The Bivalent Booster Protects Against New COVID-19 Variants, New Data Show
In this study, the bivalent booster was slightly better at generating virus-fighting antibodies than in previous studies, which found only small differences between people boosted with the original and bivalent vaccines in terms of antibodies generated against BQ.1.1 and XBB.1. (Unpublished data from these groups shows similarly small differences with XBB.1.5.) In those studies, however, blood wasn’t collected from people before and after their fourth booster dose; instead, the scientists compared blood from different groups of people who had been either boosted with the original or bivalent doses. A strength of the ...
Source: TIME: Health - January 25, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

How shapeless blobs of cells grow into wriggling worms
AUSTIN, TEXAS— A newborn infant looks unmistakably hu man, with legs, mouth, ears, and bottom all in place. The same can’t be said about the youngest sea stars, worms, or butterflies: Many invertebrates start out looking nothing like the adults they will become. Now, researchers have monitored one worm’s larval cells during the transfor mation to adulthood, spying on their fates and how their identities changed. The work, reported earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology here, provides some of the first clear cell-by-cell clues about what happen...
Source: ScienceNOW - January 17, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

Researchers Showcase Their Publications with The Scientist’s Journal Club
A new webinar series provides a platform for life scientists and molecular biologists to share their cutting-edge research. (Source: The Scientist)
Source: The Scientist - January 10, 2023 Category: Science Tags: The Marketplace Source Type: news

Human gene linked to bigger brains was born from seemingly useless DNA
Biologists have long known that new protein-coding genes can arise through the duplication and modification of existing ones. But some protein genes can also arise from stretches of the genome that once encoded aimless strands of RNA instead. How new protein genes surface this way has been a mystery, however. Now, a study identifies mutations that transform seemingly useless DNA sequences into potential genes by endowing their encoded RNA with the skill to escape the cell nucleus—a critical step toward becoming translated into a protein. The study’s authors highlight 74 human protein genes that appear to have ari...
Source: ScienceNOW - January 5, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

Tiny implantable device designed by UCLA scientists helps kill cancer
Many solid tumors resist treatment in part by turning human biology against itself. Tumors surround themselves with extra white blood cells known as regulatory T cells, which call off the body ’s natural defenses against the disease.Strategies to treat cancer by deactivating these cells risk creating other serious problems. Since regulatory T cells play an important role in safeguarding healthy tissues, diminishing them throughout the body can lead to other immune cells mistakenly attacking these tissues and causing autoimmune conditions that damage the colon, liver, heart and other organs.Now, an interdisciplinary UCLA ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - January 4, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Science ’s 2022 Breakthrough of the Year: A telescope’s golden eye sees the universe anew
html { scroll-behavior: smooth; } .news-article-content--featured>.bodySection>.mb-2x:not(:first-of-type) { display: none; } h3 { scroll-margin-top: 5rem; } .parent-section h3, .subsection h3 { font-size: 1.375rem; line-height: 1.875rem; } .news-article-content-footer h2 { display: none; } .toc img { padding-bottom: 16px; transition: opacity .25s; } .toc img:hover { opacity: 60%; } .toc .image-grid img { padding-bottom: 16px; padding-top: 16px; } .image-grid .news-article__figure__image__wrapper:before, .image-grid .news-article__figure__image__wrapper:after { display: none; } .news-article...
Source: ScienceNOW - December 15, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news

[Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR] Roche: Changes in the Board of Directors and the Corporate Executive Committee
Board of DirectorsBasel, 12 December 2022 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that at its December meeting, the Board of Directors of Roche Holding Ltd has approved to propose the following changes at the Annual General Meeting on 14 March 2023:As previously announced in July 2022, Christoph Franz has decided not to seek re-election as Chairman. The Board of Directors will propose Severin Schwan as the new Chairman at the Annual General Meeting in 2023, and has appointed Thomas Schinecker as the new Roche Group CEO effective 14 March 2023.The Board of Directors will proposeMark Schneider, CEO of Nestle S.A...
Source: Roche Investor Update - December 12, 2022 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news

[Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR] Roche: Changes in the Board of Directors and the Corporate Executive Committee
Board of DirectorsBasel, 12 December 2022 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that at its December meeting, the Board of Directors of Roche Holding Ltd has approved to propose the following changes at the Annual General Meeting on 14 March 2023:As previously announced in July 2022, Christoph Franz has decided not to seek re-election as Chairman. The Board of Directors will propose Severin Schwan as the new Chairman at the Annual General Meeting in 2023, and has appointed Thomas Schinecker as the new Roche Group CEO effective 14 March 2023.The Board of Directors will proposeMark Schneider, CEO of Nestle S.A...
Source: Roche Media News - December 12, 2022 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news

News at a glance: Snags in emissions monitoring, negotiations on biodiversity, and a drug for sleeping sickness
CLIMATE SCIENCE Volcano and NASA deliver blows to climate monitoring Efforts to monitor global greenhouse gas emissions suffered two setbacks last week—one by chance, one by choice. In Hawaii, the first eruption of the Mauna Loa volcano since 1984 has cut off road access and power to a famed summit lab that has monitored atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels since 1958. Although lava flows have so far spared the lab, which is run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), measurements are unlikely to resume for several months. That means tracking data will have to...
Source: ScienceNOW - December 8, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news

Wearable sensor could guide precision drug dosing
Key takeawaysVariations in how different people ’s bodies react to medicine mean that someantibiotics and anticancer drugs have to be dosed carefully to avoid serious side effects.A new wearable device continuously and painlessly measures the actual amount of medicine taken in by assessing fluid between cells underneath the skin.In studies in rats, the sensor accurately measured drug levels and could predict how much medication is effectively delivered to the animal ’s bloodstream.For some of the powerful drugs used to fight infection and cancer, there ’s only a small difference between a healing dose and a dose that...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - December 7, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Stanford investigates potential misconduct in president ’s research
Stanford University has launched an investigation of possible research misconduct in several papers co-authored many years ago by its president, neuroscientist Marc Tessier-Lavigne, after the school’s student newspaper raised questions about potentially manipulated images in the articles, published long before he came to the school. The university “will assess the allegations presented in The Stanford Daily , consistent with its normal rigorous approach by which allegations of research misconduct are reviewed and investigated,” an administrator told a reporter last night . The stat...
Source: ScienceNOW - November 30, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news

What is lecanemab? Can it cure Alzheimer's? And is it safe?
Professor John Hardy, a world-leading dementia researcher and molecular biologist at University College London, said the drug 'represents the beginning of the end'. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - November 30, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

CRISPR is so popular even viruses may use it
The celebrated gene-editing tool CRISPR started out as a bacterial defense against invading viruses. But it turns out the intended targets have stolen CRISPR for their own arsenals. A new study reveals that thousands of the bacteria-attacking viruses known as bacteriophages (phages, for short) contain the CRISPR system’s genetic sequences, suggesting they may deploy them against rival phages. The finding is a testament to the molecular weapon’s power—and may make CRISPR even more valuable as a laboratory gene editor. The discovery “opens doors for possible new applications of CRISPR systems,” says genomicis...
Source: ScienceNOW - November 23, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news

Scientists reveal new lines of attack to raise cancer survival rate
Targeting non-cancerous cells in tumours could open up new frontiers in fight against the diseaseScientists hope to double the survival rate of people with advanced cancer within a decade by using new lines of attack to fight the disease.Speaking at the launch of a joint five-year research strategy by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust in London, experts described how targeting non-cancerous cells within tumours could open up new frontiers in the fight against the disease, enabling more people to be cured and others to survive for far longer.Continue reading... (Source: Guardi...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - November 22, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Linda Geddes Tags: Cancer research Medical research Science Immunology Biochemistry and molecular biology Health Source Type: news

Scientists say eye-disease drug may also help fight COVID
FINDINGSAn interdisciplinary research team led by UCLA found that a drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for eye disease, verteporfin, stopped the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Their laboratory study identified  the Hippo signaling pathway as a potential target for therapies against the coronavirus.BACKGROUNDMany important human biological processes are controlled by complicated chain reactions called signaling pathways, in which certain proteins act as messenger molecules that promote or block the signals of other proteins.The lead researchers were investigating the Hippo...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - November 8, 2022 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news