Mice News

June 26, 2025

Top Headlines

May 29, 2025 — The protein DNase1 is one of the oldest biological agents in history: It has been on the market since 1958 and is now used, among other things, to treat cystic fibrosis. However, it takes considerable effort to produce it in immortalized hamster ...

Researchers Identify a Dual Origin of Cells Controlling Puberty and Reproduction

May 22, 2025 — Researchers have shown that gonadotrophs, cells in the pituitary gland with a key role in puberty and reproduction, come from two different populations, with the majority produced after birth rather ...

Asian Elephants Have Larger Brains Than Their African Relatives

May 20, 2025 — African elephants are the largest land animals on earth and significantly larger than their relatives in Asia, from which they are separated by millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, Asian elephants have a 20 percent heavier brain, as ...

Genome of Near-Extinct Northern White Rhino Offers Hope for Reviving the Species

May 14, 2025 — The northern white rhinoceros is one of the rarest animals on Earth, with just two females left and no natural way for the species to reproduce. Now, scientists have mapped the entire genome of a ...

Researchers Restore Antibiotic Effect in the Event of Resistance

May 7, 2025 — Bacterial resistance negates the effect of antibiotics in the treatment of infection. Using mouse models, researchers now show that if antibiotics are administered with an enzyme called endolysin, the combined effect protects against infection by ...

Designer Microbe Shows Promise for Reducing Mercury Absorption from Seafood

May 4, 2025 — Scientists inserted DNA-encoding methylmercury detoxification enzymes into the genome of an abundant human gut bacterium. The engineered bacterium detoxified methylmercury in the gut of mice and dramatically reduced the amount that reached other ...

Childhood Exposure to Bacterial Toxin May Be Triggering Colorectal Cancer Epidemic Among the Young

Apr. 23, 2025 — An international team has identified a potential microbial culprit behind the alarming rise in early-onset colorectal cancer: a bacterial toxin called colibactin. Scientists report that exposure to ...

Engineered Microglia Show Promise for Treating Alzheimer's and Other Brain Diseases

Apr. 21, 2025 — A new way to deliver disease-fighting proteins throughout the brain may improve the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, according to scientists. By engineering human ...

Metabolism Shapes Life

Apr. 16, 2025 — New research shows Glycolysis -- the process of converting sugar into energy -- plays a key role in early development. More than fuel, Glycolysis doesn't just power cells -- it helps steer them toward specific tissue types at critical moments in ...

Viral 'Backbone' Underlies Variation in Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness

Apr. 8, 2025 — Researchers have shown that differences in the entire rotavirus genome -- not just its two surface proteins -- affect how well vaccines work, helping to explain why some strains are more likely to infect vaccinated ...

Scientists Discover Why Obesity Takes Away the Pleasure of Eating

Mar. 26, 2025 — Many obese people report losing pleasure in eating rich foods -- something also seen in obese mice. Scientists have now discovered the reason. Long-term high-fat diets lower levels of neurotensin in the brain, disrupting the dopamine pleasure ...

Team Finds Regional, Age-Related Trends in Exposure to Drug-Resistant Pathogen

Mar. 20, 2025 — Campylobacter infections are the most common foodborne illnesses in the U.S., sickening an estimated 1.5 million people each year. A new study examined records of Campylobacter jejuni infections from ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:07pm EDT

A Third of Children Worldwide Forecast to Be Obese or Overweight by 2050

Mar. 3, 2025 — Obesity rates are set to skyrocket, with one in six children and adolescents worldwide forecast to be obese by 2050, according to a new study. But with significant increases predicted within the next ...

Scientists Reveal Gut Microbes' Hidden Role in Anxiety: Could Probiotics Be the Next Mental Health Breakthrough?

Feb. 5, 2025 — Could the key to easing anxiety be hidden in our gut? Scientists have discovered a crucial connection between gut microbes and anxiety-related ...

First Mouse With Two Male Parents to Reach Adulthood

Jan. 28, 2025 — A team of stem cell scientists have successfully used embryonic stem cell engineering to create a bi-paternal mouse -- a mouse with two male parents -- that lived until adulthood. Their results ...

Research Using Non-Toxic Bacteria to Fight High-Mortality Cancers Prepares for Clinical Trials

Jan. 17, 2025 — Scientists have made 'exciting,' patient-friendly advances in developing a non-toxic bacterial therapy, BacID, to deliver cancer-fighting drugs ...

Study Maps Bed Bugs' Genomes in Unprecedented Detail to Find out Why They Just Won't Die

Dec. 17, 2024 — Near-gap-free and near-error-free genomes of a susceptible bed bug strain and a superstrain with around 20,000-fold insecticide resistance offer the ...

The Maternal Microbiome During Pregnancy Impacts Offspring's Stem Cells in Mice

Dec. 11, 2024 — Gut microbiome composition during pregnancy has long-term effects on offspring stem cell growth and development, researchers report. Treating ...

CAST Mouse Model: A Crucial Tool for Future COVID-19 Outbreaks

Dec. 7, 2024 — Researchers have identified the first mouse strain that is susceptible to severe COVID-19 without the need for genetic modification. This development marks a pivotal step forward in infectious ...

Pandrug-Resistant Bacteria from the War in Ukraine Are Extremely Pathogenic

Nov. 25, 2024 — It has been a year ago since bacteria from war-wounded at hospitals in Ukraine were analyzed. The study showed that some of the bacteria types had total resistance to antibiotics. Now, the same ...

