Science and Health News

People who carry variants in a particular gene have an increased preference for high fat food, but a decreased preference for sugary foods, according to a new study led by the University of Cambridge. The research has provided insights into why we make particular food choices, with potential implications for our understanding of obesity. This is one of the first studies to show a direct link between food preference and specific genetic variants in humans.

Researchers at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Moscow have developed a multifunctional browser, designated VDJviz, to process big data derived from modern DNA sequence analysis.

Scientists can improve protein-based drugs by reaching into the evolutionary past, a paper published in Nature Biotechnology proposes. As a proof of concept for this approach, the research team from Emory, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Georgia Tech showed how «ancestral sequence reconstruction» or ASR can guide engineering of the blood clotting protein known as factor VIII, which is deficient in the inherited disorder hemophilia A.

UBC researchers have discovered how cancer cells become invisible to the body’s immune system, a crucial step that allows tumours to metastasize and spread throughout the body.

A blood pressure drug may make a type of lung cancer treatment more effective, suggests a new study.

Every 20 minutes, someone in the United States receives a cancer diagnosis related to human papillomavirus. HPV causes cancer of the cervix, anus and throat.

Can having a few drinks help people with clinical depression feel better? Yes. At least in terms of biochemistry. In a study published in the current issue of the journal Nature Communications, researchers found that alcohol produces the same neural and molecular changes as drugs that have proven to be rapidly effective antidepressants.

Like fingerprints, immune systems vary from person to person. And although we all inherit a unique set of genes that help us respond to infections, recent studies have found that our history and environment—like where and with whom we live—are responsible for 60% to 80% of the differences between individual immune systems, while genetics account for the rest. In a Review published September 29 in Trends in Immunology, three immunologists discuss the emerging science of what shapes our immune systems and how it might be applied.