Immunology

The 'switch' that keeps the immune system from attacking the body

A microscopic battle rages in our bodies, as our cells constantly fend off invaders through our immune system: a complex system of cells and proteins designed to protect us from harmful pathogens. One of its central components ...

Medical research

Scientists decipher key mechanism in hypoxia

Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) and the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Princesa (IIS Princesa) have made a major advance toward deciphering the mechanism through which ...

Medical research

Increasing food intake by swapping mitochondrial genomes

Many of the characteristics that make people so different from each other are often the result of small differences in the DNA between individuals. Variation in just a single base in our DNA can cause significant variation ...

Immunology

How cytoplasmic DNA triggers inflammation in human cells

A team led by LMU's Veit Hornung has elucidated the mechanism by which human cells induce inflammation upon detection of cytoplasmic DNA. Notably, the signal network involved differs from that used in the same context in ...

Medical research

New study upends current theories of how mitochondria began

Parasitic bacteria were the first cousins of the mitochondria that power cells in animals and plants – and first acted as energy parasites in those cells before becoming beneficial, according to a new University of Virginia ...

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