Feature Channels: Cell Biology

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A roundup of the latest medical discoveries and faculty news at Cedars-Sinai for April 2023.

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A new approach to the genetic engineering of cells promises significant improvements in speed, efficiency, and reduction in cellular toxicity compared to current methods. The approach could also power the development of advanced cell therapies for cancers and other diseases, according to a study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Cedars-Sinai investigators are working to develop a more effective treatment for one of the most common and hard-to-heal musculoskeletal injuries: torn tendons.

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Researchers have developed a biosynthetic “clock” that keeps cells from reaching normal levels of deterioration related to aging. They engineered a gene oscillator that switches between the two normal paths of aging, slowing cell degeneration and setting a record for life extension.

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Bacterial spores can survive for years, even centuries, without nutrients, resisting heat, UV radiation, and antibiotics. How inert, sleeping bacteria — or spores — spring back to life has been a century-long mystery.

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A team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, have revealed the first crystal structures of the receptor-binding domain of botulinum neurotoxin E (BoNT/E) in complex with its human neuronal receptors, synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A (SV2A). This structure and other findings in the new study could be harnessed to engineer new BoNT/E variants with modified specificities toward different SV2 isoforms for new clinical developments.

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The 184th ASA Meeting will include three press conferences on Tuesday, May 9. The in-person presentations will also be livestreamed and recorded. Topics will focus on a wide range of newsworthy sessions, including 3D-printing head simulators, tracking immune cells with ultrasound, investigating the impact of skin color on breast cancer diagnosis, mimicking insects to create miniature microphones, and locating leaks in water networks. Reporters can register for in-person or virtual attendance.

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Illinois researchers identified cells in the hippocampus that could be chemogenetically turned off to make young mice show signs of cognitive decline associated with aging. They are using this new mouse model to search for ways to prevent or reverse age-related learning and memory problems.

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New research from a multidisciplinary team at Cornell helps to illuminate the mechanisms behind circadian rhythms, offering new hope for dealing with jet lag, insomnia and other sleep disorders.

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The cells of living organisms are equipped with proteins that are involved in the shaping and remodeling of cellular membranes, thereby performing important tasks.

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Creating accessible, affordable equipment to democratize research is the foundation of frugal science. Now, with a new five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bhamla and Standeven will pave the way to bring frugal science to high schools across Georgia.

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The American Society for Investigative Pathology awards Mindy Engevik the 2024 ASIP Cotran Early Career Investigator Award.

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Researchers have identified new genetic mutations linked to a subset of canine bladder cancers. Their findings have implications both for early cancer detection and for targeted treatments in dogs and humans.

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Pet rabbits have higher levels of the stress hormone - corticosterone - and show activity rebound when kept in small hutches with restricted exercise, new research led by the University of Bristol Vet School has found.

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A team of international researchers led by Federico Baltar of the University of Vienna and José M González of the University of La Laguna has identified a previously unknown group of bacteria, called UBA868, as key players in the energy cycle of the deep ocean. They are significantly involved in the biogeochemical cycle in the marine layer between 200 and 1000 meters. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

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The American Physiological Society (APS) is pleased to announce its new member leaders for 2023–24: President Willis K. “Rick” Samson, PhD, DSc, FAPS; President-elect Timothy Musch, PhD, FAPS, FACSM; and Councilors Michael Caplan, MD, PhD, FAPS; Karla Haack, PhD; and Gina Yosten, PhD. The new officers were elected by APS membership and took office April 23, 2023, at the American Physiology Summit, APS’ flagship annual meeting, in Long Beach, California.

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The American Physiological Society (APS) is pleased to announce its new member leaders for 2023–24: President Willis K. “Rick” Samson, PhD, DSc, FAPS; President-elect Timothy Musch, PhD, FAPS, FACSM; and Councilors Michael Caplan, MD, PhD, FAPS; Karla Haack, PhD; and Gina Yosten, PhD. The new officers were elected by APS membership and took office April 23, 2023, at the American Physiology Summit, APS’ flagship annual meeting, in Long Beach, California.

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Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Cedars-Sinai investigators are developing a novel way to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and retinitis pigmentosa using engineered stem cells that may eventually lead to personalized treatments.

