Category Biology/Biotechnology

Chronic pain is life-changing and considered one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, making daily life difficult for millions of people around the world, and exacerbating personal and economic burdens. Despite established theories about the molecular mechanisms behind it, scientists have been unable to identify the specific processes in the body responsible, until now.

In an exciting collaboration, a team led by NDCN’s Professor David Bennett, and Professor Simon Newstead in the Department of Biochemistry and Kavli Institute for NanoScience Discovery, have identified a new genetic link to pain, determined the structure o...

In the U.S., one in five of the 37 million adults who has diabetes doesn’t know it. Current methods of diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes usually require a visit to a doctor’s office or lab work, both of which can be expensive and time-consuming. Now, diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes may be as simple as breathing.

A research team led by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, has developed a sensor that can help diagnose diabetes and prediabetes on-site in a few minutes using just a breath sample...

It’s a fact of life: Some people age better than others. Some ease into their 90s with mind and body intact, while others battle diabetes, Alzheimer’s or mobility issues decades earlier. Some can withstand a bad fall or bout of the flu with ease, while others never leave the hospital again.

New University of Colorado Boulder-led research, published in Nature Genetics, sheds light on why that is.

In it, an international team of co-authors identifies more than 400 genes associated with accelerated aging across seven different sub-types. The study reveals that different groups of genes underlie different kinds of disordered aging, a.k.a. frailty, ranging from cognitive decline to mobility issues to social isolation.

The findings lend support to what is known as the “geroscience ...