Patients with Fanconi anemia have an elevated risk for squamous cell carcinoma, a highly aggressive head-and-neck cancer. New findings pinpoint the mechanisms linking the two conditions, and also shed new light on how smoking or drinking may elevate anyone’s cancer risk.
The findings suggest that many of the mutations in cancer may simply be setting in stone a path already forged by the tumor stem cell’s aberrant dialogue with its surroundings.
When an actin filament bends during cell movement, older actin deforms differently than newer actin, allowing regulatory proteins to tell the two states apart.
Because three percent of the world population possesses these gene variants, the findings may have implications for hundreds of millions of individuals around the world.
Through questioning their assumptions about how mosquitoes sense and interpret odors, scientists may have discovered why efforts to throw the vectors of dengue and Zika off the human scent have not succeeded.
A new study suggests that stem cells are able to integrate cues from their surroundings and coordinate their behavior across tissue through networks of vasculature in their close vicinity.
Researchers have long disagreed over whether 𝛄𝛅T cells in the gut promote or discourage tumor growth, but new evidence suggests they have the capacity to do both.
The research demonstrates the distributed nature of memory processing in the brain, and reveals a dedicated pathway for memory recall, which is less understood than memory formation.
The booster appears to galvanize memory B cells into producing potent and versatile antibodies that neutralize both the original virus and its many variants.
In developing bird skin, immature cells move around and form intricate patterns. Scientists are zeroing in on the mechanical forces guiding the process.
The study highlights genes that, when silenced, render Mycobacterium tuberculosis vulnerable to antibiotics, and identifies existing drugs that may be effective against one prominent strain.
Linker histone H1 appears capable of distinguishing between single-stranded and double-stranded DNA, suggesting that its role in maintaining our genomes extends far beyond that of keeping chromosomes compact.
The compound attacks MRSA, C. diff, and several other deadly pathogens. Its discovery demonstrates the power of combining computational biology, genetic sequencing, and synthetic chemistry to study bacterial evolution.
A mutated gene may explain why some Staphylococcus aureus infections turn lethal, a finding with significant implications for people living with 5p- syndrome.
Unlike conventional antiretroviral drugs, treatment with broadly neutralizing antibodies does not rely on vigilant daily dosing and could potentially reduce the body’s reservoir of latent viruses.
A new study reveals how the drug fidaxomicin selectively targets a dangerous pathogen without causing harm to beneficial bacteria. The findings could inform the development of new narrow-spectrum antibiotics for treating other types of infection.
In studying how bacteria respond to viral infection, scientists are learning that their defense strategies cooperate in ways reminiscent of the elaborate immune systems of animals.
FMRP, a protein whose loss causes intellectual disability, may regulate a neuron's synaptic response by establishing a feedback loop between the cell's nucleus and its faraway dendrites.
Protein folding diseases, from Alzheimer's to Gaucher's, may one day be treated by a unique class of protein corrector molecules that are already helping manage cystic fibrosis.
The findings, which may have implications for a wide range of human diseases, suggest that nuclear pore complexes vary in structure and function even within a single nucleus.
Increasingly, hospitalized patients contract infections that evade current antibiotics including colistin, long used as a last treatment option. The discovery of a new colistin variant might make it possible to outmaneuver these pathogens.
This year's scientific endeavors included multiple attacks on SARS-CoV-2—and a lot more. Here are the most memorable science stories to come out of Rockefeller labs in 2021, from the benefits of brown fat to the pitfalls of modern IVF screening techniques.
Researchers found that the antibodies present in people who have had COVID or taken two doses of mRNA vaccine are inadequate against Omicron. But their protective ability increases significantly after a booster dose.
New research reveals how neurons in a fly's brain signal the direction in which the body is traveling. The cells appear to literally perform vector math in order to act as a biological compass.
Scientists have identified hundreds of llama-derived antibodies that potentially could be developed into a COVID treatment. They hope such a drug would be potent against different variants of the coronavirus, including Omicron.
Epidermal stem cells that hail from the hair follicle retain memories of their journey to the skin's surface. Those memories are a boon for wound repair, but may also contribute to chronic diseases and cancer.
In animal experiments, the structurally altered antibodies activated the immune system more effectively than those currently used in the clinic. They also proved to be more protective against the virus.
Prior infections appear to shield enteric neurons, preventing these key components of the body's "second brain" from dying off when future pathogens strike.
Human cells can be coaxed into preventing certain enveloped viruses (including HIV, Ebola, and parainfluenza) from escaping their membranes in the lab, a finding that could lead to novel treatments for many viral diseases.
A new study finds that proteins known as linker histones control the complex coiling process that determines whether DNA will wind into long and thin chromosomes, made up of many small loops, or short and thick chromosomes with fewer large loops.
Studying dozens of naturally occurring and laboratory-selected mutations in SARS-CoV-2, researchers found that the virus will need to pull off a genetic feat to become fully resistant to antibodies.
The DRUL saliva assay is safer, more comfortable, and less expensive than comparable COVID screening tools. Now a new study demonstrates that it is at least as sensitive as swab tests, too.
Three-dimensional images of human small ribosomal subunits offer the most detailed explanation for how the cell's protein-making machines are assembled.
Using light beads microscopy, researchers can now capture images of a vast number of cells across different depths in the brain at high speed, with unprecedented clarity.
Animals as small and soft as tardigrades seldom have legs and almost never bother walking. But a new study finds that water bears propel themselves through sediment and soil on eight stubby legs, in a manner resembling that of insects 500,000 times their size.
People who recover from COVID-19 may have better protection than those who received a vaccine, but the benefits of natural immunity do not outweigh the very real risk of disability and death from contracting the disease.
If COVID-19 lockdowns scrambled your sleep schedule and stretched your waistline, you're not alone. Fruit flies quarantined in test tubes sleep too little and eat too much after only one week of social isolation.
Not every gene that's essential in tuberculosis is also vulnerable to attack. A new study ranks essential genes by vulnerability, allowing researchers to better prioritize future drug targets.
In Drosophila’s neural circuitry for courtship, researchers discover a configuration that enables a male fruit fly to be persistent, yet flexible in his pursuit of a female.
