Study offers a genetic explanation for why some drugs trigger a deadly brain disease
Medicines that reshape or tamp down immune responses may be life-changing for patients with cancer…
Category: In the Lab
Revenge of the gaslit patients: Now, as scientists, they’re tackling Ehlers-Danlos syndromes
Type “Ehlers-Danlos syndromes” into a search engine, and multiple suggestions pop up. Is Ehlers-Danlos an…
Amid criticism, Stanford turns over review of its president to outside investigator
Stanford University has hired an outside law firm to lead the investigation of its president…
STAT+: In ‘landmark’ study, cell therapy exceeds expectations in melanoma patients
When tumors like melanoma form, the immune system mobilizes for war. White blood cells called…
STAT+: Could Vertex’s cystic fibrosis medicines hold a clue to treating deadly pneumonia?
About a year ago, a grad student came running up to Wolfgang Kuebler, looking all…
New concerns about a paper co-authored by Stanford president prompt journal to take a ‘closer look’
The journal Cell is opening its own review of research co-authored by Stanford University president…
Image manipulation in science is suddenly in the news. But these cases are hardly rare
In 2004, Mike Rossner and Kenneth Yamada, two top editors at the Journal of Cell…
STAT+: ‘This actually changes everything’: Altered image in 1999 paper raises potential peril for Stanford president
New findings of altered images in research co-authored by Stanford University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne add…
STAT+: On the long road to treating Huntington’s genetic stutter, scientists return to overlooked clues
In the spring of 1981, a geneticist from Indianapolis and a neurologist from Chicago got…
After three years in prison, ‘CRISPR babies’ scientist is attempting a comeback
He Jiankui, the Chinese biophysicist who created the first gene-edited children, had been quiet since…
Sporting night vision goggles, a scientist probes the internal clocks that help parasites infect people
In the 1700s, French astronomer Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan noticed that the leaves of the…
In armadillos, leprosy expands healthy liver tissue. Could that tell us something about regenerating our own?
The mystery started with some skin samples. Anura Rambukkana was a Ph.D. student in Amsterdam,…
STAT+: 5 looming questions about the exodus of young life scientists from academia
The unprecedented departure of young life science Ph.D.s and postdocs from academia raises all sorts…
University of California academic workers go out on strike to demand higher wages
Any other Monday morning, Josh Mesfin would have been in the lab, performing surgery on…
‘The tipping point is coming’: Unprecedented exodus of young life scientists is shaking up academia
SAN DIEGO — Rayyan Gorashi is keeping her options open. After all, she’s still a…
STAT+: Following your gut: How scientists are getting closer to linking the microbiome and chronic diseases
We never walk alone. Across the landscape of our bodies, trillions of microbes accompany us…
BU lab wasn’t required to clear potentially controversial study with NIH, director says
The director of a Boston University laboratory that conducted potentially controversial research on the viruses…
Boston University researchers’ testing of lab-made version of Covid virus draws government scrutiny
Research at Boston University that involved testing a lab-made hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus…
Faster brain imaging technique seems to overcome limitations of current MRI scans
Research often proceeds in a logical progression, new studies building upon a detailed understanding of…
Human neurons implanted in a rodent’s brain lead a rat to water — and make it drink
The scientist flicked on a laser, filling the rat’s brain with blue light. The rodent,…
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Three scientists win chemistry Nobel Prize for developing ‘click’ and ‘bioorthogonal’ chemistry
Carolyn Bertozzi of Stanford University, Morten Meldal of the University of Copenhagen, and K. Barry…
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STAT+: CAR-T therapy doesn’t work in all cancer cases. Scientists are starting to figure out why
When CAR-T therapy works against blood cancer, it can work spectacularly, but cancer still returns…
White House’s open-access research directive scrambles long-entrenched models, raising key questions
In August, the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy released a memo directing…
Fungi find their way into cancer tumors, but what they’re doing there is a mystery
For a while, scientists thought the trillions of microbes on our bodies lived in landscapes…
