was low in U.S. adults despite a 641% increase in sales of the products between 2019 and 2022. Researchers say the findings raise questions about who is using the millions of nicotine pouches sold in the U.S. and why. Nicotine pouches, a new commercial tobacco product, contain a crystalline powder with nicotine, flavorings (including fruit, mint or candy) and other additives. They do not cause respiratory harm and are perceived by some as an alternative to help adults who smoke tobacco quit. ...

An unexpected find has enabled important progress to be made in the battle against harmful bacteria.   An international team of researchers, led by Professor Peter Fineran from the University of Otago, investigated a particular protein used by bacteria-infecting viruses, known as phages.   Research into this microscopic arms race between bacteria and phages is important as it can lead to alternatives to antibiotics.   Published in prestigious international journal Nature, the study analysed a protein phages use when deploying anti-CRISPR, their method of blocking the CRISPR–Cas immune system of bacteria.   Lead ...

Ancient DNA from bones and teeth hints at a role of the plague in Stone Age population collapse. Contrary to previous beliefs, the plague may have diminished Europe's populations long before the major plague outbreaks of the Middle Ages, new research shows. In the 14th century Europe, the plague ravaged the population during the so-called 'Black Death,' claiming the lives of nearly a third of the population. But the plague arrived in Scandinavia several thousand years earlier, and despite several theories suggesting otherwise, the plague might have caused an epidemic, according to new research from ...

PHILADELPHIA— To make someone put their phone down while driving, show them the money—with a catch, according to new research published in JAMA Open. When a group of auto insurance customers were tempted with a cash incentive—and regular feedback letting the driver know how they were doing compared to other drivers trying to reduce their phone time—handheld phone use dropped significantly, a team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found.  The researchers examined several different strategies ...

Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of 10 million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes. Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters; a spherical stellar collection so dense towards the center that it becomes impossible to distinguish individual stars. But a new study, led by researchers from the University of Utah and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, confirms what astronomers had argued about for over a decade: Omega Centauri contains a central black hole. The black hole appears to be the missing link between its stellar ...

An international consortium of researchers led by University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto and University of Zurich have built the first-ever molecular atlas of the human brain vasculature at single-cell resolution, spanning from early development to adulthood and through disease stages such as brain tumours and brain vascular malformations. The international consortium includes research teams from UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute, Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre, Mount Sinai Hospital’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum ...