Category Biology/Biotechnology

Chemical compounds in foods or beverages like green tea, muscadine grapes and dark chocolate can bind to and block the function of a particular enzyme, or protease, in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a new study by plant biologists at North Carolina State University.

Proteases are important to the health and viability of cells and viruses, says De-Yu Xie, professor of plant and microbial biology at NC State and the corresponding author of the study. If proteases are inhibited, cells cannot perform many important functions — like replication, for example.

“One of our lab’s focuses is to find nutraceuticals in food or medicinal plants tha...

The labyrinth of jumbled blood vessels in the tumor microenvironment remains one of the toughest blockades for cellular therapies to penetrate and treat solid tumors. Now, in a new study published online today in Nature Cancer, Penn Medicine researchers found that combining chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy with a PAK4 inhibitor drug allowed the engineered cells to punch their way through and attack the tumor, leading to significantly enhanced survival in mice.

The researchers discovered in laboratory experiments that vascularization in solid tumors is driven by the genetic reprogramming of tumor endothelial cells—which line the walls of blood vessels—caused by an enzyme known as PAK4...

First recommendation of its kind in new global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior. New additional research shows that increasing physical activity can counter early death risk linked to long periods of sedentary time

The health harms associated with prolonged sitting can be offset by exceeding weekly recommended physical activity levels, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in new global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, published in a special dedicated issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

But all physical activity counts and is good for long term health, say the new guidelines.

It’s the first time that a recommendation of this kind has been made...

The quantum sensing abilities of nanodiamonds can be used to improve the sensitivity of paper-based diagnostic tests, potentially allowing for earlier detection of diseases such as HIV, according to a study led by UCL researchers in the i-sense McKendry group.

Paper-based lateral flow tests work the same way as a pregnancy test in that a strip of paper is soaked in a fluid sample and a change in colour — or fluorescent signal — indicates a positive result and the detection of virus proteins or DNA...