Tidying up: A new way to direct trash to autophagy
Marie Kondo herself couldn’t do it any better. Now researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have uncovered a previously unknown structural feature of living cells that is critical to tidying up.
Plant’s recycling system important in sickness and in health
Autophagy has a remarkable influence on a plant’s metabolism even under healthy growing conditions, according to new research led by Richard Vierstra in Arts & Sciences.
Taking out the trash
Autophagy (self eating) has long been considered a kind of indiscriminate Pac Man-like process of waste disposal. Now, scientists at Washington University have shown that apart from conditions of cell starvation, it is carefully regulated: both in plants and yeast — and most likely in people. The finding is relevant to aggregation-prone pathologies such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Eye’s recycling process key to seeing color, bright light
The retina’s rods and cones allow us to see. But although scientists have an idea of what makes rods perform and flourish, they’ve been somewhat in the dark regarding what keeps cones working and thriving. Now, School of Medicine researchers led by Thomas A. Ferguson, PhD, believe they’re closer to the answer and that their findings may one day help preserve vision in patients with age-related macular degeneration and other retinal diseases.
$32 million NIH grant funds study of multipurpose infection fighter
A multi-institutional campaign to harness a newly recognized cellular defense against infection is being led by researchers at the School of Medicine. A $32 million grant from the National Institutes of Health is funding the collaborative, which could lead to drugs with unprecedented versatility in fighting different infections. Washington University’s Herbert W. Virgin IV, MD, PhD, is the principal investigator.
Nanoparticles treat muscular dystrophy in mice
Researchers at the School of Medicine have demonstrated a new approach to treating muscular dystrophy. Mice with a form of the disease showed improved strength and heart function when treated with nanoparticles loaded with rapamycin, an immunosuppressive drug recently found to improve recycling of cellular waste.
Recycling in the eye promotes good vision
Researchers have found that seeing well as we age depends, at least in part, on a recycling process in the eye that mops up cellular debris and recycles light-sensitive proteins. The findings suggest that disruptions in that process may harm vision and play a key role in the development of eye diseases related to aging. Inside the retinal pigment epithelium cells pictured are structures used for recycling (green) that engulf and digest spent parts of photoreceptor cells (red).
Discovery helps mice beat urinary tract infections
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis have found new clues to why some urinary tract infections
recur persistently after multiple rounds of treatment. Their research, conducted in mice, suggests that the
bacteria that cause urinary tract infections take advantage of a
cellular waste disposal system that normally helps fight invaders.
Problems in recycling cellular waste linked to clogged arteries
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that problems with a digestive process in cells can clog arteries. The finding could provide a target for future therapies aimed at preventing or reversing atherosclerosis.
School receives $8 million grant to study asthma, allergies
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, including Michael Holtzman, MD, have received an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of the barrier functions of the skin, gut, and airway in asthma and allergic diseases. Understanding the role of the epithelial cells in these tissues may help prevent and treat respiratory illnesses in the future, the researchers say.