Findings
Men, women and the risk of AIDS
The adhesion molecule that protects HIV from degradation is expressed differently in the rectum and vagina.
A difference in the anatomy of the rectum and vagina may explain, in part, why anal intercourse is up to 10 times more likely than vaginal intercourse to result in HIV infection. This finding by...
Link between cocaine and self-control emerges from primate study
Cocaine users have trouble with self-control and decision making, even after they’ve given up the drug, according to a study by researchers at the School of Medicine. “It’s thought that this...
Et Cetera
Viruses that leave no molecular fingerprints as they destroy brain cells may be behind certain psychiatric and...
How Legionella subverts the cell
Of the 35 species of Legionella bacteria, one is implicated in most outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe...
From Other Issues
Autumn 2009
How cells stay in shape
If you put a sponge in water it swells, and the same is true of cells. But take on too much water and a cell will...
Spring 2009
Biomarker for lung cancer risk
A genetic variation could explain why some people have a greater risk of developing lung cancer, Yale scientists...
Spring 2009
Yale paper among best of 2008
An article by Yale scientists on the formation of cell membranes has been named one of the top scientific papers of...
Spring 2009
A molecule that puts the brakes on appetite
That heaping pile of golden crisp French fries looks delectable, but polishing off the plate may be a tall order. New...
Spring 2009
“Dry cleaning” effect—research shows how mice, and people, work on autopilot
By watching mice navigate a custom-designed swimming pool, Christopher Pittenger, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of...
Winter 2009
Fix-it kit for faulty genes
School of Medicine researchers led by Peter M. Glazer, M.D. ’87, Ph.D. ’87, HS ’91, department chair and the Robert E....
Winter 2009
Junk DNA and evolution
Humans can handle tools and walk upright thanks to a handful of letters in their genome, Yale scientists said in a...
Winter 2009
Yale scientists model artificial energy cells
Researchers at Yale University have created a blueprint for artificial cells that are more powerful and efficient than...
Winter 2009
A gene that helps blood vessels feed tumor growth also aids in brain plasticity
A gene that typically helps rogue blood vessels feed tumor growth also appears to play a helpful role in the body—in...
Autumn 2008
Metastasis and a hybrid cell
Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, may be caused by a hybrid cell that takes on the most dangerous...
Autumn 2008
A clue to evolution
After 16 years of research, Yale scientists have produced the first images of a group II intron, a cellular molecule...
Autumn 2008
Biologists find molecule that guides axons
Like a complex electronic device, the “wiring” of the nervous system has no tolerance for error. As an embryo develops,...
Autumn 2008
Bacteria disable immune cells by exploiting a genetic similarity
The bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease and Q fever, both of which are linked to pneumonia, use a clever form of...
Spring 2008
Big role for tiny RNA
Tiny RNAs discovered in “junk” DNA play an important role in controlling gene function, Yale scientists reported in the...
Spring 2008
Nanotubes can kill bacteria
A study to measure the toxic effects of nanotubes on human cells has led to a possible new approach to treating...
Spring 2008
Tiny RNAs discovered in “junk” DNA play an important role in controlling gene function, Yale scientists reported in the journal Nature in October.
Yale researchers have engineered a virus that can find its way through the vascular system and kill deadly brain...
Spring 2008
Building the case against a rogue gene
Researchers know that defects in brain development are to blame for autism, but pinpointing the likely genetic culprits...
Spring 2008
In the olfactory bulb, new neural stem cells learn to listen before they speak
Like a newborn learning from its parents, a neuron born of neural stem cells in the adult brain must take its cues from...
Winter 2008
To beat cancer, eat your veggies!
Kids aren’t the only people who should pile more vegetables on their dinner plate. A study published in the August 1...
Winter 2008
Rewriting the book on the human genome
A study published in Nature last summer has revealed a much more complex view of the vast, uncharted regions of the...
Winter 2008
An atomic view of a protein offers insights into a new target for cancer drugs
A research team led by Joseph Schlessinger, Ph.D., the William H. Prusoff Professor and chair of pharmacology, has...
Autumn 2007
Chlamydia more prevalent
Young women between the ages of 14 and 19 are getting infected and reinfected with chlamydia at a rate higher than...
Autumn 2007
A superbug from Iraq
Wounded soldiers returning from Iraq in the fall of 2006 were found to be carrying a “superbug” responsible for highly...
