Cancer research that once involved years of painstaking work can now happen in months with a novel technique for systematically studying cancer-related genes. The results reveal how combinations of mutations influence tumor growth.
As Stanford interdisciplinary scientists find new ways to push, pull and sometimes jiggle cells and molecules, they’re also discovering microscopic answers to the biggest questions in biology and health.
Examining body sizes of ancient and modern aquatic mammals and their terrestrial counterparts reveals that life in water restricts mammals to a narrow range of body sizes – big enough to stay warm, but not so big they can’t find enough food.
A technique for growing sticky films of bacteria into elaborate microscopic images could reveal how potentially dangerous biofilms grow and transmit antibiotic resistance, and could lead to novel biomaterials or synthetic microbial communities.
W. E. Moerner and his lab members peer inside mammalian cells, producing intricately detailed, 3-D images of the tiny structures within and tracking molecules’ subtle movements.
Doctors haven’t known why some babies are born with thin, spongy heart muscles. Now, a chance collaboration has linked the disease to poorly developed blood vessels around the heart.
Now buzzing and whizzing around every continent, insects were mysteriously scarce in the fossil record until 325 million years ago – when they first took flight and, according to a new study, evolutionarily took off.
Biologists have wondered for centuries why plants and animals take the shapes they do. Now, researchers exploring the mechanics of cells and tissues are finding answers that might one day help engineers rebuild our bodies.
