6,679 results match your criteria: "Massachusetts 02142; email: joelh@broadinstitute.org.[Affiliation]"

SARS-CoV-2 infection elucidates features of pregnancy-specific immunity.

Cell Rep

November 2024

Department of Immunology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • - Pregnancy may worsen the severity of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections, but the reasons behind this increased risk are not well understood.
  • - A study involving 226 women, including 152 pregnant and 74 non-pregnant, showed that pregnant women experience significant changes in T cell responses and immune functions after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  • - The study found increased levels of interleukin-27 in pregnant women, which is linked to T cell exhaustion, suggesting that unique immune responses during pregnancy could make them more vulnerable to viral infections.
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Mitochondrial biogenesis relies on both the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, and imbalance in their expression can lead to inborn errors of metabolism, inflammation, and aging. Here, we investigate N6AMT1, a nucleo-cytosolic methyltransferase that exhibits genetic codependency with mitochondria. We determine transcriptional and translational profiles of and report that it is required for the cytosolic translation of TRMT10C (MRPP1) and PRORP (MRPP3), two subunits of the mitochondrial RNAse P enzyme.

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Article Synopsis
  • In Finland, isolated cleft palate (CP) occurs more frequently than cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P), which is the opposite trend seen in other European countries.
  • A genome-wide association study revealed a specific single nucleotide polymorphism (rs570516915) strongly linked to CP in the Finnish population, showing significant statistical results and confirmed in other cohorts.
  • The risk allele for rs570516915 disrupts a binding site for the IRF6 transcription factor, leading to decreased IRF6 expression, indicating that this genetic alteration may be a key factor in the mechanism causing CP.
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Type III interferons induce pyroptosis in gut epithelial cells and impair mucosal repair.

Cell

December 2024

Division of Immunology, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Gastroenterology, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Program in Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address:

Tissue damage and repair are hallmarks of inflammation. Despite a wealth of information on the mechanisms that govern tissue damage, mechanistic insight into how inflammation affects repair is lacking. Here, we investigated how interferons influence tissue repair after damage to the intestinal mucosa.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Biomolecular condensates are compartments in cells that help organize biochemical processes, but the factors influencing their arrangement (like size and spacing) are not well understood.
  • - The study focuses on nucleolar fibrillar centers (FCs) and finds that inhibiting ribosomal RNA synthesis changes their patterning, suggesting that RNA plays a crucial role in this process.
  • - The research indicates that active RNA synthesis creates a non-equilibrium state that stabilizes condensate patterning, linking how these formations function to essential biological processes in cells.
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ROSHAMBO: Open-Source Molecular Alignment and 3D Similarity Scoring.

J Chem Inf Model

November 2024

Medicinal Chemistry, Biogen, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States.

Efficient virtual screening techniques are critical in drug discovery for identifying potential drug candidates. We present an open-source package for molecular alignment and 3D similarity calculations optimized for large-scale virtual screening of small molecules. This work parallels widely used proprietary tools and offers an approach complementary to structure-based virtual screening.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bioimage analysis (BIA) enhances biological research by providing objective, quantitative methods for microscopy, overcoming biases linked to subjective analysis.
  • Establishing dedicated BIA support in academic institutions is essential for improving research quality and facilitating scientific advancements.
  • The document outlines challenges facing BIA, such as lack of training and recognition, and proposes strategies for improvement, including better training resources, standardization of tools, and increased collaboration and funding.
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Metatranscriptomics-guided discovery and characterization of a polyphenol-metabolizing gut microbial enzyme.

Cell Host Microbe

November 2024

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address:

Gut microbial catechol dehydroxylases are a largely uncharacterized family of metalloenzymes that potentially impact human health by metabolizing dietary polyphenols. Here, we use metatranscriptomics (MTX) to identify highly transcribed catechol-dehydroxylase-encoding genes in human gut microbiomes. We discover a prevalent, previously uncharacterized catechol dehydroxylase (Gp Hcdh) from Gordonibacter pamelaeae that dehydroxylates hydrocaffeic acid (HCA), an anti-inflammatory gut microbial metabolite derived from plant-based foods.

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How working from home reshapes cities.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

November 2024

Department of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

In recent decades, economic activity has become increasingly concentrated in major global metropolises. Yet, the rise of working from home threatens this dominance of cities. Using multiple high-frequency datasets on spending, commuting, migration, and housing, we provide global evidence that remote work has dispersed economic activity away from city centers.

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Does counting change what counts? Quantification fixation biases decision-making.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

November 2024

Operations, Information, and Decisions Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Article Synopsis
  • * A study involving 21 experiments showed that people tend to prefer options with numerical data over non-numeric ones when faced with tradeoff decisions, a phenomenon called "quantification fixation."
  • * This fixation can influence significant decisions, such as hiring and charitable donations, as people find numeric information easier to process than qualitative descriptions, impacting their preferences and choices.
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Extracellular matrix (ECM) viscoelasticity broadly regulates cell behavior. While hydrogels can approximate the viscoelasticity of native ECM, it remains challenging to recapitulate the rapid stress relaxation observed in many tissues without limiting the mechanical stability of the hydrogel. Here, we develop macroporous alginate hydrogels that have an order of magnitude increase in the rate of stress relaxation as compared to bulk hydrogels.

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The rising prevalence of antibiotic resistance threatens human health. While more sophisticated strategies for antibiotic discovery are being developed, target elucidation of new chemical entities remains challenging. In the postgenomic era, expression profiling can play an important role in mechanism-of-action (MOA) prediction by reporting on the cellular response to perturbation.