Autumn 2007
Antidepressants shown to nurture neurons
Doctors warn patients starting on antidepressants that they will have to wait weeks for the effects to kick in....
Autumn 2007
Cyclic AMP, a molecule linked to stress, also plays a role in memory loss
Working memory, the sticky-note reminder system of the brain, holds on to temporarily needed information by forming...
Spring 2007
Cancer mutations common
Cancer gene mutations are found in about 1 percent of the general population, more frequently than previously thought,...
Spring 2007
A gene for nicotine addiction
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1 billion people smoke worldwide, and that smoking causes nearly...
Spring 2007
A clear solution to a protein puzzle
Several years ago, when researchers discovered intramembrane proteases—a class of hydrophilic enzymes that seemed to...
Spring 2007
Yale scientist finds two genetic anomalies linked to macular degeneration
In late 2004, Josephine J. Hoh, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology and of ophthalmology and visual science,...
Winter 2007
Smoking and nicotine receptors
Smokers may have a hard time quitting because their brains have significantly more nicotine receptors than those of...
Winter 2007
Testosterone vs. nerve cells
A study by Yale scientists has shown that a high level of testosterone—such as that caused by the use of steroids—can...
Winter 2007
An early start for the thinking brain
The cerebral cortex, a layer of cells just a few millimeters thick on the outermost surface of the brain, is largely...
Winter 2007
Lacking an enzyme linked to diabetes and obesity, mice stay slim on a high-carb diet
Even on a “supersize” diet, mice bred to lack a certain enzyme remained more svelte than mice with the enzyme,...
Autumn 2006
Fighting a lethal microbe
Scientists at Yale have discerned how the immune system fights the bacterium that causes Legionnaire’s disease.The...
Autumn 2006
Gene linked to social aversion
Knocking out a gene in the brains of mice can counteract an aversion to social interactions, according to researchers...
Autumn 2006
Can microRNAs put the brakes on cancer?
One of the basic premises of biology is that our genetic code lies in our DNA, which, in turn, relies on RNA to...
Autumn 2006
Tissue engineering takes a leap forward with new scaffold design
Tissue engineering began in the late 1980s to fill a gap in the treatment of certain diseases—those for which...
Spring 2006
Protection against mad cow disease
In 1996, during an epidemic of mad cow disease—bovine spongiform encephalopathy—in British cattle, epidemiologists...
Spring 2006
Taste and smell—the nose knows
Although our taste buds distinguish sweet, sour, salty, savory and bitter, flavor arises from a combination of tastes...
Spring 2006
Two Yale Teams among Science Top 10 for 2005
Two findings by Yale scientists have been included in Science magazine’s list of the 10 leading scientific...
Spring 2006
New twist on experiment unleashes the brain’s potential for healing
When we pour concrete for a sidewalk or foundation, we want the material to be as fluid as possible, so that it will...
Autumn 2005
New target for melanoma
Using a technology devised at Yale five years ago, researchers have found what may be a new target for treatment of...
Autumn 2005
A toll on infections
In 1997 the late Charles A. Janeway Jr., M.D., and Ruslan M. Medzhitov, Ph.D., professor of immunobiology, discovered...
Autumn 2005
A moth’s gene helps discern gene functions
A new tool for genome research, developed in the Yale laboratory of Tian Xu, Ph.D. ’90, professor and vice chair of...
Autumn 2005
Using lasers to determine cell function
Through genetic tweaking, researchers at the School of Medicine have made fruit flies walk, jump and fly on command—by...
Autumn 2005
A livestock virus may offer a new approach to treating glioblastoma
Viruses are hijackers, wreaking infectious havoc by taking over a cell’s machinery and using it to replicate. But their...
Summer 2005
MicroRNA linked to oncogene
A Yale scientist has identified a microRNA, let-7, that controls an oncogene implicated in about 20 percent of cancers,...
Summer 2005
Smoking turns receptor on and off
Cigarette smoking turns on and then inactivates brain receptors that are critical to the effectiveness of...
Summer 2005
Prions found outside nervous system
Nancy H. Ruddle, Ph.D. ’68, the John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and professor of...
Summer 2005
Yale scientists find a genetic connection to age-related macular degeneration
Biomedical research into the genetic basis of disease has progressed at a rapid clip since the sequence of the human...
