Queen’s University researcher Xiaolong Yang and his research team have developed a light emission-based biosensor that uses firefly luciferase (the enzyme that allows fireflies to light up) to monitor cancer cell activity and help find new ways to fight the spread of cancer.

A UT Southwestern study in mice provides new clues about how a class of anti-rejection drugs used after organ transplants may also slow the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

New research led by IIASA researcher Narasimha Rao has shown how it might be possible to reduce micronutrient deficiencies in India in an affordable way whilst also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

As many as 153 million premature deaths linked to air pollution could be avoided worldwide this century if governments speed up their timetable for reducing fossil fuel emissions, a new Duke University-led study finds.

This year’s unexpectedly aggressive flu season reminds everyone that although the flu vaccine can reduce the number of people who contract the virus, it is still not 100 percent effective. Researchers report that a tweak to a small-molecule drug shows promise for future production of new antiviral therapies that could help patients, regardless of the strain with which they are infected.

The world drinks a lot of wine, and that means a lot of grapes are consumed every year. But not every part of the grape ends up in the bottle. Seeds, stalks and skins — roughly a quarter of the grapes —- are typically discarded in landfills as waste. But now, researchers say they have found some useful commercial applications, such as prolonging the shelf life of fatty foods, for these wine leftovers.

As climate change increases the risk to trees from severe storms, insects, diseases, drought and fire, a Rutgers University study highlights the need for improved safety in tree-care operations.

Metastasis is the process whereby a tumour that grows in one organ breaks away from it and travels to another organ and colonises it. In the colonisation process it needs to create new blood vessels through which the cancer cells obtain the nutrients and oxygen they need to grow. This blood vessel formation process is called angiogenesis and is carried out by the endothelial cells. "Unlike normal endothelial cells and due to the signals, that reach them from the tumour cells, the cells that supply the tumours have increased growth and tend to move towards the metastatic mass to help it grow,” said Iker Badiola, member of the Signaling Lab research group in the Department of Cell Biology and Histology of the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy.

Spurred on by climate change, international travel and international trade, disease-bearing insects are spreading to ever-wider parts of the world.

This means that more humans are exposed to viral infections such as Dengue fever, Chikungunya, Zika, West Nile fever, Yellow fever and Tick-borne encephalitis.

For many of these diseases, there are as yet no specific antiviral agents or vaccines.

Researchers in the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) have developed a fast, portable and inexpensive way to test humans and animals for different types of chronic and infectious diseases. This new “point of care” method tests for signals of infection, such as specific antibodies, in blood, milk or saliva samples.