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

Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Jun-2025 02:11 ET (29-Jun-2025 06:11 GMT/UTC)

Researchers uncover surprising role of 'natural killer' cells in resistance to cancer immunotherapy

Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology have uncovered that ‘natural killer’ cells (NK), a type of immune cell, may actually be hindering the immune system’s ability to attack tumors in patients who don’t respond to immune checkpoint blockade therapies (ICB), a form of immune therapy. The findings of the study have been published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Journal: Cancer Discovery
Funder: Marie Sklodowska Curie, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, KU Leuven, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Stichting Tegen Kanker, Kom op tegen Kanker

ERC Advanced Grant: Frank Buchholz (TUD) once again receives the highest endowed EU funding award for precise genome editing

Technische Universität Dresden
Grant and Award Announcement

The prospect of a cure for hereditary and infectious diseases is driving research in the field of genome editing forward at a rapid pace. Numerous ongoing clinical trials and the approval of the first genome editing therapy point to a wide range of treatment options for diseases that were previously considered incurable. Usually, scientists attempt to repair the disease-causing DNA segment in the host cell. Researchers at the Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine at TU Dresden led by molecular biologist Prof. Frank Buchholz now want to use highly specific editing tools to develop a new class of genome editing technologies that will significantly expand the potential for life-saving therapies. For his DC-PGE project (DNA-binding domain Conditioned Precision Genome Editing), Prof. Frank Buchholz has been awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), the highest endowed European funding of almost EUR 2.4 million over a period of five years. Frank Buchholz has thus succeeded in acquiring his second ERC Advanced Grant.

Funder: European Research Council

Gut microbiome composition and food insecurity linked to risk of cognitive impairment in adults

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study led in part by Mount Sinai researchers has found a compelling link between the composition of the gut microbiome and the risk of cognitive impairment (RCI) in adults, underscoring the complex role that both biology and social determinants—such as food insecurity—play in brain health.

Journal: npj Aging
Funder: NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Earthworms reveal an evolutionary mechanism which could defy Darwin

Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a mixed research centre belonging to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), points for the first time to a mechanism of rapid, massive genomic reorganisation which could have played a part in the transition of marine to land animals 200 million years ago. The team has shown that marine annelids (worms) reorganised their genome from top to bottom, leaving it unrecognisable, when they left the oceans. Their observations are consistent with a punctuated equilibrium model, and could indicate that not only gradual but sudden changes in the genome could have occurred as these animals adapted to terrestrial settings. The genetic mechanism identified could transform our concept of animal evolution and revolutionise the established laws of genome evolution.

Journal: Nature Ecology & Evolution

Embryos can eliminate bacterial infections before forming their immune system, a new research shows

Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research led by scientists from the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB) of the CSIC and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) has managed to film how a few days-old embryos defend themselves from a potential infection by bacteria. The work is published this week in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.

Journal: Cell Host & Microbe

Miniaturized hydrogen production

Ruhr-University Bochum
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Natural hydrogen-producing enzymes are large and extremely sensitive to oxygen. This makes it difficult to use them for the applied production of green hydrogen. Researchers from the Photobiotechnology group at Ruhr University Bochum and partners at the University of Potsdam, Germany, have found a way to bypass this problem: They transferred the iron-containing catalytic center of one such enzyme – [FeFe]-hydrogenase – into a ferredoxin. This small biomolecule acts as an electron carrier in all living organisms. The artificial biohybrid can efficiently produce hydrogen using electrons from light-powered biological systems. The researchers published their findings in the journal Advanced Science on Juni 17, 2025.

Journal: Advanced Science
Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, VolkswagenStiftung

To what extent are tree species in Mexico and Central America threatened by extinction?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

More than 4,000 tree species are found only in Mexico and Central America, or Mesoamerica. Research published in Plants, People, Planet reveals that nearly half of these tree species are threatened by extinction.

Journal: Plants People Planet

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