In this Spotlight, we introduce the glymphatic system: the brain’s dedicated waste clearance system. Now implicated in various conditions, it is high time that we became acquainted. Astroglia (illustrated above) play a pivotal role in the brain’s trash collection service. Many of us are relatively familiar with the lymphatic system; it performs a number of…
IMAGE: Trevor Royce, MD, MS, MPH, is the corresponding author of a perspective in the Journal of the American Medical Associate that highlights the potential impact of unregulated pharmacy benefit manager… view more Credit: UNC School of Medicine CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina — Efforts to control health care costs in the United States often focus on…
Non-classical monocytes were long thought to play a purely surveillance role in the immune system. With the aid of a novel marker (PD-L1), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers have now shown that they are directly involved in the regulation of immune response. Monocytes comprise a functionally specific group of white blood cells and are known…
IMAGE: The image shows sampling of HIV (red) by the newly described dendritic cells (green). view more Credit: The Westmead Institute for Medical Research Researchers at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research have discovered brand new immune cells that are at the frontline of HIV infection. Known as CD11c+ dendritic cells, these new cells are more…
IMAGE: Diagram of how forces affect a water tower. Water tower at Olcott Beach, NY, by Ad Meskens; image was modified by Joshua S. Cetron and used under the Creative Commons… view more Credit: Water tower at Olcott Beach, NY, by Ad Meskens; image was modified by Joshua S. Cetron and used under the Creative Commons…
Mycophenolic acid (MPA), discovered in 1893, was the first natural antibiotic to be isolated and crystallized in human history. Today, this fungal metabolite has been developed into multiple first-line immunosuppressive drugs to control immunologic rejection during organ transplantation and treat various autoimmune diseases. However, the biogenesis of such an old and important molecule was an…
IMAGE: The dramatic differences in pressure that occur in the heart influence muscle development, causing cardiomyocytes to have to adapt to their environment. The picture shows human cardiomyocytes that were derived… view more Credit: Sebastian Diecke, MDC An international team of researchers are seeking to explore the heart at a depth that was previously impossible. They…
IMAGE: Reason, Co-founder and CEO of Repair Biotechnologies; Founder and writer of Fight Aging!, to present at the 6th Aging Research for Drug Discovery Forum in Basel, Switzerland view more Credit: Insilico Medicine Friday, June 21, 2019 – Today Insilico Medicine, a biotechnology company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing the next generation artificial intelligence,…
For decades, University Distinguished Professor of Molecular Virology X.J. Meng and his lab at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine have studied hepatitis E virus (HEV), the causative agent of hepatitis E in humans. Now, with a new, five-year National Institutes of Health RO1 grant totaling nearly $2 million — Meng’s third successful competing renewal…
IMAGE: Leptin, the ‘satiety hormone’ made by adipose cells that helps to regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger. Opposed by the actions of the hormone ghrelin, the ‘hunger hormone.’ view more San Antonio, Texas (June 19, 2019) – The global obesity epidemic is so far-reaching it now has an overarching name: globesity. Texas Biomed Staff Scientist…