Highlights

Newsroom highlights for August 2019

Published in Fundamentals - Fundamentals August 2019

Study in Mice Advances Understanding of How Brains Remember Decisions — For Better or Worse

human brain illustration

Mammal brains — including those of humans — store and recall impressive amounts of information based on our good and bad decisions and interactions in an ever-changing world. Now, in a series of new experiments with mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have added to evidence that such “decision-based” memories are stored in very particular parts of the brain.

Common Feature of Cancer Cells That Makes Them Appear Overstuffed May Also Be Their Achilles’ Heel

Aneuploid Cancer Cells May Have an Achilles' Heel

 In a study using yeast cells and data from cancer cell lines, Johns Hopkins University scientists report they have found a potential weak spot among cancer cells that have extra sets of chromosomes, the structures that carry genetic material. The vulnerability, they say, is rooted in a common feature among cancer cells — their high intracellular protein concentrations — that make them appear bloated and overstuffed, and which could be used as possible new targets for cancer treatments.

Tip Sheet: Recent Research on How DNA is Read and Copied

nucleosome

Two scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have unraveled aspects of how DNA organizes and preserves genetic information. Newly published research by Cynthia Wolberger, Ph.D., and James Berger, Ph.D., whose labs sit side by side, takes a closer look at how the puzzle pieces of DNA machinery fit together.