News & HighlightsNews
New research helps explain why a deadly blood cancer often affects children with malaria
In equatorial Africa, a region of the globe known as the “lymphoma belt,” children are ten times more likely than in other parts of the world to develop Burkitt’s lymphoma, a highly aggressive blood cancer that can be fatal if left untreated. That area is also plagued by high rates of malaria,...
New research sheds light on the molecular origins of Parkinson’s disease
As Parkinson’s disease progresses in patients, a puzzling dichotomy plays out in their brains. One set of neurons degenerates, while a similar population nearby is spared the same degree of damage. Why the difference? An answer to this question could clear the way for preventions and treatments f...
Mutations linked to genetic disorders shed light on a crucial DNA repair pathway
Dividing cells are prone to errors, and so they must be prepared to summon sophisticated emergency systems to deal with potential damage. One type of division-derailing mishap can occur when assault by certain chemicals causes two strands of DNA to permanently connect when they shouldn’t, in what...
Fly brains filter out visual information caused by their own movements, like humans
Our brains are constantly barraged with sensory information, but have an amazing ability to filter out just what they need to understand what’s going on around us. For instance, if you stand perfectly still in a room, and that room rotates around you, it’s terrifying. But stand still in a room a...
Atomic view of cellular pump reveals how bacteria send out proteins
Bacteria have plenty of things to send out into world beyond their own boundaries: coordinating signals to other members of their species, poisons for their enemies, and devious instructions to manipulate host cells they have infected. Before any of this can occur, however, they must first get th...
Cell division speeds up as part of antibody selection, study shows
It’s a basic principle of immunology: When a germ invades, the body adapts to that particular target and destroys it. But much remains unknown about how the immune system refines its defensive proteins, called antibodies, to most effectively zero in on that invader. Experiments at The Rockefeller...
Mutations in a single gene underlie vulnerability to two unrelated types of infections
When a genetic error weakens a child’s immunity, otherwise nonthreatening microbes can sicken and sometimes kill. In work published July 9 in Science, researchers at The Rockefeller University and their colleagues identify one surprising case in which mutations in a single gene render children vu...
Discovery points to a new path toward a universal flu vaccine
Flu vaccines can be something of a shot in the dark. Not only must they be given yearly, there’s no guarantee the strains against which they protect will be the ones circulating once the season arrives. New research by Rockefeller University scientists and their colleagues suggests it may be poss...
Lifelong learning is made possible by recycling of histones, study says
Neurons are a limited commodity; each of us goes through life with essentially the same set we had at birth. But these cells, whose electrical signals drive our thoughts, perceptions, and actions, are anything but static. They change and adapt in response to experience throughout our lifetimes, a...
Sequential immunizations could be the key to HIV vaccine
The secret to preventing HIV infection lies within the human immune system, but the more-than-25-year search has so far failed to yield a vaccine capable of training the body to neutralize the ever-changing virus. New research from The Rockefeller University, and collaborating institutions, sugge...
View
View