Spring 2005
Alzheimer’s protein solved
Using X-ray crystallography, Yale scientists have discerned, for the first time, the atomic structure of a protein that...
Spring 2005
A new role for “good” microorganisms
The human immune system is a finely honed defense mechanism that quickly detects and destroys bacterial and viral...
Spring 2005
Lipid found to play key role in transmitting information between synapses
Yale researchers have found that a membrane lipid plays a crucial role in communicating information between synapses in...
Fall/Winter 2004
Picturing an enzymatic RNA
More than 20 years ago scientists discovered that RNA, and not just proteins, could act like an enzyme. Now Yale...
Fall/Winter 2004
How Salmonella survives
Yale scientists have discovered how Salmonella, a bacterium that causes food poisoning and typhoid, escapes the innate...
Fall/Winter 2004
In the kitchen, a way to treat cystic fibrosis?
A possible compound for the treatment of cystic fibrosis may be as close as the kitchen spice rack. Researchers at Yale...
Fall/Winter 2004
Molecular players shown to affect nerve fibers in multiple sclerosis
Until recently, researchers knew very little about the neural molecules associated with secondary progressive multiple...
Summer 2004
A signal that the end is near
A chemotherapeutic agent used against cancer for more than 30 years has a secondary effect of inducing “death signals”...
Summer 2004
Enzyme linked to epilepsy
Small amounts of glutamate help the brain to function normally, but high concentrations of the neurotransmitter have...
Summer 2004
The hormonal component
The ancients blamed women’s susceptibility to mental illness on low body temperature, which made them prone to “cold”...
Summer 2004
Yale scientists identify an early line of defense against West Nile virus
In the five years since the West Nile virus made its first appearance in New York, it has spread to virtually all of...
Spring 2004
Honors for immunologist
Scientists from around the world gathered in November to honor the late Richard K. Gershon, M.D. ’59, 20 years after...
Spring 2004
A partnership that aids cancer’s migration
In the world of cancer-causing genes, Ras is a celebrity. Mutated versions of this gene appear in more than half of all...
Spring 2004
Gene mutation linked to OCD
A mutated gene’s link to a rare form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is the strongest proof yet that...
Spring 2004
Divining the scent of a human: for mosquito, it’s a molecular event
To most people perspiration ranks low on lists of attractive features, but one creature finds the smell of human sweat...
Winter 2004
Touched by an illusion
Why would multiple real stimuli register as a single stimulus in the brain? A paper published September 18 in the...
Winter 2004
Ro's role in lupus
An estimated 1.5 million Americans suffer from lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disorder that causes aching joints,...
Winter 2004
On tumor’s surface, a telltale molecule
The little white grains that sweeten our cereal at breakfast are usually all we have in mind when we speak of “sugar.”...
Winter 2004
A new class of RNA molecule may help cells decide how and when to grow
Two members of a class of tiny RNA molecules discovered only a decade ago have been shown to play a role in the timing...
Autumn 2003
New axons in mice
A Yale scientist has encouraged axonal sprouting in mice by removing a protein, Nogo, that blocks the regrowth of nerve...
Autumn 2003
A doubling of the human genome?
A new analysis of the well-studied chromosome 22 suggests that there may be far more than the estimated 30,000 genes in...
Autumn 2003
Chimeric “icon” finds another target
A versatile molecule developed at Yale, already shown to destroy blood vessels in tumors, now shows promise for...
Autumn 2003
When errant proteins stray, a cellular cowboy rides in to save the day
In the drama of life at the cellular level, proteins can be heroes or villains. When they’re wearing their white hats,...
Summer 2003
A DNA “mimic” to repair genes
A peptide nucleic acid (PNA) that mimics DNA holds the promise of repairing defective genes, according to Yale...
Summer 2003
Boost for protein, gene studies
The Center for Genomics and Proteomics, founded last year with a $200 million investment from the university, awarded...
Summer 2003
A link between sugar and heart defects
It’s a heart-rending legacy: mothers who have uncontrolled diabetes during pregnancy are three times more likely to...
Summer 2003
From the stomach to the brain: how a peptide hormone sparks appetite
In recent years neurobiologists have taken a keen interest in a peptide hormone called ghrelin. The molecule appears to...
Spring 2003
It’s a fly’s life (and a longer one)
Fewer calories may mean longer life, and Yale scientists working with colleagues at the University of Connecticut may...
