Dominika Pilat, PhD, and Ana Griciuc, PhD, of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital are the lead and senior authors of a paper published in Neuron, “The Gain-of-Function TREM2-T96K Mutation Increases Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease by Impairing Microglial Function.” Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Our team wanted to understand how immune cells of the brain, called microglia, contribute to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. It’s known that subtle changes, or mutations, in genes expressed in microglia are associated with an increased ...

Faulty brain circuits seen in Down syndrome may be caused by the lack of a particular molecule essential for the development and function of the nervous system, new research suggests. Restoring the molecule, called pleiotrophin, could improve brain function in Down syndrome and other neurological diseases – possibly even in adults, the researchers say. The scientists conducted their work in lab mice, rather than in people, so the approach is far from being available as a treatment. But the researchers found that administering pleiotrophin improved brain function in adult ...

About The Study: The 1-year success rate in eyes undergoing Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) with successfully prepared tissue was very high regardless of donor diabetes status. These results, supported by the separately reported finding that endothelial cell loss and cornea morphometry after 1 year were not affected by donor diabetes status, provide strong support for having no restrictions on the use of tissue from donors with diabetes for DMEK.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jonathan H. Lass, MD, email deks@case.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

About The Study: This randomized clinical trial found that endothelial cell loss and morphometry 1 year after Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) were not affected by cornea donor diabetes status. With comparable 1-year graft success with tissue from donors with and without diabetes demonstrated in this trial, these findings support the use of corneas from donors with diabetes for endothelial keratoplasty procedures.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jonathan ...

“Taken together, these findings reveal a novel role of Runx1 in maintaining disc health and regulating age-related degenerative processes.” BUFFALO, NY — October 17, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Volume 17, Issue 9 of Aging-US on September 8, 2025, titled, “Runx1 overexpression induces early onset of intervertebral disc degeneration.” In this study, led by first author Takanori Fukunaga from Emory University School of Medicine and corresponding author Hicham Drissi from Emory and the Atlanta VA Medical Center, researchers found that the Runx1 gene, when overactive in spinal disc cells, ...

ORLANDO, FLORIDA, OCTOBER 17, 2025—NYU Langone Health ophthalmology faculty present their latest research at this year’s annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), where Kathryn A. Colby, MD, PhD, the Elisabeth J. Cohen, MD, Professor and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, will be awarded the prestigious Castroviejo Medal from the Cornea Society. This honor recognizes Dr. Colby’s groundbreaking contributions to the field of ophthalmology, particularly in the promotion, research, and understanding of the cornea. Among the presentations at AAO in Orlando, October 17 ...

BERLIN October 17, 2025 – Treatment with osimertinib plus a platinum–pemetrexed chemotherapy combination resulted in statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed EGFR-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared to osimertinib alone. The finding is based on an analysis of the complete data from the phase 3 global FLAURA2 study, co-led by researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Gustave Roussy (Grand Paris, Villejuif, France). Median overall survival was 47.5 months in the osimertinib plus platinum–pemetrexed group versus 37.6 months ...

The Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute’s Queen Conch Lab, led by research professor Megan Davis, Ph.D., has been named the recipient of the 2025 Responsible Seafood Innovation Award in Aquaculture from the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA). The award honors the Queen Conch Lab’s development of mobile lab hatcheries designed to help restore the threatened Caribbean queen conch. These self-contained, trailer-based hatcheries bring advanced aquaculture capabilities to coastal communities across the Caribbean, many of which lack traditional infrastructure. This innovation is not only helping to rebuild wild ...

A new review published in the Journal of Intensive Medicine on 25 July, 2025 and led by Dr. Alice Jacquens and Dr. Clara Perrault from Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France, sheds light on an under-recognized complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI): post-traumatic vasospasm (PTV). PTV is a sudden narrowing of brain arteries that can lead to stroke and long-term neurological damage. It may affect up to 60% of TBI patients but is often missed, especially in intensive care units where ...

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; Saudi Arabia) researchers have set a record in microchip design, achieving the first six-stack hybrid CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) for large-area electronics. With no other reported hybrid CMOS exceeding two stacks, the feat marks a new benchmark in integration density and efficiency, opening possibilities in electronic miniaturization and performance.  Among microchip technologies, CMOS microchips are found in nearly all electronics, from phones and televisions to satellites and medical devices. Compared with conventional silicon chips, hybrid CMOS microchips hold greater promise ...

Large language models (LLMs) can store and recall vast quantities of medical information, but their ability to process this information in rational ways remains variable. A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham demonstrated a vulnerability in that LLMs are designed to be sycophantic, or excessively helpful and agreeable, which leads them to overwhelmingly fail to appropriately challenge illogical medical queries despite possessing the information necessary to do so. Findings, published in npj Digital Medicine, demonstrate that targeted training and fine-tuning can ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Before cells can divide, they first need to replicate all of their chromosomes, so that each of the daughter cells can receive a full set of genetic material. Until now, scientists had believed that as division occurs, the genome loses the distinctive 3D internal structure that it typically forms. Once division is complete, it was thought, the genome gradually regains that complex, globular structure, which plays an essential role in controlling which genes are turned on in a given cell. However, a new study from MIT shows that in fact, this picture is not fully accurate. ...

