Curated News: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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Teams at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science will lead collaborations and provide computing, software and data infrastructure as part of an international network of centers working to create a kind of cell-level Google Maps for the human body.

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Using UT Southwestern’s Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility, researchers have captured images of an enzyme for Wnt lipidation, which is pivotal to human development and cancer and crucial for Wnt signaling activation. The findings, reported in Nature, shed light on the mechanisms behind this activity and could eventually lead to new drugs to treat various malignancies.

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In a new University of California, Irvine-led study, researchers define how the circadian clock influences cell growth, metabolism and tumor progression. Their research also reveals how disruption of the circadian clock impacts genome stability and mutations that can further drive critical tumor promoting pathways in the intestine.

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A team led by UT Southwestern researchers has identified how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, builds a structure called the RNA cap that’s critical for successful viral replication. The finding, published in Nature, could lead to new strategies to attack COVID-19, which has sickened nearly 600 million and killed more than 6 million worldwide thus far.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago are working with the National Institutes of Health and University of Minnesota to establish a center for antiviral drug development for pandemic-level viruses, including Ebola and SARS-CoV-2.

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MADISON — For the first time, researchers can get a high-resolution view of single blood stem cells thanks to a little help from microscopy and zebrafish.Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of California San Diego have developed a method for scientists to track a single blood stem cell in a live organism and then describe the ultrastructure, or architecture, of that same cell using electron microscopy.

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Cedars-Sinai investigators have created bio-realistic and complex computer models of individual brain cells—in unparalleled quantity. Their research, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports, details how these models could one day answer questions about neurological disorders—and even human intellect—that aren’t possible to explore through biological experiments.

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UT Southwestern researchers have identified a molecular pathway responsible for the spread of glioblastoma to surrounding tissue in the brain, as well as an existing drug that curbed tumor growth in animal models. The findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, have led to a clinical trial that could offer new hope to patients with glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer in adults that kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide each year.

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Fast data processing of overdose deaths, which have increased in recent years, is crucial to developing a rapid public health response. But the system now in place lacks precision and takes months. To correct that, UCLA researchers have developed an automated process that reduces data collection to a few weeks.

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Studying a deadly type of breast cancer called triple negative, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have identified key molecular differences between cancer cells that cling to an initial tumor and those that venture off to form distant tumors.

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The four-year award, part of the NIH’s BRAIN Initiative, will support the design, manufacturing and distribution of two types of new "miniscopes" that will allow scientists to peer much deeper into the brain than before.

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In a paper published in Circulation Research, scientists describe a series of studies designed to determine the relationship among insulin, fats and the vascular system.

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UC San Diego and Salk Institute researchers report a surprising link between mitochondria, inflammation and gene mutations that may increase risk of atherosclerosis.

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Investigators at Cedars-Sinai and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified a component in the intestine that plays a critical role in repairing damaged tissue.

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Investigators from Cedars-Sinai Cancer have identified genetic signatures that could predict whether tumors in patients with bladder and other cancers will respond to immunotherapy. Their results, published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of the National Cancer Institute, could one day help guide clinicians to the most effective treatments for cancer patients.

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Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure and kidney damage. Mayo Clinic researchers found that women with a history of severe preeclampsia have more markers linked to brain cell damage and inflammation, compared to women who had uncomplicated pregnancies.

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Assistant Professor Jianhua Zhao, Ph.D., has been awarded a unique and competitive grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The five-year, $2.4 million grant aims to give researchers greater research flexibility to work on fundamental questions in biology.

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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have described the way an enzyme and proteins interact to maintain the protective caps, called telomeres, at the end of chromosomes, a new insight into how a human cell preserves the integrity of its DNA through repeated cell division. DNA replication is essential for perpetuating life as we know it, but many of the complexities of the process — how myriad biomolecules get where they need to go and interact over a series of intricately orchestrated steps — remain mysterious.

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Cells in the gut send secret messages to the immune system. Thanks to new research from La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) scientists, we can finally get a look at what they're saying.

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Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) researchers are using a tumor organoid system to examine the effects of metabolites secreted by bacteria on a specialized immunotherapy – immune checkpoint blockage, a promising cancer treatment development – to determine why some patients don’t respond or develop a resistance to the treatment over time.

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Previously, it has been impossible to capture the high-resolution images of nitrogenase during catalytic action. Now, for the first time, researchers at UC San Diego report near-atomic-resolution snapshots of nitrogenase during catalysis using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM).

