Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed a gene-editing treatment for prion disease that extends lifespan by about 50 percent in a mouse model of the fatal neurodegenerative condition. The treatment, which uses base editing to make a single-letter change in DNA, reduced levels of the disease-causing prion protein in the brain by as much as 60 percent. The work, led by Broad senior group leaders Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel, as well as Broad core institute member David Liu, is the first demonstration that lowering levels of the prion protein improves lifespan in animals that have been infected with a human version of the protein. The findings appear in Nature Medicine.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) is collaborating with Trinity University in San Antonio and the San Antonio Food Bank to study binge eating in older Hispanic women, funded by a $2.2 million NIH grant.

Beneath sandy beaches, microbes filter chemicals from groundwater and safeguard ocean health. A Stanford-led study reveals that sneaker waves provide a lens to explore the impending impacts of sea level rise on beach hydrology, chemistry, and microbiology.

A new study from obesity researcher Martin Binks reveals that college students and older adults gain holiday weight just in different ways.

New research from Kenneth Griffin, a professor in the Department of Global and Community Health, shows that the virtual reality (VR) program helps students handle complex social situations. This success has led to a new research grant to continue the study.