Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology

Researchers have been successful in producing cell types that constitute the retina or cornea using pluripotent stem cells. However, they were unable to recreate the complexity of the whole eye development. Now a team of researchers from Cardiff University and Osaka University have used human pluripotent stem cells to generate multiple cell lineages of the eye, including the lens, cornea, and conjunctiva. Read more about their research here.

A team of researchers led by Wayne Marasco, MD, PhD, a cancer immunologist and virologist at Dana-Farber, found that the immune response to flu vaccines depends largely on an individual’s genetic composition, which in turn related to his or her ethnic background. Read more about their research here.

Researchers at the Institute of Biology III and the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) collaborated with researchers from Karlsruhe and London, England, to study how bacteria can perceive light and react to it. The research team found that cyanobacteria use their microoptic properties to detect the source of light and can then move toward the source of light in precision. Read more about their research here.

The use of antiperspirants and deodorants has increased greatly. Therefore, researchers from North Carolina State University, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina Central University, Rutgers University, and Duke University wanted to understand whether using these products affects the microbial ecosystem on the skin. Read more about their research here.

How cancerous tumors form has been a topic of interest for cancer researchers. Now a new study conducted at the University of Iowa (UI) offers important information underlying tumor formation. A team of researchers studied the 3D recordings of movements of cancerous human breast tissue cells in real time. Read more about their research here.

Paclitaxel is a highly effective drug that is commonly used to treat breast, lung, and pancreatic cancer. However, due to the high dose required, patients experience severe side effects such as muscle pain, hair loss, etc. A team of researchers led by Elena Batrakova from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, have found a way of reducing the amount of drug required to treat cancer by half. Read more about their research here.

Certain species of bats have been known to harbor the Ebola virus. According to a study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the Ebola virus infects the host cell by binding to a host cell receptor called NPC1. To understand how this happens, the researchers exposed cells from four types of African bats to various filoviruses, including the Ebola virus. Read more about their research here.

Earlier this year, a team of researchers at John Hopkins University published a paper which suggested that random mutations in DNA had a significant role to play in cancer development. These findings were popularly interpreted to mean that “bad luck,” more than any other causative factor, leads to cancer. This has sparked a debate among the experts in the field. Read more about this here.

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Germany have developed a new light sheet microscope using which they have been able to view the earliest stages of cell division. Jan Ellenberg, who led the team, explained that the microscope enabled them to view how the first cell in a mouse embryo divided and developed into multiple cells to the stage where it is developed enough to get attached to the mother’s uterus. Read more about their research here.

Nav1.7 plays an important role in pain pathways, and individuals born with non-functioning Nav1.7 fail to experience pain. Although scientists have developed drugs that would block Nav1.7 in an attempt to block pain, they have met with little success. Researchers from University College London did further research on designing a new treatment for eliminating the feeling of pain. Read more about their research here.