Spring 2003
Hope for the sleep-deprived
Narcoleptics and those who are sleep-deprived may find comfort in a recent study by Yale scientists. According to...
Spring 2003
In microbe’s genome, a potential target
As genomes go, the sequence of the lowly bacterium Wigglesworthia glossinidia doesn’t carry quite the clout of the...
Spring 2003
Measuring energy expended by nerve cells, Yale team finds it’s all in a day’s work
For the first time, a team of Yale scientists has quantified the link between the work neurons perform for sensory or...
Winter 2003
A promising target
Yale researchers have shown that an artificial gene switch can induce the growth of new blood vessels in a mouse model,...
Winter 2003
An unlikely assembly plant
Imagine that you’re out for a stroll in your neighborhood, passing the same familiar landmarks you see every day, when...
Winter 2003
Nature studies offer a new view of the immune response, from a dendritic perspective
When the body is under pathogenic attack, it is the long-armed dendritic cells in the skin that identify the foreign...
Autumn 2002
SIDS and a faulty neuron
A study by Yale physicians suggests that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) may be linked to a defect in a neuron that...
Autumn 2002
Seeking genes and proteins
As part of a billion-dollar investment in science and engineering, the university announced in April that it will spend...
Autumn 2002
“Unbreakable” bones prompt a hunt for genes
The DNA of an extended Connecticut family has yielded a possible target for the treatment and prevention of...
Autumn 2002
In experiment with rats, an engineered peptide helps the spinal cord regenerate
Building on their previous research, scientists at Yale have developed a synthetic peptide that promotes nerve fiber...
Spring 2002
Bleach, water and HIV
Although proven effective in preventing the spread of HIV, needle exchange programs remain unfunded by the federal...
Spring 2002
Cocaine and the fetus
When pregnant women use cocaine, their offspring may suffer permanent harm to an area of the brain that governs...
Spring 2002
A lively debate about brain's capacity for renewal
Neurogenesis, an arcane and complex issue, has leaped out of scientific journals and conferences in the last few years...
Spring 2002
A link from sleep to pain
A neuropeptide whose absence may be a factor in sudden sleep attacks also appears to modulate pain. A team that...
Winter 2002
A promising vaccine
A vaccine developed by Yale scientists has protected mice from the West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne infection that has...
Winter 2002
Molecule that targets tissue factor is found to thwart tumors in mice
Yale researchers have developed a molecule that, when injected into tumors in mice, destroyed blood vessels in tumors...
Winter 2002
Knock-out study shows how some white blood cells regulate skin cancer
A type of white blood cell that is found in the skin and assists in the body’s immune response also helps prevent skin...
Winter 2002
Route of infection
Investigators in microbial pathogenesis have described a secretion system that many bacteria—including those that cause...
Winter 2002
Crossing over
Two Yale neuroscientists have discovered a pathway, apparently unique to humans, that guides neurons between different...
Winter 2002
Clues to how a cell moves
Using X-ray crystallography, investigators at Yale and the Salk Institute have solved the structure of Arp2/3, a...
Autumn 2001
AIDS vaccine clears first hurdle
A vaccine that uses an attenuated livestock virus as a vector for two HIV proteins has kept infected monkeys free of...
Autumn 2001
In a study in mice, adult stem cells reveal their versatility
Stem cells derived from the bone marrow of adult mice, a Yale researcher and her colleagues have found, can create not...
Summer 2001
A new threat from Lyme-disease ticks
The small, unobtrusive tick called Ixodes scapularis received worldwide medical attention almost 20 years ago, when it...
Summer 2001
Chronic cocaine use may dull responsiveness to brain signals
In a study measuring the brain’s degree of excitability, the brains of cocaine-dependent people show an abnormally low...
Spring 2001
Stem cell transplant shows promise for spinal cord repair
For the first time, Yale scientists have transplanted stem cells from an adult primate brain to repair the insulating...
Spring 2001
Antidepressants shown to promote new cell growth in the hippocampus
Continued use of antidepressants leads to new cell growth in an area of the brain known to suffer cell death and...
Spring 2001
Probing the genetic basis of emphysema
In separate studies, Yale researchers have demonstrated that the genes that code for interleuken-13 (IL-13) and...
Spring 2001
Estrogen deprivation associated with loss of dopamine cells
Estrogen deprivation leads to the death of dopamine cells in the brain, a finding by Yale scientists that could help...
