Researchers at Upstate Medical University published a study in PLOS Biology that reveals a key mechanism underlying nervous system organization and may inform future research into myelin-related neurological diseases. Myelin is essential for efficient nerve signaling and healthy brain and spinal cord function. Damage to myelin is associated with conditions such as multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders. By identifying how myelin sheath length is regulated, this research advances understanding of nervous system development and provides a foundation for future investigations into myelin repair and regeneration.

For nearly 30 years, a small fossil from Scotland has been celebrated as one of the earliest known reptiles. A new study is rewriting that story.

Researchers have answered a longstanding question about how certain non-enveloped viruses punch through the cell membrane to deliver their genetic material. The findings deepen understanding of virology and could aid the biotech industry’s search for ways to deliver relatively large therapeutic agents into cells to treat or prevent disease. Work was made possible by an advanced imaging technique known as cryo-electron tomography, or cryo-ET, at HMS.

As a deadly fungal disease ravages wild frog populations around the globe, scientists have identified potential locations in Panama where amphibians might persist despite the presence of disease, according to new research from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) published today in the Journal for Nature Conservation.

UC San Diego researchers have received a $12.6 million award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to establish the Polysubstance Addiction Research Center, a multidisciplinary center designed to uncover the biological factors that contribute to addiction across multiple substances.