Category Biology/Biotechnology

Gut Microbiome implicated in Healthy Aging and Longevity

gut
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Data from over 9,000 people reveal a distinct gut microbiome signature that is associated with healthy aging and survival in the latest decades of life. The gut microbiome is an integral component of the body, but its importance in the human aging process is unclear. ISB researchers and their collaborators have identified distinct signatures in the gut microbiome that are associated with either healthy or unhealthy aging trajectories, which in turn predict survival in a population of older individuals. The work is set to be published in the journal Nature Metabolism.

The research team analyzed gut microbiome, phenotypic and clinical data from over 9,000 people — between the ages of 18 and 101 years old — across three independent cohorts...

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New link between Personality and Risk of Early Death

Dr Páraic Ó Súilleabháin, from the Department of Psychology and Health Research Institute at University of Limerick, who was principal investigator on the study

Ground-breaking research led by University of Limerick has revealed for the first time that the immune system directly links personality to long-term risk of death. The study sheds new light on why people who are more conscientious tend to live longer.

Results from the new international study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity have found that the immune system plays a previously unknown role in the link between personality traits and long-term risk of death.

“Personality is known to be associated with long-term risk of death, it is a well replicated finding observed across numerous research studies...

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Never-before-seen Antibody Binding, informing Liver Cancer, antibody design

A structural snapshot of a phosphohistidine analogue (ball and stick model) nestled at the interface between different areas (green, brown) of a phosphohistidine antibody. Such structures provide insights into the molecular properties of the antibodies, which makes them useful for revealing elusive phosphohistidine-containing proteins in cells.
Credit: Salk Institute

Xray crystallography and recombinant antibodies uncover workings of an elusive molecule central to human health. In structural biology, some molecules are so unusual they can only be captured with a unique set of tools...

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Touchdown! NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet

Members of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team watch in mission control as the first images arrive moments after the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world touched down on Mars Thursday, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles (472 million kilometers)...

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