Fall 2000 | Winter 2001
Yale researchers solve structure of the ribosome
In a landmark achievement, Yale researchers have determined the atomic structure of the ribosome’s large subunit,...
Fall 2000 | Winter 2001
Stem cells from bone marrow can help to repair liver
Much of the power of self-repair in the liver comes, of course, from the liver’s own cells, but a substantial portion...
Fall 2000 | Winter 2001
How nicotine may buffer the brain
Smokers who claim that tobacco relaxes them are reporting a documented biochemical effect. Nicotine, the main active...
Fall 2000 | Winter 2001
A genetic cause for hypertension during pregnancy
Blood pressure normally dips slightly during pregnancy but, as every obstetrician knows, a spike in pressure can lead...
Fall 2000 | Winter 2001
Facial recognition is impaired in autism
The developmental disorder autism interferes with social functioning—even with the recognition of faces, as a...
Summer 2000
Bench discovery raises hopes for therapy in spinal cord injuries
Scientists can regrow severed brain and spinal cord axons in the laboratory, but something in the adult central nervous...
Summer 2000
The "taste of temperature" not such an odd notion
What does a change in temperature taste like? According to a study by Yale investigators, the same salty, sweet or sour...
Summer 2000
Animal model developed for Type I diabetes
Insulin-dependent, or Type I, diabetes is one of the most common and potentially devastating chronic diseases. Yale...
Summer 2000
A new form of Ras is identified
A Yale molecular biologist in collaboration with a colleague in Korea has identified a new type of Ras protein, a class...
Summer 2000
A drug that may reverse memory loss
Short-term, or working, memory is often lost due to age, mental illness and long-term treatment with antipsychotic...
Summer 2000
Protein plays a role in regulation of dopamine
Researchers at Yale and the Medical College of Georgia have taken an important step in unraveling the complex molecular...
Summer 2000
Molecular ‘ZIP coding’ system speeds proteins to their appointed destinations
From brain receptors to hormones, nearly half of the proteins in the body serve to transport biochemical information...
Summer 2000
Preventive factor may be a cause of heart disease
According to a Yale study, a key immune factor produced by white blood cells that was thought to prevent hardening of...
Summer 2000
A new twist on protein folding
As disordered, one-dimensional strings of amino acids, proteins cannot carry out their essential work in cells. In...
Summer 2000
Why are we so tasty to bugs? A genetic basis emerges in the lab.
Insects devour up to 40 percent of the world’s crops and spread disease to hundreds of millions of humans and livestock...
Spring 2000
In yeast studies, a mutated DNA reveals location, function of genes
Yale researchers have discerned the functions of a third of the genes in the yeast genome, using a novel method of DNA...
Spring 2000
Mitochondrial voltage and neural connections
Mitochondria are not only the energy packs of each living cell, but also judge and jury, deciding whether cells live or...
Spring 2000
A role for serotonin in long-term memory
Yale scientists have discovered a new mechanism for strengthening synapses that store long-term memories. Applying the...
Spring 2000
At last, a close-up view of the transcription process
In a discovery that offers insights into fundamental cellular processes, Yale researchers have observed for the first...
Spring 2000
Shedding light on Salmonella’s Trojan Horse
To invade and occupy a cell, Salmonella first deploys a Trojan horse, a protein called SopE that instructs the cell to...
Spring 2000
New role found for B Cells in gastrointestinal disease
A team of Yale researchers has traced a path of cellular development that may lead to gastrointestinal and other...
Fall 1999 | Winter 2000
Insulin recognized as target in diabetes
Cells that cause diabetes do so by launching aggressive attacks on insulin proteins, Yale researchers have found. This...
Fall 1999 | Winter 2000
Mental health cuts found costly
A reduction in mental health services at a large Connecticut corporation triggered an increase in medical-care use and...
Fall 1999 | Winter 2000
Telomerase and the fight against cancer
Telomerase, an enzyme that makes cancer cells grow, is a better target for chemotherapy than previously thought, a Yale...
Fall 1999 | Winter 2000
Child care and school readiness
A six-year study at Yale and three other institutions has reached what appears to be a fairly obvious conclusion:...
Fall 1999 | Winter 2000
Better odds with angioplasty
Balloon angioplasty offered better odds of survival over clot-dissolving drugs for elderly heart-attack patients,...
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