What is Gain-of-Function Research?

Health Problems

Gain-of-function research refers to the serial passaging of microorganisms to increase their transmissibility, virulence, immunogenicity, and host tropism by applying selective pressure to a culture. Image Credit: vchal/Shutterstock.com This is performed in a research context to understand the way in which a pathogen adapts to environmental pressures, allowing disease control measures to be better planned, and potential vaccines and therapies […]

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NIH-funded study suggests teen girl ‘night owls’ may be more likely to gain weight

Kids Health

Teen girls—but not boys—who prefer to go to bed later are more likely to gain weight, compared to same-age girls who go to bed earlier, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings by researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, and other institutions appear in JAMA Pediatrics. A total of 804 adolescents (418 girls and […]

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Study finds rare gain for tough-to-treat pancreatic cancer

Health Problems

Patients with pancreatic cancer that hadn’t spread lived substantially longer on a four-drug combo than on a single standard cancer drug, a rare advance for a tough-to-treat disease, researchers reported Monday. The results indicate the powerful chemotherapy treatment known as folfirinox will likely become standard of care for the minority of patients whose pancreatic cancer is diagnosed early enough to […]

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Researchers use ‘League of Legends’ to gain insights into mental models

Health Problems

Psychology researchers have used the game League of Legends to advance our understanding of how people build “mental models—the mental tools that allow people to make use of complex systems. The researchers found that mental models are developed in three distinct stages—findings that have the potential to inform everything from workplace training to video-game development. “We create mental models to […]

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