Category Biology/Biotechnology

A molecule that suppresses melanoma tumours has been identified. A promising route to develop new treatments for skin cancer has been identified by University of Bath scientists, who have found a molecule that suppresses melanoma tumour growth.

Although the research is at an early stage, the team hope that their work could help develop new ways to combat melanoma and potentially other cancers too.

The team from the University of Bath’s Department of Biology & Biochemistry were researching a group of ‘long non-coding RNAs’ (IncRNAs) with colleagues at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Oxford, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

IncRNA...

Tiny ‘xenobots’ assembled from cells promise advances from drug delivery to toxic waste clean-up. Scientists repurposed living frog cells – and assembled them into entirely new life-forms. These tiny ‘xenobots’ can move toward a target and heal themselves after being cut. These novel living machines are neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal...

New marathon runners reduced blood pressure, arterial stiffness equivalent to a 4-year reduction in vascular age. The new year means it’s time to set resolutions for 2020 and new research from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests running a marathon for the first time could have several health benefits. The study found that for first-time marathon runners, training and completion of the marathon was associated with reductions in blood pressure and aortic stiffening in healthy participants that were equivalent to a four-year reduction in vascular age, with the greatest benefits seen in older, slower male marathon runners with higher baseline blood pressure.

“As clinicians are meeting with patients in the new year, making a goal-oriented exercise training recomme...

A molecular switch has the ability to turn on a substance in animals that repairs neurological damage in disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Mayo Clinic researchers discovered. The early research in animal models could advance an already approved Food and Drug Administration therapy and also could lead to new strategies for treating diseases of the central nervous system.

Research by Isobel Scarisbr...