Science and Health News

Millions of people take capsules of probiotics with the goal of improving their digestion, but what if those bacteria were also able to detect diseases in the gut and indicate when something is awry? New research from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has created an effective, non-invasive way to quickly identify new bacterial biosensors that can recognize and report the presence of various disease triggers in the gut, helping set the stage for a new frontier of digestive health monitoring and treatment. The paper is published in mSystems.

Insights into how a gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease disrupts brain cells have been revealed by scientists.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists studying the immune response to brain tumors have identified a pathway that clears a toxic protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

Changes in DNA packaging curbed our body’s ability to turn “bad” fat into “good” fat

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is linked to an increased risk of dementia, even in people who have not suffered a stroke, according to the largest study to investigate the association in an elderly population.

A new international study has discovered that 94 genetic variants, about which little has been known until now, increase a person’s risk of developing breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that accounts for 275,000 hospitalizations in the United States annually. Patients who suffer from hereditary pancreatitis have a 40 to 50 percent lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Synthetic or engineering biology involves genetically engineering not only yeast and bacteria but also plants, animals and humans. The benefits could be immense, ranging from gene therapy for disease to improved crops and better medicines.