News

Newly-developed "nano-tweezers" created by university researchers can for the first time extract single molecules from live cells without destroying them – solving a long-standing research problem.

University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers reported promising early results from a clinical study of an investigational cellular immunotherapy that used a patient’s own, genetically engineered immune cells to recognize and fight Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells.

A class of cancer drugs called protein kinase inhibitors is one of the most effective treatments for melanoma. However, in many cases, tumors eventually become resistant to the drugs and cause a relapse in the patient.

A UCLA-led research team has identified genetic processes involved in the neurodegeneration that occurs in dementia — an important step on the path toward developing therapies that could slow or halt the course of the disease. The findings appear today in the journal Nature Medicine.

A recently completed study provides new information on functional changes in the brain connected with autistic spectrum disorders. The findings help identify factors related to the individual manifestation of autistic spectrum disorders and associated diseases.

The most comprehensive genome-wide association study, or GWAS, of colorectal cancer risk to date, published in Nature Genetics, has discovered 40 new genetic variants and validated 55 previously identified variants that signal an increased risk of colon cancer.

An innovative approach has been used to identify thousands of antibiotic resistance genes found in bacteria that inhabit the human gut.

The bacterial protein Cas10 is usually harmless, but transforms into an enzymatic assassin when confronted with foreign genetic material.

Researchers have shown that cancer cells do not necessarily have more changes in the DNA than healthy cells. The number of changes appears to be less relevant than the location in the DNA, according to research by Ruben van Boxtel.

Scientists have uncovered that an emerging gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease creates new circuits in the brain associated with improved motor movement. These findings explain the therapeutic mechanisms involved in the emerging Parkinson’s gene therapy called AAV2-GAD.