Body

Scientists have shown how a promising viral therapy that delivers a double blow to cancer can sneak up on tumours undetected by hitching a ride on blood cells.

The work, led by researchers from the University of Leeds and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), reveals how the 'hitch-hiking' virus is shielded from antibodies in the blood stream that might otherwise neutralise its anti-cancer properties.

In the June 13 issue of Science Translational Medicine, an international team led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that the new technology of exome sequencing is not only a promising method for identifying disease-causing genes, but may also improve diagnoses and guide individual patient care.

LA JOLLA, CA – June 13, 2012 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have used a powerful new chemical-screening method to find compounds that inhibit the activity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. Unlike existing anti-HIV drugs, the compounds bind to a protein called "nucelocapsid," which is unlikely to mutate into drug-resistant forms.

LONDON, ON – A team of researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University have identified a novel way that a common virus, called adenovirus, causes disease. In doing so, they have discovered important information on one of the body's key immune responses. Their findings, published today in Cell Host & Microbe, may have implications for infectious diseases and cancer.

Forsyth scientists have made a significant contribution to the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), an initiative which has defined the normal bacterial makeup of the human body for the first time in history. As leading experts in oral and craniofacial microbiology, the Forsyth team provided three of the four body site experts for the mouth and oralpharyngeal surfaces.

Trillions of microbes inhabit the human body, occupying virtually every nook and cranny. And most of the time, this relationship is a friendly one, with microbes helping to digest food, strengthen the immune system and ward off dangerous pathogens.

The healthy adult body hosts ten times as many microbial cells as human cells, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and eukaryotic microbes resident on nearly every body surface. The metagenome carried collectively by these microbial communities dwarfs the human genome in size. For the first time, a consortium of researchers has mapped the full community of microbes that inhabit various parts of the healthy body.

Certain saturated fats that are common in the modern Western diet can initiate a chain of events leading to complex immune disorders such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in people with a genetic predisposition, according to a study to be published early online in the journal Nature.

Researchers have developed a new technique to identify hotspots of malaria parasite evolution and track the rise of malarial drug resistance, faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Microbes inhabit just about every part of the human body, living on the skin, in the gut, and up the nose. Sometimes they cause sickness, but most of the time, microorganisms live in harmony with their human hosts, providing vital functions essential for human survival. For the first time, a consortium of researchers organized by the National Institutes of Health has mapped the normal microbial make-up of healthy humans, producing numerous insights and even a few surprises.

For the first time, scientists have defined the bacteria that inhabit multiple sites along the healthy human digestive tract in a large number of individuals. To prevent and control bacterial diseases, it is essential to first identify which bacteria are responsible for keeping us in good health. As part of the Human Microbiome Project, the Forsyth Institute-led team examined bacteria found in adults at 10 sites along the digestive tract, including seven mouth surfaces, the tonsils, the throat and stool samples.

Boston, MA -- New studies led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers have helped identify and analyze the vast human "microbiome"—the more than five million microbial genes that exist inside the human body. Scientists estimate that each person carries about 100 times as many microbial genes as human genes, and they want to learn more about the role that microbes—organisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live in the stomach, in the mouth, on the skin, or elsewhere—play in normal bodily functions, like development or immunity, as well as in disease.

Human beings are ecosystems on two legs, each of us carrying enough microbes to outnumber our human cells by 10 to 1 and our genes by even more. Identifying the dizzying numbers of bacteria and other microbes that live in and on our bodies is like exploring a new planet. You need much more than telescopes and charts to map the unknown territory called our microbiomes – and explorers to take a census of the inhabitants.

When researchers at NIH and Celera published the first complete draft sequences of the human genome in 2001, many people assumed that the genetic foundation for a new and complete understanding of the human body and its functions had been achieved.

As it turned out this was far from the complete story, since it turns out that our bodies are, well… not completely human.