Explainers

From signaling hunger to influencing mood, the vagus nerve keeps the gut and brain in sync. 

After decades of combating daily assaults, the immune system undergoes dramatic changes that drastically affect human health.

After decades of combating daily assaults, the immune system undergoes dramatic changes that drastically affect human health. 

Cancer cells can outsmart drugs meant to combat them. Unraveling their tactics holds the key to beating cancer at its own game.

As bispecific antibodies emerge as therapeutic game changers, scientists leverage cutting-edge technologies to navigate their multifaceted development.

Cells travel throughout the body, enabling diverse biological phenomena in health and disease.

A cutting-edge gene synthesis approach enables researchers to construct genes with speed, adaptability, and cost effectiveness. 

Upon ingesting drugs, a complex cascade of physiological events unfolds within the body. 

In vitro transcription lays the foundation for recent advances in mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. 

Metatranscriptomics enables researchers to peer into the microbiome to determine unique microbial functions and develop new therapeutics.

By engineering immune cells to effectively attack cancer cells, researchers established a new paradigm for cancer therapy. 

Scientists fight against cancer progression using checkpoint inhibitor drugs.

The early steps of viral vector production influence cell and gene therapy success.

Understanding how the heart initially responds to exercise can provide clues into the biological basis of various cardioprotective mechanisms.

Cases of monkeypox are popping up across the globe. But where did it come from? How does it work? And how can we treat it? It took looking all the way back to the beginning — 1500 BCE to be exact — to answer these pressing questions.

Cancer cells acquire new skills to break free of their environmental constraints and  spread to new locations in the body.

New spatial proteomics technology helps researchers to confidently tease apart complex cell phenotypes.

At the frontline of an autoimmune attack are rogue immune cells turned foe against the body they were created to protect. Scientists study the complex etiology of autoimmune disorders to restore the broken balance.

Bats, pigs, and pangolins – oh my! The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the consequences of viral spillover from animals, but it is not the first time in history that an animal virus has spurred disease in humans.

An aching arm and fever are just a few outward signs of complex immune processes unfolding internally post vaccination.