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Using a new imaging technique, researchers from the National Eye Institute have determined that retinal lesions from vitelliform macular dystrophy (VMD) vary by gene mutation. Addressing these differences may be key in designing effective treatments for this and other rare diseases. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Using a new imaging technique, researchers from the National Eye Institute have determined that retinal lesions from vitelliform macular dystrophy (VMD) vary by gene mutation. Addressing these differences may be key in designing effective treatments for this and other rare diseases. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.

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The National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Ochsner Health a $700,000 grant to study the effectiveness of its collaborative dementia care through the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute’s Brain Health and Cognitive Disorders Program.

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Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have helped develop a nanobody capable of getting through the tough exterior of brain cells and untangling misshapen proteins that lead to Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and other neurocognitive disorders caused by the damaging protein.

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Texas Biomed has received a $3.9 million NIH grant to explore how gene-editing technology may help eradicate HIV in the brain.

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A look into how environmental variables accelerate, slow or even reverse the aging process is the focus of a University of Oregon anthropologist whose research was recently funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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A genetic risk for heart disease is far less predictive of problems than actual lifestyle risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes -- even among younger adults.

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Black patients have a dramatically higher risk of advanced vision loss after a new diagnosis of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) when compared to white patients, according to a new study from New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE).

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Researchers have successfully tested a device that may one day use the chemical biomarkers in sweat to detect changes in a person’s health.

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UC San Diego researchers describe a different way to build a COVID-19 vaccine, one that would, in theory, remain effective against new and emerging variants and could be taken as a pill, by inhalation or other delivery methods.

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Medication therapy based on the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1) may help regulate natural insulin production in cystic fibrosis, potentially offering a better way to prevent and ultimately manage diabetes than daily insulin injections

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Telling a child about their mother’s risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer does not adversely influence the offspring’s lifestyle or quality of life in the long term, according to a new study led by researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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UC San Diego researchers provide first insights into the fundamental cellular pathologies that drive interstitial lung disease in patients post-COVID.

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People who are genetically at higher risk for stroke can lower that risk by as much as 43% by adopting a healthy cardiovascular lifestyle, according to new research led by UTHealth Houston, which was published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

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In a new study, researchers show how a critical Lassa virus protein, called polymerase, drives infection by harnessing a cellular protein in human hosts. Their work suggests future therapies could target this interaction to treat patients.

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In this study, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that Black adults underwent significantly more endovascular peripheral vascular interventions (PVI), were treated for more advanced disease and were also more likely to experience adverse outcomes following PVI procedures, including amputation and death.  

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Loss of the protein pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), which protects retinal support cells, may drive age-related changes in the retina, according to a new study in mice from the National Eye Institute (NEI).

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Loss of the protein pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), which protects retinal support cells, may drive age-related changes in the retina, according to a new study in mice from the National Eye Institute (NEI).

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Published today in Nature Cell Biology, Wistar scientists revealed a novel ADAR1-SIRT1-p16INK4a axis in regulating cellular senescence and its potential implications in tissue aging.

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A novel, disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease may involve the whole exchange of blood, which effectively decreased the formation of amyloid plaque in the brains of mice, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.

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Clinical trial results from the DRCR Retina Network suggest that a specific step strategy, in which patients with diabetic macular edema start with a less expensive medicine and switch to a more expensive medicine if vision does not improve sufficiently, gives results similar to starting off with the higher-priced drug.

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In a study of patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, combination chemotherapy with modified FOLFIRINOX before surgery increased survival relative to historical data and compared favorably to FOLFIRINOX plus hypofractionated radiotherapy, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center published today in JAMA Oncology.

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An array of new, simple “shelf-available” SARS-CoV-2 treatment options could soon be available in the fight against COVID thanks to a new study, “Engineered ACE2-Fc counters murine lethal SARS-CoV-2 infection through direct neutralization and Fc-effector activities,” published July 13 in Science Advances.

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Rutgers School of Public Health associate professor, Liangyuan Hu, has received a $3,301,474 grant (R01HL159077) from the National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Triptans, a commonly prescribed class of migraine drugs, may also be useful in treating obesity, a new study by scientists at UT Southwestern suggests. In studies on obese mice, a daily dose of a triptan led animals to eat less food and lose weight over the course of a month, the team reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

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Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine will use a $3.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to better understand how HIV impacts the human body, from mouth lesions to oral cancer.

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To build a resource that greatly expands Alzheimer’s disease genetic studies in the currently underrepresented African ancestry populations and Hispanic/Latinx groups, the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics (HIHG) at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine will lead a major five-year, international, multi-site initiative with Case Western Reserve University, Columbia University, Wake Forest University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Ibadan, which is the lead institution for the African Dementia Consortium (AfDC).