Category Health/Medical

A canine retina with xlpra2 shows how a marker of cell division (red) and rod cells (green) colocalize. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Pennsylvania

In a new study, researchers have shown retinal cells in 3 distinct forms of canine early-onset blindness possess an unexpected feature: they temporarily rejuvenate. Further investigation into the reasons for this period of retinal neuron proliferation could lead to molecular targets for intervening in cell death and maintaining functional photoreceptor cells and a working retina.

The findings suggest this feature may be common across many forms of inherited blindness. The study picked up where 2011 work left off...

Dr. Nahid Mivechi, cell biologist and radiobiologist, a group leader at the Cancer Center and a study co-author; Dr. Nita Maihle, MCG cancer biologist, associate center director for education at the university’s Cancer Center and a study co-author; Dr. Lan Ko, cancer biologist in the Department of Pathology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and at the Georgia Cancer Center at AU Credit: Phil Jones

When mutated, a gene known for its ability to repair DNA, appears to instead cause breast cancer. The gene GT198, whether mutated by genetics and/or environmental factors, has strong potential as both as a way to diagnose breast cancer early and as a new treatment target, said Dr. Lan Ko...

Gold nanorods within the blood vessels of a mouse ear appear green. The lower right shows vessels within a tumor that lies under the skin. Credit: de la Zerda lab

The technique, called MOZART (for MOlecular imaging and characteriZation of tissue noninvasively At cellular ResoluTion), could one day allow scientists to detect tumors in the skin, colon or esophagus, or even to see the abnormal blood vessels that appear in the earliest stages of macular degeneration – a leading cause of blindness. The technique could allow doctors to monitor how an otherwise invisible tumor under the skin is responding to treatment, or to understand how individual cells break free from a tumor and travel to distant sites.

A technique exists for peeking into a live tissue several millimeters under the skin, rev...

Ultrasensitive Antibody Detection by Agglutination-PCR (ADAP)

A new technique is thousands of times more sensitive than current techniques in lab experiments, and it is now being put to test in real-world clinical trials. Tagging antibodies or related biomarkers involves designing a molecule that the biomarker will bind to, and which is adorned with an identifying “flag.” Through immunoassays, researchers can isolate that flag, and the biomarker bound to it, to provide a proxy measurement of the disease.

The new technique, developed in the lab of Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi, augments this standard procedure with powerful DNA screening technology...