From Food Crops to Cancer Clinics: Lessons in Extermination Resistance

Nov. 21, 2024 — Researchers explore how established agricultural pest management strategies could be adapted to address cancer therapy. The pioneering method opens new possibilities for controlling drug resistance ...

HIV Latency Reversing Properties in African Plant

Nov. 20, 2024 — The Wistar Institute and the University of Buea in Cameroon has uncovered the mechanisms for a medicinal plant with anti-HIV potential in Croton oligandrus Pierre & Hutch, a species of African tree ...

Scientists Recreate Mouse from Gene Older Than Animal Life

Nov. 18, 2024 — An international team of researchers has achieved an unprecedented milestone: the creation of mouse stem cells capable of generating a fully developed mouse using genetic tools from a unicellular ...

Achilles Heel of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Nov. 16, 2024 — To stem the surging antibiotic resistance public health crisis, scientists seek solutions inside the mechanics of bacterial infection. A new study has found a vulnerability related to magnesium ...

Researchers Reveal Why a Key Tuberculosis Drug Works Against Resistant Strains

Nov. 13, 2024 — A new study uncovers vulnerabilities in drug-resistant TB, offering hope for improved ...

Not the Usual Suspects: Novel Genetic Basis of Pest Resistance to Biotech Crops

Nov. 4, 2024 — Researchers used genomics to investigate the genetic changes causing resistance to transgenic crops in field populations of the corn earworm, also known as cotton bollworm or Helicoverpa zea. They ...

Researchers Challenge Longstanding Theories in Cellular Reprogramming

Nov. 1, 2024 — A team led by researchers has discovered that a group of cells located in the skin and other areas of the body, called neural crest stem cells, are the source of reprogrammed neurons found by other ...

Stem Cell-Like Approach in Plants Sheds Light on Specialized Cell Wall Formation

Oct. 31, 2024 — Using a new method to isolate and reprogram plant cells into other cell types, biologists explored how banding patterns that increase the stability of plant cell walls are created and how their ...

Solar-Powered Animal Cells

Oct. 30, 2024 — Energy-making chloroplasts from algae have been inserted into hamster cells, enabling the cells to photosynthesize light, according to new research in Japan. It was previously thought that combining ...

Gut Bacteria Transfer Genes to Disable Weapons of Their Competitors

Oct. 24, 2024 — New research shows that a large, ubiquitous mobile genetic element changes the antagonistic weaponry of Bacteroides fragilis, a common bacterium of the human ...

Bacterial Vaccine Shows Promise as Cancer Immunotherapy

Oct. 16, 2024 — Researchers have engineered bacteria as personalized cancer vaccines that activate the immune system to specifically seek out and destroy cancer ...

Syrian Hamsters Reveal Genetic Secret to Hibernation

Sep. 30, 2024 — A gene that limits cellular damage could be the key to surviving prolonged cold ...

Unravelling an Ancient European Extinction Mystery: Disappearance of Dwarf Megafauna on Palaeolithic Cyprus

Sep. 17, 2024 — Scientists have unravelled a mystery about the disappearance of dwarf hippos and elephants that once roamed the picturesque landscape on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus before palaeolithic humans ...

The Unexpected Protein Connection in Maize Growth and Defense

Sep. 17, 2024 — Recent research has revealed that a family of proteins called COI1, previously associated with defense mechanisms in other plant species like Arabidopsis and rice, primarily regulates growth in maize ...

Targeted Immune Intervention and Stopping ART in Model of SIV Infection Leads to Control of Viral Replication and Reservoirs

Sep. 12, 2024 — Researchers have shown unprecedented control of SIV replication and decay of viral reservoirs by combining a stringent model of infection with the interruption of antiretroviral therapy (ART). The ...

New Research on Plant Stem Cells Shines Light on How Plants Grow Stronger

Sep. 12, 2024 — A professor of plant molecular biology wants people to know that plants have stem cells too. Just like in the medical world, plant stem cells could support human growth and development when used to ...

Team Unravels Regulatory Mechanism That Prevents Stem Cell Differentiation and Maintains Gender Balance in Vascular Plants

Sep. 12, 2024 — Plant scientists have identified a protein that plays a previously unknown role in controlling cell differentiation and determining gender in vascular plants, using a fern model. The discovery ...

Spiny Mice Point the Way to New Path in Social Neuroscience

Sep. 11, 2024 — Scientists zeroed in on brain circuitry powering the desire of spiny mice to live in large groups, opening the door to a new model for the study of complex social behaviors in ...

Blood Stem Cell Breakthrough Could Transform Bone Marrow Transplants

Sep. 3, 2024 — Researchers have made a world first breakthrough into creating blood stem cells that closely resemble those in the human body. And the discovery could soon lead to personalized treatments for ...

Benefits and Downside of Fasting

Aug. 21, 2024 — Researchers identified a signaling pathway in mice that boosts intestinal stem cells' regeneration abilities after fasting. When cancerous mutations occurred during this regenerative period, ...

Hospital Bacteria Tracked Better Than Ever Before With New Technique

Aug. 20, 2024 — New method provides high-resolution surveillance data about multiple common antibiotic-resistant bacteria at once and could help prevent the spread of ...

Searching Old Stem Cells That Stay Young Forever

Aug. 19, 2024 — The sea anemone Nematostella vectensis is potentially immortal. Using molecular genetic methods, developmental biologists have now identified possible candidates for multipotent stem cells in the sea ...