Cognition and neuroscience doctoral student Hailey Welch is the lead author of a study appearing online Nov. 5 in Cell Reports that examined the role of the vagus nerve’s branches in digestive signaling. She also has received a Ruth L. Kirschstein Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to support her progress toward her doctorate at The University of Texas at Dallas. Her research charts the molecular and functional profiles of sensory neurons in the vagus nerve of rodents using genetic sequencing, imaging and functional assays, providing a potential explanation for why right-sided vagus nerve signaling activates the release in the brain of dopamine.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Borrelia burgdorferi relies on the antioxidant manganese to protect it from its host’s immune system. Both removing or adding too much manganese weakens the bacteria. Disrupting this balance could lead to new treatments for Lyme disease.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers has combined deep botanical knowledge with powerful genomic technology to decode and mine the DNA of non-flowering seed plants and uncover genes that evolved to help plants build seeds. These findings, published in Nature Communications, may aid scientists in improving seed crop production in agriculture and in the conservation of these ancient endangered seed plants.

A naturally occurring protein that tends to be expressed at higher levels in breast cancer cells boosts the effectiveness of some anticancer agents, including doxorubicin, one of the most widely used chemotherapies, and a preclinical drug known as ErSO, researchers report. The protein, FGD3, contributes to the rupture of cancer cells disrupted by these drugs, boosting their effectiveness and enhancing anticancer immunotherapies.