Metabolism News and Research

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Metabolism is the means by which the body derives energy and synthesizes the other molecules it needs from the fats, carbohydrates and proteins we eat as food, by enzymatic reactions helped by minerals and vitamins.

Scientists Discover Why High Levels of the Amino Acid Cysteine Are Toxic to Cells

Cysteine is one of the main building blocks that cells use to make proteins. But this amino acid is a double-edged sword–too much cysteine is toxic to the cell.

24 Sep 2026

Strength Training Induces Fat Breakdown in Obese Mice Without Weight Loss

Just seven days of strength training increased visceral fat burning in obese mice, even before any weight loss could be seen on a scale. In an experiment conducted at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), researchers observed that a short period of strength training activated mechanisms involved in fat breakdown, reduced fat cell size, and decreased fat around the animals' intestines.

23 Sep 2026

What Drives Pregnancy Cravings? Researchers Find a Clue in the Brain

What causes intense food cravings during pregnancy? Scientists at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, working alongside collaborators, have pinpointed a neural mechanism that may explain how pregnancy influences the desire to pursue certain highly appealing foods.

22 Sep 2026

Blocking Mitochondrial Iron Transport Protects Cells Against Elevated Cysteine Toxicity

Cysteine is one of the main building blocks that cells use to make proteins.

22 Sep 2026

New Research Reveals Complex Protein Dynamics Within Human Red Blood Cells

They account for nearly 83% of all cells in the human body, yet red blood cells are often portrayed as little more than bags of hemoglobin ferrying oxygen from the lungs to the heart and beyond. But new research from the University of Colorado Anschutz reveals that they are vastly more complex with far reaching consequences for health, exercise and fitness.

21 Sep 2026

Restoring Gut Indole Levels Reduces Campylobacter Infection in Mouse Models

What if something produced naturally by your gut bacteria could help fight a dangerous foodborne pathogen?

17 Sep 2026

Noninvasive Imaging Framework Enhances Predictions of Higher-Order Human Brain Function

Researchers from the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have developed a new, noninvasive way to examine how blood flow and cellular organization align across the layers of the living human brain.

17 Sep 2026

Molecular Circuit Linking Abscisic Acid Signaling to Tanshinone Production Uncovered

Salvia miltiorrhiza, also known as Danshen, is a highly regarded traditional Chinese medicine widely used for treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Its medicinal properties are largely attributed to tanshinones-a group of more than 40 diterpenoid quinone compounds, including tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, and cryptotanshinone, which predominantly accumulate in the plant's roots.

11 Sep 2026

SMART Researchers Discover First PLP-Dependent Enzyme That Influences Bacterial Protein Production

Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology’s (SMART) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) interdisciplinary research group, alongside collaborators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore), and institutions in the United States, Poland, and France, have discovered aminovaleramididine synthetase (AvaS), the first identified pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme responsible for producing a chemical modification linked to how bacteria respond to metabolic stress.

10 Sep 2026

Computational Chemistry Breakthrough Yields Targeted Molecule for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment

Pushing the accelerator and the brake at the same time is rarely a good idea. But researchers at the University of Gothenburg are using this approach to treat leukemia.

9 Sep 2026

First Chromosome-Level Genome Unveils Blueprints of Valued Medicinal Compounds

Spuriopimpinella brachycarpa, known locally as Dayeqin or Shanqincai, has long been used in traditional medicine to treat colds, indigestion, abdominal pain, and cough.

8 Sep 2026

Scientists Discover How Elusive Brain Stem Cells Make Decisions

As the human brain takes shape before birth, a remarkable type of stem cell helps give it many of the features that make it distinctly human.

7 Sep 2026

Macrophages Function as Trash Collectors for Energy-Demanding Tissues

The body's heart muscle (for pumping blood), skeletal muscle (for movement and posture), and brown fat (for heat production), each require a lot of energy and make a lot of waste. And that waste needs to be managed.

