Oncologists are increasingly using information obtained from investigations of the tumor genome in order to find individualized therapies for patients. They specifically search the hereditary information of cancer cells for mutations that drive malignant growth. By now, targeted drugs against many of these cancer-typical cellular alterations have become available.

Biologists at UC San Diego have found that a method they developed to identify and characterize new antibiotics can be employed to screen natural products quickly for compounds capable of controlling antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Scientists have performed the first comprehensive genomic analysis of Ebola virus sequences from Liberia, one of three countries widely affected by the devastating outbreak that began in 2013 in Western Africa. Their work, published today in Cell Host & Microbe, traces the introduction and spread of the virus in Liberia and also sheds light on how the virus moved between the neighboring countries of Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Green fluorescent protein-tagged herpes simplex virus is reactivating from cultures of neurons. When we get cold sores, the reason is likely related to stress. In particular, the neurons in which the herpes simplex virus (HSV) reside, are under stress. For the first time, researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine discovered a cellular mechanism that allows the virus to reactivate. They also found how brain cells are duped into allowing bits of virus to escape the very repressive environment in neurons and cause disease.

Loss of TET function contributes to skewing blood stem cells in favor of forming myeloid cells over other blood cell types by regulating the expression of lineage-specific genes. Members of the TET (short for ten-eleven translocation) family have been known to function as tumor suppressors for many years, but how they keep a lid on the uncontrolled cell proliferation of cancer cells had remained uncertain. Now, researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology demonstrate that TET proteins collectively constitute a major class of tumor suppressors and are required to maintain genome instability.

A- Labeled stem cells target spinal bone fracture; B- Two spinal bone fractures; C- Complete healing of spinal bone fractures eight weeks post treatment with stem cells and PTH. A combination of adult stem cells and parathyroid hormone significantly increased new bone formation in laboratory animals and may speed the healing process for human bone fractures caused by osteoporosis, a new study shows.

"Would you rather have $20 now, or can I mail you $40 in a few weeks? " Opting for smaller rewards immediately instead of waiting for bigger payoffs later is associated with problems such as impulsivity and addiction to food, drugs and alcohol. Now, new research indicates that such decision-making tendencies have a genetic link to brain pathways that underlie these disorders.

Researchers create world's first ibuprofen patch. Researchers at the University of Warwick have worked with Coventry-based Medherant, a Warwick spinout company, to produce and patent the World's first ever ibuprofen patch delivering the drug directly through skin to exactly where it is needed at a consistent dose rate.