Electrical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated the ability to print fully functional and recyclable electronics at sub-micrometer scales. The technique could impact the more than $150 billion electronic display industry and its environmental impact while providing a toehold for U.S. manufacturing to gain traction in a vital and quickly growing industry. The research appears October 17 in the journal Nature Electronics. “If we want to seriously increase U.S.-based manufacturing in areas dominated by global competitors, we need transformational technologies,” said Aaron ...

Hamilton, ON (October 17, 2025) – A new study led by researchers at McMaster University reveals that hidden fat deep inside the abdomen and liver may quietly damage arteries, even in people who appear healthy.   The findings, published in Communications Medicine on October 17, 2025, challenge the long-standing reliance on body-mass index (BMI) as a measure of obesity and offer fresh insight into how hidden fat contributes to heart disease.  Visceral fat (the kind that wraps ...

Ever wonder what happens to those old, broken electronics after tossing them? How about how new ones are being produced despite dwindling resources? The seemingly endless supply of gadgets hides an increasingly critical problem, limited raw resources. Electronics, optical fibers, and superconducting materials heavily rely on rare earth metals, but such limited resources lack innovative recycling solutions. Various methods do exist for metal recovery, but technology with low environmental impact and costs is rising in demand. Fortunately, an answer may have been found in the common kitchen ingredient, baker’s yeast. ...

A new study by researchers from Sichuan Agricultural University and international collaborators provides the most comprehensive evidence to date that biochar, a charcoal-like substance made from organic materials, plays a crucial role in faster, cleaner composting. By analyzing data from 125 studies across the world, the research team showed that adding biochar to composting systems significantly boosts compost quality while slashing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The findings, published in Biochar X, could help scale up sustainable waste management and climate-friendly agriculture. “Biochar ...

Pulmonary fibrosis is a deadly disease in which the lungs become thickened and scarred, gradually losing their ability to deliver oxygen to the body. Now, scientists at UC San Francisco have identified a key cellular switch that drives this process — and found a way to block it in mice. The new therapy, which appears Oct. 15 in Journal of Clinical Investigation, works by preventing healthy lung cells from converting to a more harmful cell type. In mice with pulmonary fibrosis, the treatment ...

A new study led by UNLV scientists sheds light on how planets, including Earth, formed in our galaxy – and why the life and death of nearby stars are an important piece of the puzzle.  In a paper published Sept. 23 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers at UNLV in collaboration with scientists from the Open University of Israel for the first time modeled details about how the timing of planet formation in the history of the galaxy affects planetary composition and density.  “Materials ...

Researchers led by Masako Tamaki at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan report a link between deep sleep and cerebrospinal fluid, the clear liquid that surrounds and supports the brain and spinal cord. Recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesof the United States of America, the study demonstrates how changes in cerebrospinal fluid signals during sleep—as measured by MRI—are time-locked to slow brain waves and other neural events. These findings offer a clue as to why stable sleep is important for normal brain ...

Restoring degraded peatlands could play a vital role in tackling climate change, according to a new study led by researchers from Bangor University and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. The study shows that combining rewetting with biochar and iron sulphate additions can significantly slow down carbon loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from drained agricultural peat soils. Peatlands, though covering less than 3% of the Earth’s surface, store more carbon than all the world’s forests combined. However, decades of ...

Cancer cells are known to reawaken embryonic genes to grow. A new study reveals the disease also hijacks the proteins, or “editors”, that control how those genes are read. The findings, published today in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, help explain why tumours grow so fast and adapt so well, and may point the way to new treatments. Embryonic cells have to grow fast and must be able to transform into many different tissue types. The cells rely on genetic programmes that are eventually switched off as tissues mature. Cancer reawakens these programmes, giving the disease embryonic-like potential to fuel growth. Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation ...

A landmark international study led by the University of Zurich has shown that artificial intelligence can assess patient risk for the most common type of heart attack more accurately than existing methods. This could enable doctors to guide more personalized treatment decisions for patients. Doctors caring for patients with the most common form of heart attack – the so-called non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) – have so far relied on a standardized scoring system. Using the GRACE score, they can estimate risk and determine the optimal timing for catheter-based treatment. This score is widely used and increasingly integrated into international clinical ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sea ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean is at one of its lowest levels on record, yet there’s no unanimity on when that ice will disappear completely during summer months. Understanding the traits and movements of the remaining ice is a persistent challenge for scientists, but a study by researchers at Penn State has provided a new tool to explore ice characteristics and interactions along with coastal conditions. Using radar images, fiber-optic sensing and seismic sensors, the team in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) identified different ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The faster a child takes bites during a meal or snack, the greater risk they have for developing obesity, according to researchers in the Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences. But research into this association is often limited to small studies in laboratory environments, largely because counting a child’s bite rate is difficult; it requires someone to watch videos of a child eating and manually record each bite. To make bite rate counting possible for larger studies and in ...

Chemistry researchers at the University of Utah have uncovered an enzyme, dubbed PapB, that can “tie off” therapeutic peptides—protein-like drugs—into tight rings, a process known as macrocyclization. This enzymatic trick could help drug developers make stronger, longer-lasting versions of GLP-1 medications, such as semaglutide—the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy—used to treat diabetes and obesity, according to a study published this week. Creating cyclic peptides is valuable because these ring ...