A new study from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) shows that certain gut bacteria found in one-month-old infants are associated with future development of food sensitivities and the development of food allergies, particularly to eggs, while other types of bacteria are not. The study also found factors that predicted which type of bacteria would be present in the guts of newly born babies. Together, the findings suggest that certain probiotic supplements might be a good early defense for preventing food allergies, especially for at-risk infants. The study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

A team of investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Google, and Columbia University have created an artificial intelligence model that can predict which genes are expressed in any type of human cell.

Chen Wang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded a fellowship from the Prevent Cancer Foundation to develop an optical coherence tomography (OCT) probe for kidney biopsy imaging. This innovation aims to enhance biopsy navigation, reduce failed procedures and improve tumor detection and surgical outcomes for kidney cancer patients.

BUFFALO, NY- January 29, 2025 – A new research paper was published in Volume 16 of Genes & Cancer on January 20, 2025, entitled, “Analysis of pathogenic variants in retinoblastoma reveals a potential gain of function mutation.”

BUFFALO, NY- January 29, 2025 – A new editorial was published in Volume 16, Issue 22 of Aging (Aging-US) on December 11, 2024, titled “ISarcoPRM algorithm for global operationalization of sarcopenia diagnosis.”

The paper, titled, Expanding the human gut microbiome atlas of Africa, was published today in Nature, the world’s leading scientific journal.

The gut microbiome has a significant impact on human health, and the lack of knowledge of the diversity of microbiomes in Africa has been a barrier to future health interventions and research. 

The study is a critical development in gut health research globally as much more can now be learned, particularly about diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity, and their relationship to gut microbiota. 

Over the past two decades, the idea of targeting transcription factors to combat malignancies has turned into a clinical reality. Targeting oncogenes and their interactive partners is an effective approach to developing novel targeted therapies for cancer and other chronic diseases. The MYC family of proteins, which are transcription factors, play a pivotal role in many cellular processes. However, dysregulation of MYC, such as amplification of MYCN, is associated with tumorigenesis, especially for neuroblastoma. MDM2, on the other hand, is one of the most frequently studied oncogenes and is an excellent target for cancer therapy, based on its p53-dependent and p53-independent oncogenic activities in various cancers.