Access to publicly available human single-cell gene expression datasets, or scRNA-seq datasets, has significantly enhanced researchers’ understanding of both complex biological systems and the etymology of various diseases. However, the increase in accessibility raises a greater concern about the privacy of the individuals who donated the cells and the likelihood of their private health details being shared without consent.  Previous studies on these privacy breaches have focused on bulk gene expression data sharing, where the average expression levels of genes are measured across a large population of cells from a tissue or sample rather than an individual cell. Because single-cell ...

KEY POINTS Human judgement of food images is influenced by judgements that precede it Experiment tested reactions of more than 600 people making food choices Highly relevant given widespread use of Uber Eats or phone-based menus Finding could assist treatments for eating disorders or assist with food marketing Research at the University of Sydney has revealed that we don’t judge food simply on its merits but are influenced by what we have seen beforehand, a cascading phenomenon known as ‘serial dependence’. The research, published today in the high-impact journal Current Biology, was conducted by Professors David Alais ...

A team of scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s The BRAIN Initiative®, including Davi Bock, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurological Sciences at UVM’s Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, recently made a substantial advancement in neurobiological research by successfully mapping the entire brain of Drosophila melanogaster, more commonly known as the fruit fly. The study, titled “Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing of Drosophila,” recently published ...

Boston, MA – A new thought piece led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute with collaborators from Duke University and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute highlights the challenges facing healthcare researchers and decision makers in the quest to improve population health in a constantly evolving healthcare landscape. The authors offer strategies to enhance the effectiveness of pragmatic clinical trials and increase their impact on real-world healthcare settings. The Viewpoint appears October 2 in JAMA. Pragmatic clinical trials, designed to inform health ...

Inside every cell, inside every nucleus, your continued existence depends on an incredibly complicated dance. Proteins are constantly wrapping and unwrapping DNA, and even minor missteps can lead to cancer.   A new study from the University of Chicago reveals a previously unknown part of this dance—one with significant implications for human health.   In the study, published Oct. 2 in Nature, a team of scientists led by UChicago Prof. Chuan He, in collaboration with University of Texas Health Science Center at ...

Researchers at NYU Langone Health were awarded $1.6 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate changes in the eye that may indicate early signs of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The award, OT2OD038130, recognizes the eye as a part of the brain and its role as a window into cognitive and visual health. After the initial $1.6 million award, the grant may renew an additional two years, for a total of $4.8 million as part of the NIH Common Fund Venture Program’s new Oculomics Initiative. Oculomics is a relatively new term to describe the integrative use of technology and ...

Groundbreaking Discoveries in Gamma-Ray Emissions from Thunderstorms In the recent edition of Nature, groundbreaking results about the gamma-ray emissions produced during thunderstorms are presented. Overall, these findings reveal that gamma-ray emission from thunderclouds is much more complex, diverse, and dynamic than previously thought. Understanding these phenomena is crucial to uncovering the secrets of lightning. Flickering Gamma-Ray Flashes: A New Discovery Entitled “Flickering Gamma-Ray Flashes, the Missing Link between Gamma Glows and TGFs,” the paper by Østgaard et al. [2024] reports unique observations of a new phenomenon called Flickering Gamma-Ray ...

A new paper, “Differences in misinformation sharing can lead to politically asymmetric sanctions,” published today in Nature suggests that the higher quantity of social media policy enforcement (such as account suspensions) for conservative users could be explained by the higher quantity of misinformation shared by those conservative users — and so does not constitute evidence of inherent biases in the policies from social media companies or in the definition of what constitutes misinformation.  Written by ...

Endosymbiosis is a fascinating biological phenomenon in which an organism lives inside another. Such an unusual relationship is often beneficial for both parties. Even in our bodies, we find remnants of such cohabitation: mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells, evolved from an ancient endosymbiosis. Long ago, bacteria entered other cells and stayed. This coexistence laid the foundation for mitochondria and thus the cells of plants, animals, and fungi. What is still poorly understood, however, is how an endosymbiosis as a lifestyle actually arises. A bacterium that more or less accidentally ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A small University at Buffalo clinical trial has found that at low doses, lithium aspartate is ineffective in treating the fatigue and brain fog that is often a persistent feature of long COVID; however, a supplemental dose-finding study found some evidence that higher doses may be effective. Published in JAMA Network Open on Oct. 2, the study was led by Thomas J. Guttuso, Jr., MD, professor of neurology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB and a physician with UBMD Neurology. “It’s a negative study with a positive twist,” Guttuso concludes. Because ...

Providing care for a family member with a disabling illness can be a demanding job that leaves many people unable to sleep, but an online insomnia treatment developed at the University of Virginia School of Medicine can help, new research shows. Not only did the SHUTi (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet) sleep intervention help caregivers get better rest, it most benefited those shouldering the greatest responsibilities in caring for their loved ones, the researchers found.  The results suggest the online format of the program ...

Attivare licenses Wyss Institute’s immune-modulating biomaterial technology to advance immunotherapies The company is developing the biomaterial-based technology to develop novel therapies able to program anti-cancer immunity and prevent infectious diseases By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Today, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Attivare Therapeutics Inc. announced that Attivare has licensed a portfolio of immune-modulating biomaterial technologies from Harvard University that was created at the ...

