Variations in the makeup of the commensal bacteria that colonize our intestines, or gut microbiome, are an intensively studied contributor to health in and beyond the gut. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 3, 2007, and April 23, 2012.)

In work that spans molecular to cognitive aspects of Alzheimer's disease, scientists have shown that one of the changes in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's is a reduction in certain types of rhythmic activity that are important for information processing. Increasing levels of one type of sodium channel increased both such rhythmic activity and the animals' learning abilities.

Last week was a busy one for Boulder, Colo.-based miRagen Therapeutics Inc. On Monday, the company announced it had completed a Series B round of $20 million. (See BioWorld Today, April 24, 2012.)

Not very long ago at all, slowing aging was considered a fool's errand. In fact, by many people, it still is. Sure, online ads may show you Photoshopped, or at the very least Photoshopped-looking, pictures of men with wrinkled faces on top of impossibly muscular bodies. But in real life, aging was thought to be inevitable – too complex, and too random, to be significantly stalled by anything as simple as a pill.

Mitochondria, the energy-producing centers of cells, very likely got their start more than a billion years ago as bacteria that gradually went from a symbiotic relationship to a full-fledged part of the cells they colonized.

Scientists have discovered that an experimental drug currently in clinical trials for diabetes may be useful for the treatment of muscular dystrophy as well.

Editor’s note: Since Dr. Breindl first wrote about vaccines and autism in 2008, the paper linking the MMR vaccine to autism has been retracted by the journal that published it, and its author Andrew Wakefield has lost his medical license. But vaccine skepticism is alive and well – and so, during this World Immunization Week, the question remains as pressing as ever: How do you have a productive discussion on policy with people who disagree with you on the facts? I am not a vaccine skeptic. My children have all their required vaccines and some optional ones as well. We...

Using yeast as a model system, scientists have gained new insights into the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on cells.

The immune system's raison d'être is to protect us from invading microbes. But in the intestines, at least, its chances of encountering bad bugs, which necessitate a vigorous response, are, if not exactly as rare as a lightning strike, then nevertheless the exception rather than the rule.

Using nanostructures known as dendrimers to deliver anti-inflammatory drugs across the blood-brain barrier, scientists have been able to improve the symptoms of cerebral palsy in animals. Though still preclinical, that approach, which could also find applications in neurodegenerative diseases, adds cerebral palsy to the growing list of neurodevelopmental disorders that can be at least partially reversed.