Hahn Awarded CZI Grant to Monitor, Manipulate Proteins Important in Nervous System Function, Neurological Disease

Klaus Hahn, PhD, the Ronald G. Thurman Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine, will co-lead this Chan Zuckerberg Initiative project with colleagues at Duke University and North Carolina State University.

UT Southwestern study shows glucagon is key for kidney health

Glucagon, a hormone best known for promoting blood sugar production in the liver, also appears to play a key role in maintaining kidney health. When UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers removed receptors for this hormone from mouse kidneys, the animals developed symptoms akin to chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Study reveals how estrogen exerts its anti-diabetic effects

The quintessential female sex hormone estrogen stimulates cells that line blood vessels to deliver insulin to muscles, lowering blood sugar and protecting against Type 2 diabetes, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could eventually lead to new therapies for Type 2 diabetes, a disease that affects hundreds of millions of people around the globe and continues to grow more prevalent.

Research pinpoints inflammation source behind atherosclerosis

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center Dallas have discovered in mice how high cholesterol causes blood vessels to become inflamed, a necessary prerequisite for atherosclerosis – the “hardening of the arteries” responsible for most heart attacks and strokes. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could lead to new interventions to protect against cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the leading cause of death globally.

Collection of Articles Reports Advances in Building Cellular Organization Maps of the Human Body

A set of nine scientific papers was released today in the Nature family of journals and the journal Cell Reports describing breakthroughs in creating an open framework for scientists to map the individual cells of the human body in two and three dimensions.

Breakthrough microscopy technique “supersizes” cells to reveal genetic activity

Breakthrough microscopy techniques are helping researchers visualize the ways our molecules interact with the human genome. Researchers at Yale School of Medicine used a series of expandable gels to pull apart a cell and expand it to 4000 times its…

UT Southwestern researchers discover mechanism responsible for genome rearrangements

The goal of every dividing cell is to accurately segregate its genome into two genetically identical daughter cells. However, this process often goes awry and may be responsible for a new class of chromosomal abnormalities found in cancers and congenital disorders, UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists report in a new study. The discovery, published in Nature, sheds light on how cancer cells rapidly evolve genomic changes that fuel their proliferation.

Beyond the average cell

Models based on an average cell are useful, but they may not accurately describe how individual cells really work. New possibilities opened up with the advent of single-cell live imaging technologies. Now it is possible to peer into the lives of individual cells. In a new paper in PLOS Genetics, a team of biologists and physicists from Washington University in St. Louis and Purdue University used actual single-cell data to create an updated framework for understanding the relationship between cell growth, DNA replication and division in a bacterial system.

Experts from 14 Nations Discuss Global Gene Drive Project Registry

UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science led 70 participants from 14 nations in a discussion on the ways in which a gene drive project registry could both contribute to and detract from the fair development, testing and use of gene-drive modified organisms.

Adapting language models to track virus variants

Groundbreaking research by Argonne National Laboratory finds new method to quickly identify COVID-19 virus variants. Their work wins the Gordon Bell Special Prize.

UT Southwestern scientists among top 1% of highly cited researchers across the globe

More than 20 UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists are among the 2022 Highly Cited Researchers listed in the top 1% of researchers from across the globe

UT Southwestern ranked top health care institution globally for published research by Nature Index

For the third year in a row, UT Southwestern is ranked as the top health care institution globally by Nature Index for publishing high-quality research in all subjects and in the life sciences.

Vital Cell Machinery Behind the Human Body’s Incorporation of Selenium Seen for the First Time

A Rutgers scientist is part of an international team that has determined the process for incorporating selenium – an essential trace mineral found in soil, water and some foods that increases antioxidant effects in the body – to 25 specialized proteins, a discovery that could help develop new therapies to treat a multitude of diseases from cancer to diabetes.

Rutgers Researcher Aims to Protect and Regenerate Corals Through Coral Genomics with $500K NSF Grant and Award-Winning Video

A Rutgers researcher will use genomics, genetics, and cell biology to identify and understand the corals’ response to heat stress conditions and to pinpoint master regulatory genes involved in coral bleaching due to global warming and climate change. The researcher and his team will use a novel gene-editing tool as a resource to knock down some gene functions with the goal of boosting the corals’ abilities to survive.

Danforth Center Announces New Principal Investigator

Tessa Burch-Smith, PhD, has joined the Danforth Center as Associate Member and Principal Investigator. Her research is focused on how plant cells communicate with each other through intercellular pores called plasmodesmata.