New research from UTHealth Houston reveals that substance use disorders accelerate biological aging in the brain through substance-specific molecular mechanisms. The study, published in Genomic Psychiatry, identified distinct genetic and biological pathways that contribute to premature aging in individuals with alcohol, opioid, and stimulant use disorders, offering potential targets for future therapeutic interventions.

Prions transmit their abnormally folded shape onto other proteins. Researchers designed a synthetic fragment of the tau protein that exhibits prion-like behavior. Misfolded tau proteins are the hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Study revealed crucial role of water organization in the tau misfolding process.