Articles
Blood, skin and bone: the complex control of blood pressure
It is well-known that excessive salt intake can be a risk factor for high blood pressure. But how this effect is mediated – and why some people are more susceptible than others – remains up for debate. Collaborators Professor Raymond Harris and Professor Ming-Zhi Zhang, at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, have uncovered a novel role for immune cells derived […]
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Disordered fat storage enhances development of type 2 diabetes
Diabetes is a devastating, life-changing condition. Professor André Carpentier and his colleagues from Université de Sherbrooke are exploring how obesity increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. After all, abnormal fat storage can lead to insulin resistance, which endangers organ function. Through his and his team’s research, Dr Carpentier aims to develop therapeutic measures which reverse detrimental pre-diabetic effects. In […]
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The genomics of cancer
Many cancers are associated with changes to our genetic material, DNA. These may be small, single unit substitutions, large rearrangements such as deletions or duplications of a part of the DNA sequence, or various other forms of mutations. Although the smaller substitutions have been more intensively studied, Dr Lixing Yang, of the University of Chicago, focuses on uncovering changes at […]
Reprogramming the immune system for personalised immunotherapy against cancer
For decades, researchers have strived to understand how the immune system recognises and fights cancer, ultimately aiming to exploit and augment these processes to create more effective cancer therapies. Dr Richard Koya, Associate Professor of Oncology, Associate Director of the Center for Immunotherapy, and Director of the Vector Development & Production Facility at Roswell Park Cancer Institute is a prominent […]
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Inhibiting cancer stem cell survival in the hostile tumour environment
Wouldn’t it be great if a small non-toxic molecule could be used to treat cancer? By investigating the possibility of using a cancer cell’s own physiology as a weapon against it, Dr Shoukat Dedhar, at the University of British Columbia, is developing a new treatment that could help prevent tumour growth and metastasis. Every two minutes, someone in the UK […]
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A new class of antibiotic drugs
Finding new classes of antibiotic drugs could not only save human lives, but also greatly reduce the healthcare costs related to tackling bacteria resistant to currently available drugs. Professor Chris McMaster, director of the Cheminformatics Drug Discovery Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, is developing a new class of antibiotics, while trying to overcome the many challenges associated with […]
Lysenin channels as single-molecule sensors, controlled nano-valves, and memory elements
Professor Daniel Fologea, an associate professor at Boise State University, studies the way cells interact with their environment by selective transportation of ions and molecules through the cell membrane. His research group examines these interactions in order to understand how diseases occur, and how to use them for biosensing, early diagnosis, and to cure diseases like cancer. Any cell in your […]
Extending the half‑life of therapeutic peptides
Dr Mamoun Alhamadsheh is Associate Professor at the University of the Pacific, Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, California. He heads a multi-disciplinary team working in the field of protein-protein interactions. Their research is focused on the development of new treatments for diseases caused by protein aggregation, including Alzheimer’s disease and transthyretin amyloidosis. Their current work in […]
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Pushing the boundaries – interrogating magnetism at material interfaces
In order to keep improving electronic devices, whether it be computers or sensors, researchers must understand what is going on, on an atomic level. Understanding the behaviour of ions within materials is difficult enough, but when you put two materials together it gets much more complicated. Dr Mikel Holcomb, Associate Professor from West Virginia University, has dedicated her work to finding […]
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Let’s hear it for the proteome
Hearing loss is one of the most common sensory impairments, affecting 250 million people worldwide. The causes of deafness, such as exposure to loud noise, are relatively well known, but exactly how they result in hearing loss remains unclear. Dr Jeffrey Savas, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, USA, heads up a lab dedicated to […]