7 Sep 2026

Elusive Archaea Act as Flexitarians in Marine Sponge Symbiosis

Symbiotic ammonia-oxidizing archaea in marine sponges are not strict specialists, but true "flexitarians": A team led by microbiologists Bettina Glasl and Katharina Kitzinger from the University of Vienna, in collaboration with partners from Australia, has shown that these microbes dine not only on ammonia but also on amino acids such as valine, leucine, and isoleucine - and presumably do that to communicate with their animal host.

7 Sep 2026

Research Identifies Microorganisms That Convert Precursors Into Testosterone

Many prostate cancers depend on androgen hormones, including testosterone, to grow. That is why treatments for advanced disease often try to reduce testosterone production or block its effects.

7 Sep 2026

Research Maps Complex Molecular Rules Governing Specialized Tumor Immunity

For decades, natural killer (NK) cells have been classified into two main groups based on surface markers: one specialized for cytokine production and the other for direct killing.

7 Sep 2026

Optical Metabolic Imaging Profiles Single-Cell Metabolic Fitness in Blood Without Dye Labeling

A routine blood sample contains a diverse collection of immune cells that can reveal important clues about health and disease. These cells, known as peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), are widely used to study infections, autoimmune disorders, cancer, and the immune system's response to treatment.

3 Sep 2026

UNC Researcher Wins Mathers Foundation Grant to Study T-Cell Metabolism

Jessica Thaxton, PhD, MsCR, associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the UNC School of Medicine and co-leader of the Cancer Cell Biology Research Program at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded a prestigious $700,000 grant from the Mathers Foundation to support research into the role of the endoplasmic reticulum in T-cell metabolism and cancer development.

2 Sep 2026

Protein Interaction Helps Senescent Cells Survive Aging and Cellular Stress

Senescent cells - cells that have stopped dividing but remain metabolically active - can accumulate with age and contribute to chronic inflammation and tissue dysfunction

2 Sep 2026

Targeting EFHD1 Protein Prevents Severe Obesity-Related Metabolic Liver Damage

Obesity-related metabolic liver disease affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but only some fraction of those livers develop scarring, become inflamed, and eventually fail.

2 Sep 2026

Metabolism News and Research

Scientists Discover Why High Levels of the Amino Acid Cysteine Are Toxic to Cells

Strength Training Induces Fat Breakdown in Obese Mice Without Weight Loss

What Drives Pregnancy Cravings? Researchers Find a Clue in the Brain

Blocking Mitochondrial Iron Transport Protects Cells Against Elevated Cysteine Toxicity

New Research Reveals Complex Protein Dynamics Within Human Red Blood Cells

Restoring Gut Indole Levels Reduces Campylobacter Infection in Mouse Models

Noninvasive Imaging Framework Enhances Predictions of Higher-Order Human Brain Function

Molecular Circuit Linking Abscisic Acid Signaling to Tanshinone Production Uncovered

SMART Researchers Discover First PLP-Dependent Enzyme That Influences Bacterial Protein Production

Computational Chemistry Breakthrough Yields Targeted Molecule for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment

First Chromosome-Level Genome Unveils Blueprints of Valued Medicinal Compounds

Scientists Discover How Elusive Brain Stem Cells Make Decisions

Macrophages Function as Trash Collectors for Energy-Demanding Tissues

Elusive Archaea Act as Flexitarians in Marine Sponge Symbiosis

Research Identifies Microorganisms That Convert Precursors Into Testosterone

Research Maps Complex Molecular Rules Governing Specialized Tumor Immunity

Optical Metabolic Imaging Profiles Single-Cell Metabolic Fitness in Blood Without Dye Labeling

UNC Researcher Wins Mathers Foundation Grant to Study T-Cell Metabolism

Protein Interaction Helps Senescent Cells Survive Aging and Cellular Stress

Targeting EFHD1 Protein Prevents Severe Obesity-Related Metabolic Liver Damage

The Future of Vision Restoration With ReVision Implant

How a Single List Is Changing Visibility for Women in Science

How Avatar Medical's 3D Technology Is Transforming How We Visualize the Human Body

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