EurekAlert! News by Subject: Biology - News by Subject: Biology

Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Aug-2025 12:10 ET (19-Aug-2025 16:10 GMT/UTC)

Maternal antibodies in breast milk regulate early immune responses in mouse gut

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The first weeks outside the womb are a massive learning experience for the neonatal immune system, especially in the gut as it learns to distinguish helpful from harmful antigens. In mice, maternal antibodies ingested in breast milk in the first week after birth help to regulate immune responses in the newborn gut, according to a new study by Meera Shenoy and colleagues. This process builds the important partnership between the microbiome and host at an early stage, paving the way for nutrient assimilation, avoiding inappropriate inflammation and resistance against pathogens. Shenoy et al. found that mouse maternal immunoglobin G antibodies bind to bacteria in the neonatal gut to modulate the immune response in the gut mucosa. This antibody-bacteria complex binds to antibody receptors in the gut to limit the response of T cells to food antigens during weaning and in response to experimentally induced colitis during early life. “Translating these findings to human infants will require studies integrating information on the timing of exposure to maternal antibodies, along with the development of key immune components and the intestinal microbiota,” Michael Silverman and Kathryn Knoop write in a related Perspective.

Journal: Science

Archaea can kill bacteria with new antibacterials

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As bacteria become increasingly resistant to antibiotics and other antibacterials, there is a growing need for alternatives. In a study published on August 14^th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, Tobias Warnecke and colleagues from the University of Oxford and the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom, identified untapped antimicrobials produced by archaea, single-celled organisms that make up one of the three domains of life (the other two being bacteria and eukaryotes, the group that includes us).

Journal: PLOS Biology

New tech speeds up AI training for drug discovery/disease research

University of Oregon
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Oregon bioengineer Calin Plesa has developed technology that creates massive, high-quality biological datasets at unprecedented speed and scale, solving a critical bottleneck that has prevented AI from tackling biology's biggest challenges—from studying cancer-associated genes to designing new proteins to accelerating drug development.

Journal: Science Advances

A new network could help predict health problems in your pup

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A network analysis of more than 26,000 dogs and their health conditions helps reveal which diseases tend to go together, providing data that veterinarians and researchers can use to help treat the problems that dog man’s best friend face, according to a study published DATE in the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology by Antoinette Fang from the Fred Hutchingson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, USA, and colleagues.

Journal: PLOS Computational Biology

UH researchers to develop AI to aid in emergency food distribution

University of Houston
Grant and Award Announcement

Families, particularly those already vulnerable to food insecurity, can face difficulties obtaining food in the aftermath of natural disasters. University of Houston researchers will utilize artificial intelligence to develop an online resource for food pantries, aiming to streamline stakeholder collaboration and distribute resources to families in need.

Synthetic engineering of telomerase RNA, development of polygenic scores paves way to better understanding of telomeres

Boston Children's Hospital
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The critical role that telomeres play in aging and age-related disease has long made them a target of research. Recent work at Boston Children's Hospital to engineer synthetic telomerase RNA to increase telomere length and develop polygenic scores to unravel the genetic underpinnings of telomere biology disorders is expanding our understanding.

Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation

Scientists reengineer enzyme to study diseases via sugar patterns on the surface of cells

University at Buffalo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new technology, presented by University at Buffalo scientists in a study published in Nature Communications, centers on a pig enzyme called ST3Gal1. Researchers retrained it to bind to glycans instead of building them. This new glycan-binding enzyme, which scientists named sCore2, could help analyze and treat diseases via sugar patterns found on the surface of cells.

Journal: Nature Communications

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