Studies have associated low zinc levels with autism spectrum disorder. But why this should be the case has been unclear. Now, scientists may have an explanation for the link.
Genetic mutations affecting a single gene called LRRK2 play an outsized role in Parkinson's disease, but nobody's been able to say what the connection is between the genetic defect and the brain-cell die-off that characterizes the condition. Here's a clue.
Stanford researchers have shown in rats that pharmacologically active amounts of a fast-acting anesthetic drug could be released from nanoparticle "cages" in small, specified brain areas at which the scientists had aimed a beam of focused ultrasound. In principle, the same approach could work for many drugs with widely differing pharmacological actions and psychiatric applications, and even for some chemotherapeutic drugs used to combat cancer.
Your trillions-strong ecosystem of gut microbes, in addition to its many other responsibilities, operates as a homespun pharmaceutical factory.
Much of what we know about the immune system comes from experiments conducted on mice. But lab mice are not little human beings. The two species are separated by both physiology and lifestyles. Stanford immunologist Mark Davis is calling on his colleagues to shift their research focus to people.
A workaround avoids a common, dangerous side effect of gene therapy: an autoimmune reaction to the normal protein, which could improve gene therapy.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is caused by various genetic mutations that cause heart muscle to contract with too much force. New research suggests why.
An electrochemical on/off switch in the brain may spell the difference between sociability and social awkwardness, scientists have learned.
Low levels of a substance, acetyl-L-carnitine, in the blood are associated with depression. Could this "mood mirror" be a cure for the blues?
How our brains blend cues from multiple senses to estimate our speed and position in space depends on where we are and how fast we seem to be moving.
What if you could stitch together single cells any way you wanted to? Potential medical and even industrial applications abound.
A group of researchers have developed an imaging method to show the brain in motion.
A set of structurally similar proteins can activate a receptor for nicotine on immune cells, resulting in a dialing down of inflammation.
Stanford's Karl Deisseroth has won the 2018 Kyoto Prize in applied technology for his invention and application of optogenetics.
In each of our abdomens sit trillions of microbes, but a bout of diarrhea can induce a lasting round of gut-bug disruption, new research indicates.
Antiretroviral therapy, a breakthrough treatment for HIV infection, suppresses the levels of circulating HIV viral particles in the blood. When it works, cancer rates drop, according to a new study. Still, even when the therapy is successful, HIV-positive individuals retain elevated rates of cancer.
