Scientists at The Wistar Institute discovered that Early Growth Response 1 (EGR1), a protein that turns on and off specific genes during blood cell development, inhibits expression of pro-inflammatory genes in macrophages. As part of their function to protect the body against pathogens, macrophages play a major role in initiation,…
New insights into a potential target for autoimmune disease
Immune response is a balancing act: Too much can lead to inflammatory or autoimmune disease; too little could lead to a serious infection. Regulatory T cells, or Tregs, are important players in striking this balance, acting as “brakes” on the immune response so it doesn’t go overboard. Consequently, controlling the…
Researchers publish new insights into COVID-19
Researchers at the Radboud University Medical Center seem to have found an essential mechanism in the disease process of COVID-19, which has so far been overlooked. If the insight is correct, it probably has important consequences for the treatment of the disease. In an international collaborative effort it is now…
New insights provide hope for new hair growth in adults
We are born with all the hair follicles that we will ever have in our lives, because after birth the skin loses the ability to create new hair follicles. If our skin is severely damaged it cannot form new hair follicles or associated sebaceous glands essential for keeping the skin…
New insights into how the human brain solves complex decision-making problems
A new study on meta reinforcement learning algorithms helps us understand how the human brain learns to adapt to complexity and uncertainty when learning and making decisions. A research team, led by Professor Sang Wan Lee at KAIST jointly with John O’Doherty at Caltech, succeeded in discovering both a computational…