A research team led by Monica Bettencourt Dias, from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC, Portugal), discovered important features of cancer cells that may help clinicians fighting cancer. The researchers observed that the number and size of tiny structures that exist inside cells, called centrioles, are increased in the most aggressive sub-types of cancer. This study…
New Technique Battles Multi-Resistant Bacteria
In recent years, scientists, clinicians, and pharmaceutical companies have been struggling to find new antibiotics or alternative strategies against multi-drug resistant bacteria that represent nowadays a serious health problem. In a breakthrough study now published in PLOS Biology, Isabel Gordo and her team at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC; Portugal) have identified a compensatory mechanism…
Elimination of Specific Neurons Outside the Brain Triggers Obesity
A research team led by Ana Domingos, from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC; Portugal), developed a new genetic technique that allows the elimination of specific neurons of the peripheral nervous system without affecting the brain. Using this novel technique in mice, the researchers were able to study the function of the neurons that innervate the adipose tissue, and…