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Multimodal cancer therapies are often required for progressive cancers due to the high persistence and mortality of the disease and the negative systemic side effects of traditional therapeutic methods. Thus, the development of less invasive modalities for recurring treatment cycles is of clinical significance. Herein, a light-activatable microparticle system was developed for localized, pulsatile delivery of anticancer drugs with simultaneous thermal ablation by applying controlled ON-OFF thermal cycles using near-infrared laser irradiation.

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KAT6A and KAT6B genes are two closely related lysine acetyltransferases that transfer an acetyl group from acetyl coenzyme A (AcCoA) to lysine residues of target histone substrates, hence playing a key role in chromatin regulation. KAT6A and KAT6B genes are frequently amplified in various cancer types. In breast cancer, the 8p11-p12 amplicon occurs in 12-15% of cases, resulting in elevated copy numbers and expression levels of chromatin modifiers like KAT6A.

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Microbiome-based correction for random errors in nutrient profiles derived from self-reported dietary assessments.

Nat Commun

October 2024

Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.

Since dietary intake is challenging to directly measure in large-scale cohort studies, we often rely on self-reported instruments (e.g., food frequency questionnaires, 24-hour recalls, and diet records) developed in nutritional epidemiology.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) associate with Argonaute (AGO) proteins to form complexes that direct mRNA repression. miRNAs are also the subject of regulation. For example, some miRNAs are destabilized through a pathway in which pairing to specialized transcripts recruits the ZSWIM8 E3 ubiquitin ligase, which polyubiquitinates AGO, leading to its degradation and exposure of the miRNA to cellular nucleases.

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Despite the availability of numerous -OH silyl protection and deprotection methods, the selective cleavage of silyl ethers in highly complex molecules can still be a challenge. In this article, we present results from a full investigation of a novel, efficient, and mild desilylation protocol using HF/imidazole. Imidazole significantly enhances the desilylation reaction efficiency of HF, allowing clean and complete deprotection of TBDPS ethers in substrates containing both acid and base sensitive groups.

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Recently, a GuMI gut microphysiological system has been established to coculture oxygen-intolerant () A2-165 with organoids-derived primary human colonic epithelium. This study aims to test if this GuMI system applies to different donors with different healthy states and uses metabolomics to reveal the role of gut microbes in modulating host- and diet-derived molecules in the gut lumen. Organoids-derived colonic monolayers were generated from an uninflamed region of diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease patients and then integrated into the GuMI system to coculture with A2-165 for 2 to 4 days.

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Exploration of Cryptic Pockets Using Enhanced Sampling Along Normal Modes: A Case Study of KRAS .

J Chem Inf Model

November 2024

OpenEye, Cadence Molecular Sciences, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508, United States.

Article Synopsis
  • Identifying cryptic pockets in proteins can reveal hidden binding sites, offering new avenues for drug development, particularly in challenging targets such as KRAS, which was thought to be "undruggable."
  • The discovery of the Switch-II cryptic pocket in the KRAS mutant has led to FDA-approved cancer treatments, highlighting the clinical relevance of these pockets.
  • A novel approach using weighted ensemble molecular dynamics simulations was employed to explore these cryptic pockets in KRAS, analyzing over 400 microseconds of simulations and validating the method's ability to predict binding sites while examining the mechanics of ligand interactions.
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Article Synopsis
  • Scholars are concerned that deep partisan divides among the public pose a risk to American democracy.
  • A large study with over 32,000 participants tested 25 different strategies aimed at decreasing partisan animosity and support for undemocratic practices.
  • Results showed that highlighting relatable individuals with differing beliefs and emphasizing shared identities were effective at reducing animosity, while correcting misunderstandings about rival views helped lessen support for undemocratic actions.
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The origins of sex differences in human disease are elusive, in part because of difficulties in separating the effects of sex hormones and sex chromosomes. To separate these variables, we examined gene expression in four groups of trans- or cisgender individuals: XX individuals treated with exogenous testosterone (n=21), XY treated with exogenous estradiol (n=13), untreated XX (n=20), and untreated XY (n=15). We performed single-cell RNA-sequencing of 358,426 peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

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The polyadenylase PAPI is required for virulence plasmid maintenance in pathogenic bacteria.

bioRxiv

November 2024

Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United States.

Article Synopsis
  • Many pathogenic bacteria possess plasmids that encode virulence factors, essential for their ability to infect and colonize hosts, but the regulation of these plasmids is not well understood.
  • The study focuses on the type III secretion system (T3SS), crucial for human pathogenic bacteria, and reveals that its expression is influenced by the plasmid copy number, which increases with temperature, aiding in bacterial virulence.
  • The chromosomal gene encoding polyadenylase PAP I is vital for controlling plasmid copy number, maintaining plasmid stability, and enhancing antibiotic resistance, highlighting its role in the regulation of virulence and antimicrobial resistance plasmids in bacteria.
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Notch induces transcription by stimulating release of paused RNA polymerase II.

Genes Dev

November 2024

Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA;

Notch proteins undergo ligand-induced proteolysis to release a nuclear effector that influences a wide range of cellular processes by regulating transcription. Despite years of study, however, how Notch induces the transcription of its target genes remains unclear. Here, we comprehensively examine the response to human Notch1 across a time course of activation using high-resolution genomic assays of chromatin accessibility and nascent RNA production.

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A subset of phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3) inhibitors kills cancer cells that express both PDE3A and SLFN12 by inducing a protein-protein interaction between the two, triggering SLFN12 tRNase activity. Following discovery of the prototypical tool compound, , an improved compound, , was discovered to be potent in cells and active in several tumor models . More analogs were prepared and tested with the goal of increasing metabolic stability and decreasing PDE3 inhibition while maintaining the cellular activity of .

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