University of Texas Southwestern Labs: Where Breakthroughs Happen

The CLOCK gene, which serves as a master controller of circadian rhythms, may play a key role in the extraordinary cognitive abilities of humans as well as neuropsychiatric disorders that afflict them, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how a hormone interacts with a receptor on the surface of immune cells to shield cancer cells from the body’s natural defenses. The findings, published in Nature Immunology, could lead to new immunotherapy approaches for treating cancer as well as potential treatments for inflammatory disorders and neurologic diseases.

A team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has uncovered the atomic structure of a protein complex pivotal to the function of motile cilia, the hair-like structures extending from the surfaces of many cell types that generate their movement.

Female sex hormones can significantly enhance the progression of the rare neurodegenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP), according to a preclinical study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The findings, published in Science Advances, may lead to therapeutics to slow progression of the disease and help clinicians assess the risk of hormone therapies for female patients with genetic markers for the disease.

By using a genetic technique they developed that forces cells to rid themselves of mitochondria, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers are gaining new insights into the function of these critical organelles.