A new study has described a potential mechanism that could help explain why some proteins refold in a different pattern than expected. The researchers, led by chemists at Penn State, found that a type of misfolding, in which the proteins incorrectly intertwine their segments, can occur and create a barrier to the normal folding process. Correcting this misfold requires high-energy or extensive unfolding, which slows the folding process leading to the unexpected pattern first observed in the 1990s.

Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory and UConn Health discovered that cancer cells suppress "poison exons" — genetic elements that act as an off switch for protein production — in a key gene called TRA2β, promoting tumor growth. By using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to restore poison exon activity, the team effectively reactivated this kill switch, offering a potential new precision therapy for aggressive, hard-to-treat cancers.

 

In Nature Neuroscience, UConn School of Medicine researchers have revealed a new scientific clue that could unlock the key cellular pathway leading to devastating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

UofL Assistant Professor of Anthropology Kathryn Marklein co-authored a study that contradicts past literature about the stress markers and lifespans of female and male-presenting individuals, with new indications of resource disparities between the two. Marklein sheds light on how social and cultural factors — such as the preferential treatment of individuals presenting as males — have influenced health outcomes throughout history.