Science and Health News

UC Berkeley researchers have discovered how Cas1-Cas2, the proteins responsible for the ability of the CRISPR immune system in bacteria to adapt to new viral infections, identify the site in the genome where they insert viral DNA so they can recognize it later and mount an attack.

A new report has estimated that a third of dementia cases could potentially be prevented if nine different risk factors could be eliminated.

New research has identified the culprit behind the wiring problems in the brains of people with schizophrenia.  When researchers transplanted human brain cells generated from individuals diagnosed with childhood-onset schizophrenia into mice, the animal’s nerve cell networks did not mature properly and the mice exhibited the same anti-social and anxious behaviors seen in people with the disease.

Scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health have achieved a significant step forward, eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) to HIV by immunizing calves. The findings offer insights for HIV vaccine design, and support further study of modified bovine antibodies as HIV therapeutics or prevention tools in humans, scientists reported in a paper published online today in Nature.

Medical professor Christopher Rudd and his research team have identified a key new mechanism that regulates the ability of T-cells of the immune system to react against foreign antigens and cancer.

Tiny implantable “seeds” of tissue produce fully functional livers. Many diseases, including cirrhosis and hepatitis, can lead to liver failure. More than 17,000 Americans suffering from these diseases are now waiting for liver transplants, but significantly fewer livers are available.

CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing is based on a tactic bacteria developed to protect themselves from viruses. Research now shows that the countermeasure viruses came up with — inhibitory proteins referred to as anti-CRISPRs — can be used to improve CRISPR-Cas9 as a gene-therapy tool, decreasing off-target gene editing that could cause unwanted side effects.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Variants of a gene thought to be linked to longevity appear to influence aging into the 90s, but do not appear to affect exceptional longevity, or aging over 100, a new study has found. The research challenges previous findings that indicated some variants of the gene, FOXO3, played a role in exceptional longevity, said Harold Bae, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University and the lead author of the study.