News • Immune systems timulation
Using senescent cells as anti-cancer vaccines
Researchers from Barcelona report that vaccination with senescent cells shows promise in experimental models of melanoma and pancreatic cancer.
Cells
News • Filopodia research
'Sticky fingers' in cells keep breast cancer contained
Researchers in Finland have identified that finger-like cellular extensions called filopodia contribute to building a barrier surrounding breast tumours.
News • Diagnostic imaging reseach
How contrast agents disperse inside cells
A research team has investigated how contrast agents disperse inside cells. This could improve the assessment and further development of these agents and contribute to future medical diagnostics.
News • Desperate cancer cells
How tumors mutate their way out of a crisis (and become drug-resistant)
Researchers discovered that cancer cells mobilize a SOS response when they are desperate to resist anticancer drugs. The team also came up with an anti-SOS approach that blocked the mechanism in mice.
News • Early clues in the panceas
Detecting diabetes before first symptoms appear
A team from Geneva has discovered a molecule that can identify the development of diabetes before the first symptoms appear.
News • Adaptation to hypertension
"Cell chatter" critical for arterial thickening
New research shows that cell-cell signaling could play a key role in the thickening of arteries due to high blood pressure.
News • Underrated helper
T-cells: key for a new type of Covid-19 vaccine?
Researchers propose a new Covid-19 vaccine that specifically instructs the immune system to produce T-cells rather than antibodies - a promising alternative for people with a weakened immune system.
Article • Detection and diagnosis of cancer
The ‘smart’ future of cytology
A combination of digital pathology and quantitative biomarker analysis in the emerging concept of ‘smart’ cytology has a potential role in the detection and diagnosis of cancer.
News • Additive manufacturing
3D printing testicular cells
In a pair of world firsts, scientists have 3D printed human testicular cells and identified promising early signs of sperm-producing capabilities.
News • Impaired proliferation and induced cell death
Newfound mechanism could stop cancer cells in their tracks
Researchers have identified a mechanism that impairs the proliferation of cancer cells and induces their death without affecting healthy cells. This could lead to improved cancer treatment.
News • Kinematic self-replication
Xenobots: first living robots that can reproduce
AI-designed Xenobots reveal an entirely new form of biological self-replication—promising for regenerative medicine.
News • New AI reveals
What is in our cells?
Artificial intelligence-based technique reveals previously unknown cell components that may provide new clues to human development and disease.
News • New cause for tumor spread found
Blood vessels produce growth factor that promotes metastases
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, have identified a new growth factor produced by blood vessels that enables tumor cells to metastatically colonize organs.
Video • Coronavirus medication research
Lab-grown beating heart cells could identify Covid drugs
Scientists have grown beating heart cells to attempt to identify drugs to prevent Covid-19-related heart damage. Concerns over the extent of cardiac damage among Covid patients emerged during the coronavirus pandemic and there are also suggestions that the impact on cardiomyocytes could contribute to the symptoms of long Covid. To explore these issues, a research team at the University of…
News • Research on after-effects
Viruses leave traces long after the infection is over
Viruses do not always kill the cells they infect. Researchers at the University of Basel have discovered in experiments with mice that cells have the power to self-heal and eliminate viruses. However, these cells undergo long-term changes. The findings may provide a hint as to why cured hepatitis C patients are more susceptible to liver cancer for years after.
News • Cell delivery vehicles
Bio-inspired nanocontainers could enter cells and release their medical cargo
Nanocontainers can transport substances into cells where they can then take effect. This is the method used in, for example, the mRNA vaccines currently being employed against Covid-19 as well as certain cancer drugs. In research, similar transporters can also be used to deliver labelled substances into cells in order to study basic cellular functions. To take advantage of their full potential,…
News • Promising research tool
World's first digital cancer cell model
Computer models have been standard tools in basic biomedical research for many years. However, around 70 years after the first publication of an ion current model of a nerve cell by Hodgkin & Huxley in 1952, researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), in collaboration with the Medical University of Graz and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, have finally…
News • Immune system
Fundamental advance in understanding T cell immunity
Monash University researchers have provided a fundamental advance regarding how T cells become activated when encountering pathogens such as viruses.
News • Building a coronavirus factory
How SARS-CoV-2 reprograms human cells to their own benefit
Coronavirus researchers under Prof. Rolf Hilgenfeld of the University of Lübeck and Dr. Albrecht von Brunn of the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich discovered how SARS viruses enhance the production of viral proteins in infected cells, so that many new copies of the virus can be generated. Other coronaviruses apart from SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 do not use this mechanism, thereby providing a…
News • Mitochondria research
Colorectal cancer: Mutations in overlooked DNA could have huge impact on survival
DNA errors in the cell’s energy ‘factories’ increases the chances of survival for people with bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, according to a new study. Studying how DNA errors (mutations) can drive cancer development, as well as help it adapt and evolve, has been a key focus of cancer research. But much of that focus has been on DNA found in the cell’s nucleus. Experts say…
News • Regenerative properties discovered
Reprogramming immune cells to repair tissue damage
Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) are an immune cell type that reduces excessive immune responses and protects the body against autoimmune diseases. A new study shows that Treg cells in human tissues acquire tissue-regenerative features and describes a method to generate these cells in the laboratory.
Video • Uprooting cancer
New hydrogel 'reprograms' cancer cells back to cancer stem cells
An innovative hydrogel – called a double network (DN) gel – can rapidly reprogram differentiated cancer cells into cancer stem cells, researchers at Hokkaido University and the National Cancer Center Research Institute have reported in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. The hydrogel can be used to help develop new cancer therapies and personalized medicines targeting cancer stem cells.
News • Neutrophil
Glucose is the key for lung cancer resistance
Lung tumors are home to immune cells that affect their growth and resistance to treatment. Looking at neutrophils, scientists led by EPFL have discovered that the key might lie in the cells’ ability to metabolize glucose, opening an entirely new target for improving radiotherapy.
News • Acidity analysis
Harnessing AI to identify cancer cells
Healthy and cancer cells can look similar under a microscope. One way of differentiating them is by examining the level of acidity, or pH level, inside the cells. Tapping on this distinguishing characteristic, a research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a technique that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine whether a single cell is healthy or cancerous…
News • Collagen 'pushing'
Supercomputer illustrates mechanical process of cancer growth
According to the World Health Organization, one in six worldwide deaths have been attributed to cancer; however, these fatalities were not due to initial malignant tumors—the deaths were caused by the spread of cancer cells to surrounding tissues and subsequent tumor growth. These tissues, which consist largely of collagen, have been the focus of a recent collaborative study by a team from…