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While strategies for regenerating or replacing lost neurons from stem cells are being developed, an alternative treatment option is the protection of existing neurons to prevent their degeneration, a recent study published in Stem Cell Reports suggests.

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The human brain has a sweet tooth, burning through nearly one quarter of the body’s sugar energy, or glucose, each day.

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Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how a bacterium that infects people after they eat raw or undercooked shellfish creates syringe-like structures to inject its toxins into intestinal cells. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could lead to new ways to treat food poisoning caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

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Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have demonstrated in a preclinical study a potential new therapeutic approach to treating the most common form of lung cancer. The strategy involves inhibiting the immune-system molecule TREM2 while enhancing natural killer cells (the so-called protectors of the immune system). It was described in the April 20 online issue of Nature Immunology.

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Vijay Goradia, a Houston-based businessman, philanthropist, and cancer survivor, has donated $10 million to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to speed translational research and clinical trials.

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ASBMB emphasizes the importance of preserving research from scientists supported by the NIH, NSF and DOE during debt-ceiling deal

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University of Pittsburgh researchers developed a novel approach that promoted bone regeneration in mice without implantation of bone tissue or biomaterials.

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UC Davis Health researchers have dosed the second participant in their clinical trial looking to identify a potential cure for HIV utilizing CART-cell therapy.

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In a study published in Nature Communications, a team led by Krembil Brain Institute at UHN Senior Scientists, Drs. Lorraine Kalia and Suneil Kalia, and University of Toronto (U of T) Professor, Dr. Philip M. Kim, identified a protein-protein interaction that contributes to Parkinson's disease. In the disease, a protein called α-synuclein (a-syn) accumulates in the brain and leads to cell death.

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Roots of a traditional medicine plant called the orange climber can fluoresce an ethereal blue hue under ultraviolet (UV) light. And now, researchers in ACS Central Science have identified two coumarin molecules that could be responsible, one of the which could someday be used for medical imaging.

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Weight regains is a common problem for weight loss individuals. A number of studies have shown that weight loss in overweight people results in a reduction in whole-body energy expenditure. This reduction in energy expenditure is disproportionate across tissues, known as energetic mismatch which primarily originates from lean tissue, thus increasing weight regain risk.

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In its Recommendation Statement on Screening for Skin Cancer, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — a group that provides guidance for primary care physicians — has determined that there is not enough scientific evidence to make a recommendation about adults receiving skin cancer screenings from their primary care doctor.

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The immuno-oncology (IO) clinical trial landscape is shifting in new directions. While the number of total clinical trials is down, there are healthy signs of innovation.

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Vitamin D deficiency could be the reason African American men experience more aggressive prostate cancer at a younger age compared with European American men, new research from Cedars-Sinai Cancer suggests.

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A UC Davis study is the first to report on a material transfer mechanism from cells, known as oligodendrocytes, to neurons in the brain of a mouse model. This discovery opens new possibilities for understanding brain maturation and finding treatments for many neurological conditions.

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A new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discovered that co-occurring mutations in three tumor suppressor genes – KEAP1, SMARCA4 and CDKN2A – are linked with poor clinical outcomes in patients with KRAS G12C-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with the KRAS G12C inhibitors adagrasib or sotorasib.

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The dreaded tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus infects different types of brain cells in different parts of the brain, depending on whether the affected person's immune system is activated or not. This is shown in a new study at Umeå University, Sweden.

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Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center served as the lead site for a promising first-in-human clinical trial for patients with relapsed multiple myeloma. Patients treated with higher doses of the immunotherapy called REGN5459 resulted in a 90.5 percent overall response rate.

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Protein-protein interactions are essential for life. Researchers used DeepMind’s AlphaFold 2 to develop a deep learning approach for predicting and modeling multi-protein interactions. The AF2Complex approach generates much more accurate structural models than previous methods for modeling a protein complex. As a proof of concept, the researchers used AF2Complex to virtually screen key proteins in E. coli, discovering unexpected protein-protein interactions.

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Cedars-Sinai investigators, in collaboration with Axiom Space of Houston, are sending stem cells to space in early May to explore whether microgravity can make it easier and more efficient to produce large batches of stem cells.