The field of optogenetics is all about using light to stimulate cells in the body. Now, researchers from Flinders University have used the technique to shine a light where the Sun don’t shine, stimulating nerves in the gut to relieve chronic constipation.
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Researchers from MIT have found that fasting for just 24 hours is enough to improve the regeneration of a person’s intestinal stem cells, which naturally declines with age. Better yet, with the metabolic switch identified, in the future the effect could be mimicked with a drug.
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A new study has found a way to completely stop a body’s ability to store fat. In experiments with mice, researchers showed that genetically deleting a single enzyme resulted in the animal not being able to gain weight, even when fed a fatty diet.
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Rresearchers at the University of Michigan have found a way to retrain the immune system to ignore allergens by developing a nasal spray that vaccinates against peanut allergies, with promising results in mouse tests.
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Researchers from Washington University have tested a new weapon in the fight against Alzheimer’s. In mice, the team has demonstrated an antibody that can clear away the disease’s build-up of proteins in the brain, which may lead to an early-stage treatment to prevent symptoms from occurring.
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Fat may be a villain of our time, but it’s not fair to paint it all with the same brush. Researchers at the Salk Institute have identified the protein that allows brown fat to expend energy, opening up a new potential avenue for treating obesity and its related diseases.
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Researchers have developed a new stem-cell-based treatment for strokes. When tested in animal models, the technique was found to reduce brain damage and help the brain heal itself faster, and the results have been promising enough that clinical human trials may follow as soon as next year.
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Like the horse of Troy, scientists have developed a way to sneak synthetic cells right into tumor tissue, where they then begin producing cancer-fighting proteins from the inside. The technique was tested in both cell cultures and in mice, and found to be an effective treatment in both cases.
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Researchers have discovered a surprising secondary function for an existing drug. Tandospirone is used to treat anxiety and depression, but now Australian researchers have found that it can “reboot” the brain to reverse some of the negative effects of heavy alcohol consumption.
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A drug dubbed J147, developed by the Salk Institute, is a promising candidate to treat Alzheimer’s, but how it worked at the molecular level remained a mystery. Now Salk scientists have figured out the mechanism behind it, which could see J147 used to fight other age-related illnesses as well.
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