Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine seeking to understand which cells in the respiratory tract are infected SARS-VoC-2, and how it gets into the lungs in the patients who develop pneumonia, has allowed them to characterize some of the ways it infects the nasal cavity and infects and replicates…

US researchers have analyzed the available literature on COVID-19 infections to assess factors linked with severe cases and to inform medical professionals about drugs that could be repurposed to treat the disease. Since the end of 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind COVID-19 has spread across the globe in a way…

Memory—a key feature of the adaptive immune system—is evident in the innate immune system, too. But it has been unclear whether memory in the innate immune system is specific to previously encountered antigens. Now it appears that antigen-specific memory is in fact an attribute of the innate immune system’s monocytes…

Once ovarian cancer cells slough off from their site of origin, they tend to find a new home in tissues with high fat content. Now, researchers have shown that those ovarian cancer cells use fats as an energy source. At the heart of the transition to fatty acid metabolism is…

While Previous reports of which medications may influence COVID-19 symptoms and outcomes of patients have been reported on a case-by-case basis, a recent study of more than 1,000 COVID-19 positive patients from China suggests that ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers may actually increase the risk of severe COVID-19 complications.…

For patients admitted to the hospital and confirmed to have the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the key risk factors for death are: Advanced age Signs of sepsis Blood clotting issues These risk factors come from a new retrospective study that evaluated data records for 191 patients—137 survivors and 54 non-survivors.…

Researchers at Harvard may have discovered the molecular basis that can lead to cardiomyopathy in patients, as well as a new drug to treat this genetic conditions. Cardiac cells, also known as cardiomyocytes, are unique muscular cells in the body, in that they will repeatedly contract, without rest, over the…

Specific patterns of protein levels in our blood could be used to provide a comprehensive “liquid health check” that gives a snapshot of health and potentially an indication of the likelihood that we will develop certain diseases or health risk factors in the future, according to research by scientists in…

A new study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) adds more weight to previous findings implicating variants of the gene ARMC5 in the increased risk of hypertension in blacks. Researchers identified 17 variants in the gene that were associated with high blood pressure in individuals of…

Owlstone Medical, has announced a strategic collaboration with Switzerland-based Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, leader in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), to discover and validate a breath-based test to help facilitate the early diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and its subtypes. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the entire program will…

Precision medicine developer MyoKardia said it will partner with 23andMe to create a digital community designed to enable patients to access information and research opportunities in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Through their collaboration, whose value was not disclosed, the companies plan to launch next year a community designed to improve understanding…

An international team of researchers has discovered a single gene mutation that slows the metabolism of sugar in the gut providing people with the mutation protection against diabetes, obesity and heart disease. The finding suggests potential therapies that could mimic this mutation to treat people with these conditions. “We’re excited…

Researchers from Imperial College London and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine say they have developed a blood test that can accurately identify Kawasaki disease (KD), an acquired childhood heart disease that can result in heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and death. The research published in JAMA…

SAN FRANCISCO—Regeneron Pharmaceticals said the $50 million-plus consortium it has launched with five biopharmas will reshape drug development and even human health beyond simply speeding up exome sequencing of all 500,000 people within the UK Biobank by three years. AbbVie, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Biogen and Pfizer have agreed to invest…

A landmark study, published in Nature on August 2, 2017, has described the first timein the U.S. that CRISPR was used to repair a germline mutation in human embryos created through in vitro fertilization. The study was a collaboration between the Salk Institute, Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), and…