Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells Technologies

Some studies have suggested that alcohol consumption could expose people to a heightened risk of developing Alzheimers disease later in life. But the mechanics behind this relationship have been unclear — until now.

Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) is a complex genetic disorder that affects approximately 4 per cent of children worldwide, yet its underlying biological cause remains unknown.

Improving outcomes for patients with myeloid cancers who undergo stem cell transplantation is a focus of several studies to be presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting Dec.

University of Colorado Boulder researchers have discovered a key mechanism by which skin begins to develop in embryos, shedding light on the genetic roots of birth defects like cleft palate and paving the way for development of more functional skin grafts for burn victims.

New research gives scientists a clearer picture of what is happening in the brains of people with Huntingtons disease and lays out a potential path for treatment.

An enzyme activated in diabetics has been found to cause previously aligned cells in a blood vessel to reverse their orientation, creating misalignments that allow veins and arteries to leak three times more blood proteins than normally constructed blood vessels. Controlling the enzyme could ease symptoms of swelling, nerve pain, localized low blood pressure, and risk of infection in diabetes, other diseases that cause blood vessels to leak, and smoking.

Fat is powering tumour growth in brain cancer, finds a new study by Cardiff University and the University of Florida.

CDK1 is a "normal" protein—its presence drives cells through the cycle of replication. And MHC Class I molecules are "normal" as well—they present bits of proteins on the surfaces of cells for examination by the immune system.

In a study published this week in Nature Communications, scientists at Australias Garvan Institute of Medical Research have identified where the immune system remembers past infections and vaccinations—and where immune cells gather to mount a rapid response against an infection the body has seen before.

It has been an exciting year for medical science, a field generally not known for giant revolutionary breakthroughs, but rather incremental discoveries that build on existing knowledge to improve our health and well being.