Researchers from the University of Kentucky recently managed to genetically engineer a cancer resistant mouse. The team, headed by Professor Vivek Rangnekar, engineered the mouse so that a certain part of the Par-4 gene would be expressed in its cells, ...
A Natural Protein Heals Heart Cells
A research group from Bristol has found that a naturally occurring protein, known as nerve growth factor, can dramatically improve the survival of heart cells and reduce heart cell damage following a heart attack in mice. The researchers hope that ...
When Softness isn’t a Virtue
A team of researchers from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) has developed a method to distinguish between metastatic cancer cells and normal cells. The method utilizes an atomic force microscope (AFM) to measure the softness of a ...
Stems of Hope for Treating Incurable Diseases
Two Professors at the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem have succeeded in improving the condition of MS and ALS patients by using stem cells transplants. The researchers extracted stem cells from each patient’s bone marrow, cultured them, and then injected ...
Directed Radiotherapy Using Carbon Nanotubes
A new method for specifically targeting cancer cells with radio-frequency waves was developed by researchers at University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The method uses carbon based nanotubes to enter the cancerous cells and vibrate at ...
Mind Controlled Bionic Limbs
In the George Lucas classic Star Wars, hero Luke Skywalker’s arm is severed and amputated during a lightsaber fight and consequently fitted with a bionic arm that he can use as if it were his own limb. At the time ...
Zeroing in on the Machinery of Neuronal Firing
Two separate American research groups have been performing similar experiments on ion channels, which are pores in our nerve cells, to identify the channels’ key functional parts. The progress made in this field may lead to development of new drugs ...
Making T-cells Fight Tumors
A new research from Rockefeller University shows that our immune system cells can detect and destroy cancerous tumor cells in breasts and ovaries. The protein that detects the cancerous cells was identified and can be used in future immunity-based therapeutic ...
First Low-Intensity MRI Scan of a Human Brain
A research group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has developed a device for ultra-low field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The device captured its first, blurry shots of a human brain, revealing brain activity and structure. The ...
Last Retinal Movement-Detecting Cell Discovered
In collaboration between high-energy physicists from the University of California in Santa Cruz, and neuroscientists from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, a ganglion cell in the retina of primates was found to react to movement. The cell was ...