by Matt Collette Northeastern University and the Flatley Discovery Lab, a Boston-based independent, nonprofit organization, are collaborating to develop a cure for cystic fibrosis, a devastating genetic disease often overlooked by major pharmaceutical companies. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR) gene that cause thick, sticky mucus to […]

Distinguished Professor of Physics Albert-László Barabási discusses Network Science...

by Angela Herring “In reality, we rationalize. We deny, or we couldn’t go on living,” says Judah Rosenthal, the successful ophthalmologist whose perfect life begins to unravel in Woody Allen’s 1989 film, “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” In order to go on living, Rosenthal must rationalize the series of risky and uncharacteristic decisions that nearly destroy him. Discussing […]

The naturally occurring antibiotic Actinomycin D (ActD) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a chemotherapy drug in 1964 and has been widely used for nearly 50 years to treat a variety of tumor types. Since then, scientists have discovered that ActD works by blocking DNA transcription, the process that transcribes DNA into RNA, a macromolecule that codes for the proteins necessary for cell survival.

Northeastern University Provides Input on Regulatory Standards The FDA recently released draft guidelines for the Biosimilar Approval Pathway, which will accelerate the approval process for biosimilars—the generic versions of biopharmaceuticals. These guidelines will give drug companies who are producing these generic drugs the opportunity to enter the market rapidly. Since 2009 Northeastern University has been […]

by Angela Herring The naturally occurring antibiotic Actinomycin D (ActD) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a chemotherapy drug in 1964 and has been widely used for nearly 50 years to treat a variety of tumor types. Since then, scientists have discovered that ActD works by blocking DNA transcription, the process that […]

by Angela Herring “It’s human nature to want the greatest outcome for the least amount of work,” says Filippo Simini a post-doctorate researcher in Northeastern’s Center for Complex Network Research, directed by Albert-László Barabási. Simini is quoting the American linguist George Kingsley Zipf who, in the early 1940s, introduced a model based on this “principle […]

Last year, in an effort to understand the biology of H5N1, two independent research groups successfully engineered the lethal avian flu virus to be transmissible between mammals, and perhaps among humans. At the end of January, the research community, including the authors of the two studies, agreed to a 60-day moratorium on sensitive H5N1 experiments. […]

We get wrinkles. Our hair turns gray, or we lose it altogether. Our job prospects diminish and our chances of incurring disease increase. Researchers across the globe focus their efforts on increasing our life span because so many of us believe getting old stinks. But that may not be so, according to Derek Isaacowitz a newly […]

Are you tired of constantly having to plug in your laptop? Research being conducted by Professor Sanjeev Mukerjee may make our dependence on outlet power a thing of the past.

Earth and environmental sciences associate professor Peter Rosen said Boston Harbor is home to the nation’s only “drowned drumlin field,” a group of elongated hills formed under glacial ice. He addressed roughly 100 students, faculty, staff and community members at the Marine Science Center (MSC) in Nahant on Wednesday as part of a monthly lecture series […]

Adam Hall began his master’s degree program in chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern while performing instrumental analyses on samples in the Massachusetts State Police crime lab. “Tuesdays and Thursdays were drug days,” he recalls. Narcotics officers, who live under-cover on the streets buying and selling drugs, would descend on the lab with thousands of samples, which […]

Pran Nath, the Matthews Distinguished Professor of Physics at Northeastern University, is among a group of leading theoretical physicists who have asked the Department of Energy to develop a large underground neutrino facility to maintain U.S. leadership in the frontier of particle physics.