Who will get the call from Stockholm? It’s time for STAT’s 2022 Nobel Prize predictions
We live in a time where the rate of medical and superlative scientific advances is…
Virtual drug screening identifies possible new antidepressants in LSD-like molecules
What’s a hallucinogen without the hallucinations? Perhaps a potent and fast-acting antidepressant, according to a…
STAT+: Biotech turns to new and strange viruses to overcome gene therapy’s limitations
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The fluorescent orange sticker atop the white machine reads “BIOHAZARD,” but it’s a…
NIH launches the next stage of its ‘human genome project’ for the brain
The National Institutes of Health on Thursday announced more than $600 million in fresh funding…
STAT+: Researchers show they can quickly turn CAR-T cells on and off, raising hopes for safer cancer treatments
Researchers reported Wednesday that they could quickly and reliably turn CAR-T cells on and off…
Prehistoric skeleton reveals oldest surgical amputation — in a hunter-gatherer society 31,000 years ago
The amputation happened when the individual was perhaps 12 years old, the skeleton indicates. Gone…
STAT+: How a tool to map computer viruses came to power biology research
When mathematicians Leland McInnes and John Healy walked into their work’s annual “Big Dig” —…
Unprecedented! Incredible! Scientific grant applications are getting heavier on hype
“Novel.” “Exciting.” “Incredible.” “Devastating.” “Unprecedented.” You name the adjective, and a scientist has probably stuck…
When spinal fluid from ALS patients was put into mice, the mice got weak. An unlikely protein could be the culprit
It was a shot in the dark — or at best, a dimly lit room:…
As billionaires race to fund anti-aging projects, a much-discussed trial goes overlooked
This story has been excerpted from the STAT Report “The race for longevity: How scientists…
Aldosterone, a hormone that prevents dehydration, is linked to worsening kidney disease, study suggests
A drug that has been used to slow progression of kidney and cardiovascular disease in…
From the Navy to a neuroscience lab: how a daughter’s diagnosis spurred her mother’s career shift
Carina Block was working an overnight shift in the U.S. Navy base in Japan, guiding…
New research digs into the genetic drivers of heart failure, with an eye to precision treatments
When coronary arteries are blocked, starving the heart of blood, there are good medications and…
Synthetic mouse embryos created from stem cells — without sperm, eggs, or a uterus
Lit from below by the microscope’s soft glow, the translucent mouse embryos looked exactly as…
With the help of a sticky, stretchy material, scientists design a continuous ultrasound system
It took hundreds of failed experiments, sticking gummy gels to all sorts of surfaces, for…
Researchers revive abandoned technique in effort to make artificial human eggs in a test tube
In a little-noticed study published earlier this year, scientists from Oregon Health & Science University…
Acne bacteria, study suggests, thrive when skin oil turns infection-fighting cells into accomplices
Cutibacterium acnes, a crunchy Cheeto-shaped bug that lives on human skin, loves the oily pocket…
Eggs can survive decades without signs of aging. Now, scientists may know why
In a high-stakes evolutionary gambit, female mammals are born with a finite supply of immature…
How does the brain decide what memories are good and bad? A new mouse study offers clues
SAN DIEGO — Your first kiss. The blissful cool of ice cream. That time you…
In a boost for species conservation, freeze-dried mouse cells produce healthy pups
Two years after scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland delivered Dolly the sheep, the…
How dengue and Zika infections could make people more attractive to mosquitoes
Being bit by a mosquito carrying dengue or Zika virus can make you sick. The…
Lattes and gummies: Food science inspires a new approach to treating gut and liver injury
Inspired by how coffee shops foam milk, as well as gummy candy and sizzling Pop…
CRISPR debuted 10 years ago, in a paper hardly anyone noticed. Jennifer Doudna reflects on the DNA scissor’s first decade
On June 28, 2012, a joint press release went out from the U.S. Department of…
Women less likely than men to get authorship on scientific publications, analysis finds
Look at the list of authors on a scientific paper and you’ll typically see more…
Three burning questions about the first brain reference charts
Scientists have created the first reference charts for the human brain, mapping its growth from…
Are these Cocoa Krispies-loving hamsters a key to cracking long Covid?
New York — In late 2020, Justin Frere, a wiry M.D./Ph.D. student dressed in head-to-toe…