A small community of scientists has taken a do-it-yourself approach to microscopy: when the right tool for the job doesn’t exist, make it. While pursuing a bioengineering PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Wesley Legant ran into a frustrating roadblock: he had ideas, but the equipment to carry them out didn’t yet exist. […]
cell biology
Physiology or Medicine Nobel Goes to Discovery of Cell’s Recycling Process
Yoshinori Ohsumi revealed workings of autophagy, a routine biological process implicated in many diseases. The 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi of the Tokyo Institute for Technology for his discovery of how cells break down and recycle their own proteins and organelles, a process called […]
Lasker Foundation announces 2014 award winners
Five researchers have been honoured for their clinical and basic science research, including the scientists who developed deep brain stimulation for neuromotor diseases. Read more in The Lancet.
The changing colour of fat
The different functions of white, brown and beige fat might yield new targets in the fight against obesity and metabolic disease. When you think of fat in the human body, you might picture a homogenous, white substance, much like a block of lard. But researchers are learning that the role of fat in metabolism changes […]