https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. An international team of scientists, led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), has discovered a new method that could speed up the healing of chronic wounds infected by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-neutralizing-extracellular-electron-antibiotic-resistant.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:00:02 EST news687719281 Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have rapidly emerged as one of the most promising frontiers in modern biology. These nano-sized messengers mediate communication between cells, tissues, and organs, influencing processes from immune signaling to cancer progression. Their growing diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic relevance has accelerated research worldwide. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-hydrogel-platform-enables-high-throughput.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:57:29 EST news684075422 A research team from the Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Life Sciences, Okayama University of Science, has made a discovery: bitter taste receptors are present inside cancer cells and play a crucial role in pumping anticancer drugs out of the cell—ultimately contributing to the development of multidrug resistance (MDR). https://phys.org/news/2025-11-discovery-bitter-receptors-cancer-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 04 Nov 2025 11:18:03 EST news681477481 Plastic is ubiquitous in the modern world, and it's notorious for taking a long time to completely break down in the environment—if it ever does. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-chemicals-hitching-nanoplastics-skin.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 17 Oct 2025 09:24:04 EDT news679911841 The sugar glucose, which is the main source of energy in almost every living cell, has been revealed in a Stanford Medicine study to also be a master regulator of tissue differentiation—the process by which stem cells give rise to specialized cells that make up all the body's tissues. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-glucose-life-reveals-role-master.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:02:00 EDT news662209316 Ebola is a deadly hemorrhagic disease caused by a virus that is endemic in parts of East-Central and West Africa. Most people are aware that a primary route for person-to-person transmission is through contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. But more recent outbreaks, including the 2013–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, demonstrated that infectious Ebola virus (EBOV) is also found on the skin's surface of those who have succumbed to infection or at late times during infection. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-ebola-route-skin-surface.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 01 Jan 2025 14:00:01 EST news654843244 The mechanisms underlying skin renewal are still poorly understood. Interleukin-38 (IL-38), a protein involved in regulating inflammatory responses, could be a game changer. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-unexpected-mechanism-alternative-animal-exploring.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 18 Nov 2024 14:55:04 EST news651164101 A new study from Karolinska Institutet and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has identified an RNA molecule that is important for skin wound healing. The research, published in Nature Communications, may have implications for the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-key-molecule-wound-coding-rna.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 08 Oct 2024 13:13:18 EDT news647611991 Scientists at the Institute of Aquaculture are central to a study that could hold the key to improving Atlantic salmon's resistance to sea lice. The parasites—which feed on the fish's skin and fins, causing open wounds that can lead to infection—reduce the market value of farmed fish and can have knock-on impacts on wild salmon populations. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-skin-cell-discovery-atlantic-salmon.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 15 Aug 2024 10:29:20 EDT news642936557 An invasive fungus that colonizes the skin of hibernating bats with deadly consequences is a stealthy invader that uses multiple strategies to slip into the small mammals' skin cells and quietly manipulate them to aid its own survival. The fungus, which causes the disease white-nose syndrome, has devastated several North American species over the last 18 years. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-stealth-fungus-decimated-north-american.html Plants & Animals Thu, 11 Jul 2024 17:07:04 EDT news639936421 The Smart Materials research group, coordinated by Athanassia Athanassiou at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology), has developed a biocompatible bandage made of plant-based materials that, loaded with vitamin C, can accelerate the healing process of burn wounds. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-scientists-environmentally-friendly-based-bandage.html Biochemistry Fri, 03 May 2024 13:39:22 EDT news633962355 Cancer-causing flame retardants found in everyday things like plastics, furniture, fabrics and electronics can be sucked up by the skin and absorbed into the bloodstream in 24 hours, scientists have found. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-toxic-fireproof-chemicals-absorbed-3d.html Environment Thu, 18 Apr 2024 15:09:04 EDT news632671741 Research conducted by Dr. Shota Nakanoh in a collaboration between Dr. Teresa Rayon's lab at the Institute and Professor Ludovic Vallier's lab at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute has determined that the degree of cell crowding in the early human embryo influences whether cells develop as extra-embryonic cells or become a part of the embryo and eventually give rise to skin, hair and nails. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-degree-cell-crowding-early-human.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:12:54 EST news628787571 Bioengineers and tissue engineers intend to reconstruct skin equivalents with physiologically relevant cellular and matrix architectures for basic research and industrial applications. Skin pathophysiology depends on skin-nerve crosstalk and researchers must therefore develop reliable models of skin in the lab to assess selective communications between epidermal keratinocytes and sensory neurons. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-skin-on-a-chip-innervated-epidermal-like-layer-microfluidic.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 28 Mar 2023 09:40:55 EDT news599215251 Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medicine, Solna, have identified HOXC13-AS, a human skin-specific long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), that plays a crucial role in epidermal differentiation. Their study highlighting lncRNA's physiological importance in the epidermal barrier's maintenance and reconstruction is published in the journal Cell Death & Differentiation. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-human-specific-mechanism-skin-barrier-regeneration.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Mar 2023 14:31:03 EDT news598714261 The ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to cure gel manicures may pose more of a public health concern than previously thought. