April 2016

The most aggressive form of pancreatic cancer often described as one of the hardest malignancies to diagnose and treat thrives in the presence of neighboring tumor cells undergoing a particular form of "orchestrated cell death." This is according to a major study recently published in the journal Nature.

Examining the poorly understood link between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and type 2 diabetes complications, researchers identified specific measures of low blood oxygenation that are associated with impaired kidney function and diabetic nephropathy.

Investigating disparities in the composition of the estrobolome, the gut bacterial genes capable of metabolizing estrogens in both healthy individuals and in women diagnosed with estrogen-driven breast cancer may lead to the development of microbiome-based biomarkers that could help mitigate the risk of certain cancers, according to a review paper published April 22 in the JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In September 2015, then 44 year-old CEO of BioViva USA Inc. Elizabeth Parrish received two of her own company's experimental gene therapies: one to protect against loss of muscle mass with age, another to battle stem cell depletion responsible for diverse age-related diseases and infirmities.

A range of diseases from diabetes to cardiovascular disease, and from Alzheimer's disease to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are linked to changes to genes in the brain. A new study by UCLA life scientists has found that hundreds of those genes can be damaged by fructose, a sugar that's common in the Western diet, in a way that could lead to those diseases.

One of the secrets to rich milk production in lactation has been uncovered by researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Their studies have revealed that breast cells develop two nuclei as the breast switches on lactation to nurture the newborn.

Melbourne researchers have uncovered the genes responsible for the way the body fights infection at the point of 'invasion' - whether it's the skin, liver, lungs or the gut.Research led by Dr Axel Kallies and Dr Klaas van Gisbergen at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and Dr Laura Mackay from the University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity has identified the genes Hobit and Blimp1 and found that these genes control a universal molecular program responsible for placing immune cells at the 'front lines' of the body to fight infection and cancer.