A new grant from the National Institute On Aging at the National Institutes of Health will support ongoing research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to address Alzheimer’s disease caused by gene mutations. According to Chunyu Wang, the principal investigator and an assistant professor of biological sciences at Rensselaer, the project seeks to understand and counter the mechanism that produces Amyloid-Beta 42 peptide in brain cells.

An analysis of an exhaustive dataset on cells essential to the mammalian immune system shows that our ability to fight disease may rely more heavily on daily circadian cycles than previously assumed.

To extend its COVID-19 testing capabilities, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has partnered with St. Peter’s Health Partners to establish a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) overflow lab at Rensselaer under the St. Peter’s license.

Armed with evidence that a specific site on heparan sulfate — known as the 3-O-sulfate group — is critical to the transfer of harmful tau proteins in the brain, a research program funded by the NIH’s National Institute of Aging is scrutinizing the interactions between heparan sulfate and tau, determining how misfolded tau spreads in the brain, and developing strategies to block it.

In a test of antiviral effectiveness against the virus that causes COVID-19, an extract from edible seaweeds substantially outperformed remdesivir, the current standard antiviral used to combat the disease.

A common drug, already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), may also be a powerful tool in fighting COVID-19, according to research published this week in Antiviral Research.

An instrument currently aboard the International Space Station could grow E.coli bacteria in space, opening a new path to bio-manufacturing drugs during long term space flights, according to research published today in Nature Microgravity

A newly identified compound is a promising candidate for inhibiting the production of amyloids, the abnormal proteins that form toxic clumps, called fibrils, inside the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. As published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemical Communications, the compound — known as “C1” — uses a novel mechanism to efficiently prevent the enzyme gamma-secretase from producing amyloids.

A new degree program in biological neuroscience at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute explores the structure and function of the brain and nervous system. The major, which was recently approved by the New York State Education Department, will be offered beginning in the spring 2020 semester through the Rensselaer Department of Biological Sciences.

By folding snippets of DNA into the shape of a five-pointed star using structural DNA nanotechnology, researchers have created a trap that captures Dengue virus as it floats in the bloodstream.