The American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) has announced that Chris Harle, PhD, of the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health and the Regenstrief Institute will be inducted as one of 25 new fellows on November 10 in San Francisco, CA, at ceremonies during the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) 2024 Annual Symposium. ACMI is a college of elected fellows who have made significant and sustained contributions to the field of biomedical informatics. Individuals who have achieved national recognition in the field and are committed to advancing ...

October 2, 2024, TORONTO – The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) continues to support Ontario drug discovery research by funding high-quality investigations of new therapies for some of the most prevalent pediatric and adult cancers. These projects are tackling substantial challenges in cancer by increasing the effectiveness and availability of immunotherapies, making cancer more vulnerable to chemotherapy and developing a new drug for one of the deadliest forms of childhood brain cancer. OICR’s Cancer Therapeutics Innovation Pipeline (CTIP) initiative is supporting three research teams ...

PHILADELPHIA – Driven by political partisanship, public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court has continued a downward slide since the court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion, according to a new survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. More than half of Americans (56%) now disapprove of the Supreme Court, saying they trust it either “a little” or “not at all” to act in the best interest ...

Rice University is part of a multiuniversity research team that has secured an award of up to $34.9 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to accelerate the development of a bioelectronic implant designed to improve adherence for obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) treatment while reducing development and manufacturing costs. Rice University’s Biotech Launch Pad will lead the commercialization effort for “Rx On-site Generation Using Electronics” (ROGUE), a self-contained, durable implantable device that houses cells engineered ...

PITTSBURGH – A Carnegie Mellon University-led team has secured an award of up to $42 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to accelerate the development of implantable, cell-based bioelectronic devices that deliver patient-specific therapy and monitor disease status, for conditions like hypo- and hyperthyroidism, in real time. This award is part of the ARPA-H REACT program, which supports the advancement of implantable bioelectronic devices to improve patient management of chronic diseases. Burak ...

CLEVELAND—Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Vanderbilt University are pioneering a new approach to prostate cancer surgery by combining advanced robotics and “low-field” MRI technology. The research aims to allow highly accurate, patient-tailored prostate cancer surgeries without the need for traditional incisions. This innovative research marks a major step in developing minimally invasive treatments for prostate cancer, with the potential to improve both safety and efficiency for patients. The project is being funded by a new five-year, $3.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, part of the ...

PITTSBURGH – A Carnegie Mellon University-led team of researchers has secured an award of up to $34.9 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The funds will fast track a bioelectronic implant that could radically improve treatment options and significantly reduce the cost of care for patients with obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The award will drive the accelerated development and testing of “Rx On-site Generation Using Electronics (ROGUE),” a bioelectrical device that hosts a “living pharmacy,” consisting of engineered cells that produce biological therapy to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The device will offer continuous, ...

People with diabetes take insulin to lower high blood sugar. However, if glucose levels plunge too low — from taking too much insulin or not eating enough sugar — people can experience hypoglycemia, which can lead to dizziness, cognitive impairment, seizures or comas. To prevent and treat this condition, researchers in ACS Central Science report encapsulating the hormone glucagon. In mouse trials, the nanocapsules activated when blood sugar levels dropped dangerously low and quickly restored glucose levels. Glucagon is a hormone that signals the liver to ...

It’s important to eat your veggies, but some essential vitamins and nutrients can only be found in animals, including certain amino acids and peptides. But, in a proof-of-concept study published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers developed a method to produce creatine, carnosine and taurine — all animal-based nutrients and common workout supplements — right inside a plant. The system allows for different synthetic modules to be easily stacked together to boost production. Plants can be surprisingly receptive when asked to produce compounds ...

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is excited to announce Pablo Manavella will serve as the next Editor-in-Chief of The Plant Cell. The Plant Cell is a leading international society journal that publishes novel research of special significance in plant biology, especially in the areas of cellular biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, development, and evolution. Manavella is currently a Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) researcher at the Institute for Mediterranean and Subtropical Horticulture (IHSM) in Málaga, Spain. He is the Principal Investigator in a lab focusing on the intricate mechanisms regulating ...

Despite global vaccination efforts, COVID-19 continues to pose significant risks, leading to severe complications and fatalities. These risks are driven by disrupted coagulation, impaired fibrinolysis, which is the process of breaking blood clots, and heightened inflammatory responses. The fibrinolytic system, crucial for maintaining balance within the coagulation cascade, relies on plasmin-mediated fibrin degradation. Plasminogen activators convert plasminogen into plasmin, an enzyme that breaks down ...

SAN FRANCISCO —PLOS today announced that it has received a $1.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a $1 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support our mission to drive Open Science forward with meaningful change in scholarly publishing. The funds enable PLOS to embark on an ambitious 18-month research and design project to explore how to tackle two barriers that exclude many researchers from meaningfully participating in Open Science: affordability ...

Researchers at the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR) have developed technology that can alter, within the body, the recognized identity of proteins. The innovation, published in Nature Communications on October 2, allowed researchers to target mouse tumors with a protein and then transport that protein out of the body. This means that cancer-killing drugs could be sent directly to tumors and then excreted from the body after dropping off their payload. The technology also has the potential to allow multi-purpose drugs that can travel from organ to organ, performing ...