Scientists at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have mapped a vast spider web of interactions between proteins in lung cancer cells, as part of an effort to reach what was considered "undruggable." This approach revealed new ways to target cells carrying mutations in cancer-causing genes.

Fresh insights into how immune cells are regulated could signal a new approach to tackling infections. Researchers have found that oxygen levels in the body can profoundly change the way immune cells behave. Scientists say the findings pave the way for new therapies that target the immune response to infection, with the potential to boost existing antibiotic treatments.

By hijacking a cancer cell's own metabolism, researchers have found a way to tag and target elusive cancers with small-molecule sugars. This opens treatment pathways for cancers that are not responsive to conventional targeted antibodies, such as triple-negative breast cancer.

There's a multi-billion-dollar industry devoted to products that fight signs of aging, but moisturizers only go skin deep. Aging occurs deeper - at a cellular level - and scientists have found that eating less can slow this cellular process. Recent research published in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics offers one glimpse into how cutting calories impacts aging inside a cell. The researchers found that when ribosomes - the cell's protein makers - slow down, the aging process slows too.

It is now possible to reprogram cells from the liver into the precursor cells that give rise to the pancreas by altering the activity of a single gene. A team of researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) has now accomplished this feat in mice. Their results should make it feasible to help diabetic patients through cell therapy.

Studies abound that point to a role for plain old aspirin in keeping deadly cancers at bay. While aspirin is not yet part of mainstream treatment for any cancer, it is recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for certain adults to help prevent colorectal cancer. But researchers have puzzled over how exactly the "wonder drug" works to ward off cancer. Most think it has to do with the drug's inflammation-lowering effects.

The same brain-chemical system that mediates feelings of pleasure from sex, recreational drugs, and food is also critical to experiencing musical pleasure, according to a study by McGill University researchers published today in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.