Children News and Research

RSS

Metastatic Lung Cancer Cells Cozy Up to Neurons and Form Synapses

Small cell lung cancer cells that metastasize to the brain cozy up to neurons and form working electrical connections, called synapses, according to an upcoming study led by Stanford Medicine researchers.

11 Sep 2025

New Method Discovers Genetic Switches More Quickly

Researchers led by Dubravka Vučićević at the Max Delbrück Center have developed a new method for discovering how DNA controls genes. Published in “Cell Genomics,” their technique can reveal the genetic “switches” that regulate important genes more quickly than existing methods.

10 Sep 2025

Stress Reshapes Brain Cells and Alters Activity in Mice

Canadian researchers show that stress modifies the morphology of brain cells in mice, directly influencing the rodents' level of physical activity.

5 Sep 2025

Human-Derived 3D Skin Model May Replace Animals In Wound Studies

Engineered 3D skin model successfully simulates early wound healing, offering insights into inflammatory responses and potential therapeutic applications.

3 Sep 2025

Genetic Signatures of Neural Progenitor Cells Uncovered in the Adult Brain

For much of the 20th century it was thought that the adult brain was incapable of regeneration. This view has since shifted dramatically and neurogenesis – the birth of new neurons – is now a widely accepted phenomenon in the adult brain, offering promising avenues for treating many neurological conditions.

22 Aug 2025

Missing Microexons Disrupt Synapse-Related Proteins in Pediatric Glioma

A new study, led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), identified tiny pieces of messenger RNA that are missing in pediatric high-grade glioma tumors but not in normal brain tissues.

19 Aug 2025

New Method Enables Human Cells to Initiate Meiosis Outside the Body

More than one-sixth of adults around the world experience infertility in their lifetime. There is a high unmet need not only for increased access to affordable, high-quality fertility care for those in need but, importantly, also for new biomedical solutions that can address the root causes of infertility.

18 Aug 2025

New Gene Silencers Offer Hope for Hereditary Blood Disorders

According to a recent study, chemical tags that were previously thought of as genetic clutter are really potent gene silencers; eliminating them could lead to safer treatments for hereditary blood disorders.

18 Aug 2025

Muscle Reprogramming Protein Found to Both Activate and Repress Genes

For more than 30 years, scientists have studied how the myogenic determination gene number 1 (MYOD) protein binds DNA to modify the gene expression of muscle stem cells.

11 Aug 2025

Sugarcoated RNA Helps the Body Avoid Autoimmune Reactions

To our immune system, naked RNA is a sign of a viral or bacterial invasion and must be attacked. But our own cells also have RNA.

7 Aug 2025

Microglia Replacement Therapy Offers Hope for Genetic Disorders Affecting the Brain

Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases, genetic disorders affecting the brain, have no effective treatment and are typically fatal within the first years of life.

7 Aug 2025

New Computational Tool Reveals How Long Non-Coding RNAs Control Gene Expression

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) are a type of RNA molecule that do not carry instructions to make proteins. Instead, they influence how other genes are expressed.

6 Aug 2025

Maternal Genetics May Play a Larger Role in Child’s Weight Than Paternal Genes

A mother's genetics may play a bigger role in determining whether a child becomes overweight than a father's, as a result of a concept known as genetic nurture, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

6 Aug 2025

Scientists Uncover New Activation Mechanism of the Human Sweet Taste Receptor

Sweet taste receptors are proteins in taste buds that detect sugar and other sweeteners, but the mechanism underlying how they elicit a sweet response has been unclear.

5 Aug 2025

AI-Powered Protein Design Opens Doors to New T-Cell Based Immunotherapies

A new paper published today in Cell highlights how researchers have leveraged AI-based computational protein design to create a novel synthetic ligand that activates the Notch signaling pathway, a key driver in T-cell development and function.

4 Aug 2025

Study Uncovers Genetic Roots of Stuttering

The largest genetic analysis of stuttering has demonstrated a clear genetic basis for the speech disorder, highlighting neurological pathways of risk.

29 Jul 2025

Every Newborn Sequenced Within a Decade: What Does This Mean for Healthcare?

We spoke with Neil Ward from PacBio about England’s plan to introduce whole genome sequencing for every newborn, and how long-read technology is shaping the future of early diagnosis around the world.

29 Jul 2025

Gene Editing Offers New Hope to Stop Malaria Transmission

Mosquitoes kill more people each year than any other animal. In 2023, the blood-sucking insects infected a reported 263 million people with malaria, leading to nearly 600,000 deaths, 80% of which were children.

24 Jul 2025

OHSU Team Identifies Gene Essential for Brain's Protective Layer

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered a gene that is critical to the brain’s ability to form myelin, a protective layer around nerves, potentially leading to new treatments for an extremely uncommon childhood disorder and more common diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

23 Jul 2025

mRNA Vaccine Supercharges Immunotherapy Against Cancer

An experimental mRNA vaccine improved the tumor-fighting benefits of immunotherapy in a mouse model study, bringing researchers one step closer to their aim of generating a universal vaccination to “wake up” the immune system against cancer.

21 Jul 2025