Demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), are frequently associated with the progressive loss of vision. The retinal nerve damage is thought to be caused by immune...
Published January 2, 2013

H. pylori is a bacteria that frequently causes gastric ulcers, is associated with iron deficiency, and is also a significant risk factor for gastric cancer. Noto et al. investigated the...
Published December 21, 2012

Angiogenesis, or the formation of new blood vessels, is important for tumor growth. While many regulatory growth factors have been identified, little is known about the genetic regulation that...
Published December 17, 2012

The cells that line the intestine, known as the intestinal mucosa, can become injured in disease states such as ulcerative colitis. To repair the injury, epithelial cells must migrate to the...
Published December 17, 2012

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is an inherited, degenerative eye disease that causes visual impairment and eventual blindness. RP is caused by mutations in eye photoreceptor rhodopsin. Zhang et al....
Published December 10, 2012

Down syndrome (DS), a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by trisomy of chromosome 21, is the leading cause of inherited intellectual disability.  The brains of patients with DS...
Published December 3, 2012

Erythropoiesis, or the production of red blood cells, is a tightly regulated process that is sensitive to cellular concentrations of heme. The protein FLVCR1 is a heme transporter and mutations...
Published November 26, 2012

The primary function of the kidneys is to filter the blood to remove waste and retain blood cells and proteins. Podocytes (shown in the panels above) are specialized kidney cells that form a...
Published November 26, 2012

Huntington's disease (HD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease caused by a mutation in the huntingtin gene (htt). Although most of the symptoms of HD are neurological, mutant HTT protein...
Published November 19, 2012

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder characterized by intellectual disability, seizures, sleep disturbances, hand flapping, and a happy demeanor. It is caused by deletion or...
Published November 12, 2012