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Study suggests humans can detect even the smallest units of light

Just how dark does it have to be before our eyes stop working? Research by a team from Rockefeller University and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Austria has shown that humans can detect the presence of a single photon, the smallest measurable unit of light. Previous studies had ...

New approach exposes 3D structure of Alzheimer’s proteins within the brain

Alzheimer’s disease clouds memory, dims the mind, and distorts behavior. Its ravages also show up within the physical structure of the brain, perhaps most prominently as sticky clumps of a naturally occurring but harmful protein called amyloid-β. A team at The Rockefeller University used a new...

An unexpected origin for calming immune cells in the gut

Biologically speaking, we carry the outside world within us. The food we ingest each day and the trillions of microbes that inhabit our guts pose a constant risk of infection—and all that separates us from these foreign entities is a delicate boundary made of a single layer of cells. The immune...

New mouse models give a boost to the development of cancer immunotherapies

Cancer immunotherapies—drugs that work by making a patient’s immune system better at spotting and destroying tumor cells—are increasingly generating headlines. A number of these drugs are now being used for the treatment of melanoma, lung, and kidney cancers, and are showing promise in clinica...

Do artificial sweeteners live up to the promise of sweetness without harm? An ongoing clinical study investigates

There was a time when Thomas Huber, a molecular biologist at The Rockefeller University, was drinking about 36 ounces of diet cola a day. More than a year ago, Huber, a research assistant professor in Thomas P. Sakmar’s Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Signal Transduction, became curious about ...

Researchers uncover how “silent” genetic changes drive cancer

At any given moment, the human genome spells out thousands of genetic words telling our cells which proteins to make. Each word is read by a molecule known as a tRNA. “We’ve long thought of these molecules as little more than middle men participating in the process of translating proteins...

New insights into muscular dystrophy point to potential treatment avenues

The average healthy man is 54 percent muscle by mass, but people with muscular dystrophy, an incurable, genetic condition, have almost no muscle at terminal stages of the disease. New research from The Rockefeller University provides insights about what causes patients’ muscles to degenerate and ...

Researchers find new signs of stress damage in the brain, plus hope for prevention

Chronic stress can make us worn-out, anxious, depressed—in fact, it can change the architecture of the brain. New research at The Rockefeller University shows that when mice experience prolonged stress, structural changes occur within a little-studied region of their amygdala, a part of the brain...

New technique captures the activity of an entire brain in a snapshot

When it comes to measuring brain activity, scientists have tools that can take a precise look at a small slice of the brain (less than one cubic millimeter), or a blurred look at a larger area. Now, researchers at The Rockefeller University have described a new technique that combines the best of...

New method gives scientists a better look at how HIV infects and takes over its host cells

Viruses attack cells and commandeer their machinery in a complex and carefully orchestrated invasion. Scientists have long probed this process for insights into biology and disease, but essential details still remain out of reach. A new approach, developed by a team of researchers led by The Rock...