Future medicine is bound to include extensive tissue-engineering technologies such as organs-on-chips and organoids - miniature organs grown from stem cells. But all this is predicated on a simple yet challenging task: controlling cellular behavior in three dimensions. So far, most cell culture approaches are limited to two-dimensional environments (e.g. a Petri dish or a chip), but that neither matches real biology nor helps us sculpt tissues and organs. Two EPFL scientists have now developed a new method that uses lasers to carve out paths inside biocompatible gels to locally influence cell function and promote tissue formation. The work is published in Advanced Materials.

The neurodegeneration that occurs in Parkinson's disease is a result of stress on the endoplasmic reticulum in the cell rather than failure of the mitochondria as previously thought, according to a study in fruit flies. It was found that the death of neurons associated with the disease was prevented when chemicals that block the effects of endoplasmic reticulum stress were used.

Driverless cars pose a quandary when it comes to safety. These autonomous vehicles are programmed with a set of safety rules, and it is not hard to construct a scenario in which those rules come into conflict with each other. Suppose a driverless car must either hit a pedestrian or swerve in such a way that it crashes and harms its passengers. What should it be instructed to do?

A newly published study co-authored by an MIT professor shows that the public is conflicted over such scenarios, taking a notably inconsistent approach to the safety of autonomous vehicles, should they become a reality on the roads.

For 3 billion years, one of the major carriers of information needed for life, RNA, has had a glitch that creates errors when making copies of genetic information. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a fix that allows RNA to accurately proofread for the first time. The new discovery, published June 23 in the journal Science, will increase precision in genetic research and could dramatically improve medicine based on a person's genetic makeup.

Certain viruses called retroviruses can cause RNA to make copies of DNA, a process called reverse transcription. This process is notoriously prone to errors because an evolutionary ancestor of all viruses never had the ability to accurately copy genetic material.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University researchers have that found a suite of genes in both fruit flies and humans -- including one dubbed "smoke alarm" -- plays a role in nerve sensitivity. The study could help lead to new drug targets in pain management.

The research, published today in the journal Cell Reports, was led by W. Daniel Tracey Jr., a professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science and the Department of Biology.

A team of researchers has developed the first scalable method to identify different subtypes of neurons in the human brain. The research lays the groundwork for "mapping" the gene activity in the human brain and could help provide a better understanding of brain functions and disorders, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, schizophrenia and depression.