Once a molecule (often a protein) is implicated in disease, the drug-development process begins—and that typically means chemists designing small-molecule drugs that bind the protein and alter its activity. But some disease-related proteins are kind of slippery – they lack obvious binding pockets or have surfaces that are difficult for small molecules to engage, making [...]
Here we are in 2026, and not only is there still no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but there are also no medical interventions that meaningfully slow its progression. There are FDA-approved drugs, but they provide only minimal benefit in delaying disease progression. How could this be? Is Alzheimer’s simply an impossible problem—destined never to be [...]
Overweight and obesity are associated with many health problems—type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, cancer, and more. But why? The short answer is that fat tissue (specifically white adipose tissue) is not just a storage depot for excess energy; it also functions as an endocrine organ, secreting factors into the bloodstream. As adipose tissue expands, [...]
How do you study something if you can’t be sure it’s there? And how do you know it’s there if you’re not quite sure what to look for? Those are the core challenges facing researchers who study dormant cancer cells: rare, solitary cells that can survive initial therapy, slip away from the primary tumor, and [...]
Sleep is essential to health—so essential that complete sleep deprivation will be fatal within a relatively short period of time. Suboptimal or poor sleep can also contribute to (or result from) many different diseases. But sleep itself is a complex process that involves every organ system in the body. That complexity can be captured with [...]
Every year, scientific journals and major universities publish “Top Discoveries of the Year” lists, and they’re genuinely worth reading. But they also have built-in biases: journals tend to feature work they’ve published in their own focus areas, and university press offices highlight breakthroughs from their own labs. So they’re not always ideal if you want [...]
The Summer 2026 workshops in molecular medicine are now open for applications! These programs are designed for motivated middle school and high school students and are offered in both online and in-person formats. In addition to our popular returning workshops, we are also debuting several new programs in 2026. In-person workshops will be held at [...]
Summer 2026 workshops will be scheduled soon, but in the meantime our winter break workshops for 2024 are scheduled and applications are being accepted! Join us for our in-person workshops in the Bay Area, CA (Biomedical Research, Cancer Research) to meet great people and learn cutting-edge molecular biology techniques from 12/26-12/31. Alternatively, join us for [...]
Gene expression is the process by which a gene is transcribed into mRNA, and then subsequently translated into a functional protein. Transcription factors are proteins that directly bind DNA to turn gene expression on or off. One transcription factor can regulate hundreds - or even thousands - of different genes, making these proteins master regulators [...]
Transformational research changes the way that you think. It resets your perspective, reshapes your expectations, and changes your sense of what is possible. It prompts you to revisit previous studies and interpret them through a new lens, often offering explanations for previously unresolved gaps in knowledge. For example, cancer is typically considered to be a [...]