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have studied these ultraviolet (UV) light emitting devices, and found that their use leads to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-uv-emitting-dryers-dna-mutations-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 17 Jan 2023 16:57:04 EST news593197021 The Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (ICRME) at Indiana University School of Medicine is home to tissue nanotransfection (TNT) regenerative medicine technology that achieves functional tissue reprogramming in the live body. Last year, ICRME researchers published on how to manufacture the TNT 2.0 silicon chip hardware in Nature Protocol. Now, their research demonstrates for the first time that TNT can serve as a non-viral, topical gene-editing delivery device. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-tissue-nanotransfection-technology-non-viral-topical.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 18 Jul 2022 14:42:03 EDT news577374121 In the fight against multidrug-resistant bacteria, scientists in Sweden have developed a new kind of antibiotic-free protection for wounds that kills drug-resistant bacteria and induces the body's own immune responses to fight infections. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-gel-drug-resistant-bacteria-body-natural.html Biochemistry Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:52:08 EDT news553427523 Stem cell therapy is at the cutting edge of regenerative medicine, but until now researchers and clinicians have had to painstakingly evaluate stem cell quality by looking at each cell individually under a microscope. Now, researchers from Japan have found a way to speed up this process, using the power of artificial intelligence (AI). https://phys.org/news/2021-06-ai-healthy-stem-cells-quickly.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 23 Jun 2021 11:25:17 EDT news543666312 A new study published in Scientific Reports has found that methylene blue, a century-old medicine, has the potential to be a highly effective, broad-spectrum UV irradiation protector that absorbs UVA and UVB, repairs ROS and UV irradiation induced DNA damage, and is safe for coral reefs. The study suggests that methylene blue could become an alternative sunscreen ingredient that supports the environment and protects human skin health. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-potential-sunscreen-coral-safe-uvbuva.html Biochemistry Fri, 28 May 2021 07:12:29 EDT news541404744 A team led by LMU's Veit Hornung has shown that a protein found in skin cells recognizes a specific nucleic acid intermediate that is formed during virus replication. This recognition process subsequently induces a potent inflammatory response. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-epithelial-cells-ward-viruses.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 27 Nov 2020 12:14:49 EST news525701686 Sequencing RNA from individual cells can reveal a great deal of information about what those cells are doing in the body. MIT researchers have now greatly boosted the amount of information gleaned from each of those cells, by modifying the commonly used Seq-Well technique. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-technique-recover-lost-single-cell-rna-sequencing.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 13 Oct 2020 15:06:43 EDT news521820394 A team of researchers at Rockefeller University has found that phase separation problems with proteins in the skin may account for the development of some skin diseases. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their study of liquid-liquid phase separation in mouse tissue and what they found. Arpan Rai and Lucas Pelkmans with the University of Zurich have published a Perspective piece discussing the work done by the team in New York in the same journal issue. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-phase-problems-proteins-skin-account.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 13 Mar 2020 10:40:03 EDT news503314090 The cell polarity protein Par3 controls mechanical changes in the skin and plays an important role in cell division. Malfunction can lead to DNA damages. The balance of the system is of great importance—while too much differentiation leads to loss of stem cells and therefore premature aging, too many cell divisions can be a cause of skin cancer. The new study by a team around Sandra Iden about how polarity regulators control cellular mechanics in the skin has now been published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-skin-joint-polarity-cell-mechanics.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 31 Jul 2019 07:17:45 EDT news483776259 Nanozymes are catalytic nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics that have attracted enormous recent research interest. The catalytic nanomaterials offer unique advantages of low cost, high stability, tunable catalytic activity and ease of mass production and storage. These properties are highly desirable for a wide range of applications in biosensing, tissue engineering therapeutics and environmental protection. However, conventional nanozyme technologies face critical challenges relative to their size, composition and facet-dependent catalysis, in addition to inherently low active site density. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-single-atom-nanozymes.html Nanomaterials Tue, 14 May 2019 09:30:01 EDT news476949773 Researchers in Germany have employed a plasma protein found in blood to develop a new method for making wound-healing tissue scaffolds. https://phys.org/news/2019-03-plasma-protein-wound-scaffolds.html Materials Science Mon, 04 Mar 2019 03:35:18 EST news470892875 Healing is a complex process in adult skin impairments, requiring collaborative biochemical processes for onsite repair. Diverse cell types (macrophages, leukocytes, mast cells) contribute to the associated phases of proliferation, migration, matrix synthesis and contraction, coupled with growth factors and matrix signals at the site of the wound. Understanding signal control and cellular activity at the site could help explain the process of adult skin repair beyond mere patching up and more as regeneration, to assess biomechanics and implement strategies for accelerated wound repair in regenerative medicine. https://phys.org/news/2019-02-skin-wound-regeneration-bioactive-glass-gold.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 14 Feb 2019 09:30:04 EST news469351192 Optoacoustic imaging powered by short bursts of continuous wave (CW) lasers can stimulate the emission of ultrasound waves inside an animal or in human subjects. The method can noninvasively capture blood flow and produce 3-D images of cellular microarchitecture. Writing in Light: Science & Applications, Stephan Kellnberger and colleagues at the Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging, now report the possibility of obtaining high-fidelity optoacoustic images with cost-effective lasers controlled at multiple frequencies. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-optoacoustic-microscopy-multiple-discrete-frequencies.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 09 Jan 2019 09:40:01 EST news466248885 Whether by land or by sea, mammals live in a diverse variety of protective skins adapted against the elements, from swimming in the deepest azure oceans to climbing precipitous mountain peaks. https://phys.org/news/2018-12-mammalian-keratin-genes-sea.html Evolution Fri, 14 Dec 2018 10:17:26 EST news464005038 Nanofiber-based wound dressings loaded with vitamin D spur the production of an antimicrobial peptide, a key step forward in the battle against surgical site infections, or SSIs. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-nanofiber-based-wound-production-antimicrobial-peptide.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 05 Jul 2018 15:32:24 EDT news450023535