EurekAlert! News by Subject: Biology - News by Subject: Biology

Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-May-2025 01:08 ET (1-May-2025 05:08 GMT/UTC)

Iain Couzin recognized as “Highly Cited Researcher” 2024

University of Konstanz
Grant and Award Announcement

For the sixth time: Konstanz pioneer in collective behaviour research honoured as one of the most influential researchers of our time.

Labeling cell particles with barcodes

University of Tokyo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cell-to-cell communication through nanosized particles, working as messengers and carriers, can now be analyzed in a whole new way, thanks to a new method involving CRISPR gene-editing technology. The particles, known as small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), play an important role in the spread of disease and as potential drug carriers. The newly developed system, named CIBER, enables thousands of genes to be studied at once, by labeling sEVs with a kind of RNA “barcode.” With this, researchers hope to find what factors are involved in sEV release from host cells. This will help advance our understanding of basic sEV biology and may aid in the development of new treatments for diseases, such as cancer.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: JST FOREST, JST PRESTO, JST CREST, Human Frontier Science Program, Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas, ATI Research Grant

Researchers develop ramanome-based metastatic assessment index to enhance cancer metastasis prediction

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from Qingdao University and the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a novel method for rapidly and accurately assessing the metastatic potential of cancer cells. The new tool— combining Raman spectroscopy and machine learning—introduces the Ramanome-based Metastasis Index (RMI), offering an innovative means of diagnosing and managing cancer.

Journal: Small Methods

We could soon use AI to detect brain tumors

Oxford University Press USA
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new paper in Biology Methods and Protocols shows that scientists can train artificial intelligence models to distinguish brain tumors from healthy tissue. AI models can already find brain tumors in MRI images almost as well as a human radiologist.

Journal: Biology Methods and Protocols

Establishment of an immortalized red river hog blood-derived macrophage cell line

National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by NARO has successfully developed an immortalized red river hog blood-derived macrophage cell line. Since red river hogs are natural hosts of African swine fever viruses (ASFV), this cell line is a promising tool to advance ASFV research.

Journal: Frontiers in Immunology
Funder: The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan

Cholesterol is not the only lipid involved in trans fat-driven cardiovascular disease

Salk Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Salk scientists have tracked the flow of trans fats using mouse models to describe the molecular mechanisms that cause trans fats to promote atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), explaining how industrially produced trans-unsaturated fatty acids in our food significantly promote ASCVD and encouraging lawmakers to impose regulations on the use of these fats in food. This new insight into the flow of fats through the body points to new therapeutic targets for mitigating diseases like ASCVD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, and neurodegeneration.

Journal: Cell Metabolism

‘Map of Life’ team wins $2 million prize for innovative rainforest tracking

Yale University
Grant and Award Announcement

Traditionally, taking inventory of the species in a rainforest requires sending in a team of experts with field guides and binoculars for a multi-day expedition. But the devastating pace of the destruction of the world’s rainforests and increasing urgency to better monitor and protect what remains demand faster, easier, and more efficient approaches.

Several years ago, a Yale-based team devised an alternate approach: they use lightweight, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect this critical biodiversity data in remote areas.

Now they’ve collected something else: a coveted international honor.

XPRIZE Rainforest, a $10 million global competition to find the most innovative technology for exploring Earth’s biodiversity, has awarded one of its top prizes to Map of Life Rapid Assessments (MOLRA), an international research group led by Walter Jetz, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and director of the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change.

The MOLRA team placed second in the five-year competition, earning a $2 million. XPRIZE Rainforest officials made the announcement Nov. 15 at a ceremony associated with the G20 Social Summit in Rio de Janeiro.