Scientists reveal how cells control the "walking" protein kinesin-1. The discovery could enable treatments for some diseases that cause paralysis, seizures and cognitive deficits. 

AMHERST, Mass. — Chang Liu, associate professor in the Riccio College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, wants people to have access to at-home HIV tests sensitive enough for early diagnosis comparable to—or exceeding—lab standards. A new two-year, $1.3 million award from the National Institutes of Health will help him advance his proof-of-concept work toward commercialization. 

Using computational tools, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a method to predict which patients with a primary liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) would most benefit from combination treatment using immunotherapy and a targeted therapy that blocks the growth signals that the tumor depends on. The work, supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, was published online July 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.