While organoids aim to mimic human organs, the liver's repertoire of complex functions - and thus the energy it needs to operate - have made it challenging for researchers to grow organoids that proliferate and fully function, says Sato. When prioritizing growth and survival in laboratory settings, hepatocytes, the liver's main cells, eventually transformed into cells resembling cholangiocytes, which line the bile duct. Hepatocyte functions only lasted 1-2 weeks at most.

A study led by researchers in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy has found that a pair of popular glucose-lowering medications may have protective effects against the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

In research published in JAMA Neurology on April 7, UF researchers studied Medicare claims data of older adults with Type 2 diabetes to assess the association among glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1RAs, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, or SGLT2is, and the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

A stem cell-based therapy initially developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) may lead to a new treatment for advanced Parkinson's disease, according to results from a phase 1 clinical trial reported in Nature.

The treatment involved creating nerve cells (neurons) derived from embryonic stem cells and transplanting them into the brains of 12 Parkinson's patients.

University of California, Davis researchers have developed a new, neuroplasticity-promoting drug closely related to LSD that harnesses the psychedelic's therapeutic power with reduced hallucinogenic potential.

The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights the new drug's potential as a treatment option for conditions like schizophrenia, where psychedelics are not prescribed for safety reasons.

Is sauerkraut more than just a tangy topping? A new University of California, Davis, study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology suggests that the fermented cabbage could help protect your gut, which is an essential part of overall health, supporting digestion and protecting against illness.

Authors Maria Marco, professor with the Department of Food Science and Technology, and Lei Wei, a postdoctoral researcher in Marco's lab, looked at what happens during fermentation - specifically, how the metabolites in sauerkraut compared to those in raw cabbage.

Tim-3 is an immune checkpoint molecule involved in immunity and inflammation recently linked to late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), but its role in the brain was unknown until now. In a paper published in Nature, researchers from Mass General Brigham used preclinical models to uncover Tim-3's role in microglia, the brain's resident immune cells, and have identified it as a promising therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.

Chinese scientists have revealed a hidden metabolic partnership between breast cancer cells and immune cells that drives aggressive tumor behavior and resistance to immunotherapies. The study sheds light on how tumor cells exploit the amino acid arginine to both fuel their growth and evade the immune system.

The research was led by Prof. HU Hai, who holds dual appointments as professor at the Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Chief Physician at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, in collaboration with Prof. LUO Manli from Sun Yat-Sen University and Prof. LI Hongde from HIM.