Lowering levels of tau protein improved multiple symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in two different mouse models of the disease, both of which are driven by hyperactivity of the mTOR PI3 kinase pathway.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Finding the next pandemic threat early on; Microglial fresh start helps heal brain trauma; Finding the silent majority; Anatomy study reveals schizophrenia subtypes; Increasing immune activity improves autoimmunity; How cancer cells hibernate…; …And who makes their bed; Blocking trash trashes MSI-hi tumors; New splicing factor implicated in muscular dystrophy.

Everything’s good for something. Including, it turns out, 5’ untranslated trinucleotide repeats. In the Feb. 17, 2020, issue of Nature Neuroscience, researchers have demonstrated a role for such repeats in controlling protein levels of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP).

LONDON – Six weeks on from the initial alert, “the window of opportunity” to control the COVID-19 epidemic is “narrowing,” according to the latest assessment from World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Noncoding RNA protects blood vessel walls; PD-1 blockade interferes with opioid analgesia; T-cell population is biomarker for beta cell function; Glutaminase 1 is NASH target; Oligodendrocyte-neural connections not just about myelin; Sharper look yields new potential kinase target in ovarian cancer; Structural insights could enable specific activation of GPCRs; Autophagy activation may prevent metastasis; AI finds structurally unique antibiotics.

Beyond every binary is a more complex reality. And so it is with driver and passenger mutations. The separation of tumor mutations into drivers and passengers underpins much progress in the development of targeted therapies. By looking at passenger mutations more carefully, though, researchers at Yale University have shown that passenger mutations, too, played a role in how tumors progressed.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder. But not just. And it may not start that way. There is increasing evidence that a-synuclein, the protein whose aggregates eventually destroy midbrain dopaminergic neurons in PD (and that are the cause of other diseases collectively known as the synucleinopathies), first aggregates “in enteric neurons, the neurons that control gastrointestinal function,” Collin Challis told BioWorld.

SEATTLE – As it enters its third year, the Human Cell Atlas project has mapped 100 million of 100 billion cells, and by comparing gene expression profiles of normal and aberrant cells and building networks of cellular interactions, is leading to breakthroughs in understanding of disease at a molecular level.

SEATTLE – Tracing the family tree of COVID-19 through its evolving DNA sequence makes it possible to disprove many false claims circulating on social media about the novel coronavirus, and, in particular, that it was generated in a covert biological weapons program. “From everything I’ve looked at, there is zero evidence for genetic engineering; it looks like normal evolution,” said Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who has been using genomes sequences taken from patient samples to track the spread of the virus since Jan. 11.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Ebola survivor's antibodies reveal therapeutic targets; JAK inhibitors build bone, no inflammation necessary; Origin story helps ovarian cancer prognosis; Celiac model captures gluten, genetics and gut reactions; New search method, new antibiotic MOA; Nanogold improves MS symptoms; Autophagy helps repair lung injury; How hook(worm)s grapple with nets; Thanks for the memories, myelin; Heat-shock proteins’ subtler cousin.