Category Biology/Biotechnology

Researchers from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered a new function of ribosomes in human cells that may show the protein-making particle’s role in destroying healthy mRNAs, the messages that decode DNA into protein.

“For a long time, many people have viewed ribosomes as a passive player in the cell – a molecular machine that’s just producing proteins,” says Stowers Assistant Investigator Ariel Bazzini, PhD. “Now there’s growing evidence that ribosomes regulate gene expression, including in human cells.”

These findings, which were rece...

Stimulating different parts of the brain can dial up or down a specific memory’s emotional oomph, study shows. What if scientists could manipulate your brain so that a traumatic memory lost its emotional power over your psyche? Steve Ramirez, a Boston University neuroscientist fascinated by memory, believes that a small structure in the brain could hold the keys to future therapeutic techniques for treating depression, anxiety, and PTSD, someday allowing clinicians to enhance positive memories or suppress negative ones.

Inside our brains, a cashew-shaped structure called the hippocampus stores t...

Review of studies suggests a potentially useful link between gut bacteria and mental disorders. People who experience anxiety symptoms might be helped by taking steps to regulate the microorganisms in their gut using probiotic and non-probiotic food and supplements, suggests a review of studies published today in the journal General Psychiatry.

Anxiety symptoms are common in people with mental diseases and a variety of physical disorders, especially in disorders that are related to stress. Previous studies have shown that as many as a third of people will be affected by anxiety symptoms during their lifetime.

Increasingly, research has indicated that gut microbiota – the trillions of microorganisms in the gut wh...

Neuroscientists identify a brain circuit that helps break decisions down into smaller pieces. The study sheds light on how the brain reasons about probable causes of failure after a hierarchy of decisions. When making a complex decision, we often break the problem down into a series of smaller decisions. For example, when deciding how to treat a patient, a doctor may go through a hierarchy of steps – choosing a diagnostic test, interpreting the results, and then prescribing a medication.

Making hierarchical decisions is straightforward when the sequence of cho...