Produce prescription programs yield positive health benefits for participants

01-Sep-2023 - Around the country, non-profits and local governments are testing the idea of food as medicine through "produce prescription programs" - with promising results, according to researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. By prescribing free, healthy ...

Green tea and resveratrol reduce Alzheimer's plaques in lab tests

Using a 3D neural tissue model, Tufts researchers find the compounds diminish amyloid plaques with no side effects

15-Nov-2022 - Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, affecting more than 6 million Americans, and its incidence is expected to rise in the coming decades. The cause of the disease in its most common form, which is not genetically based, is not well understood. This makes ...

New Filtering Method Promises Safer Drinking Water, Improved Industrial Production

Synthetic polymer membranes mimic the highly selective properties of biological cell membranes

09-Sep-2021 - A team of scientists at the Tufts University School of Engineering has developed a new filtering technology inspired by biology that could help curb a drinking water-related disease that affects tens of millions of people worldwide and potentially improve environmental remediation, industrial and ...

Scientists create the next generation of living robots

Artificial living organisms can move material in swarms and record information

07-Apr-2021 - Last year, a team of biologists and computer scientists from Tufts University and the University of Vermont (UVM) created novel, tiny self-healing biological machines from frog cells called "Xenobots" that could move around, push a payload, and even exhibit collective behavior in the presence of ...

Can loss of smell be repaired?

06-Dec-2017 - Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine, led by Dr. James E. Schwob, are examining the behavior of adult stem cells within the context of aging and, specifically, the sense of smell. As part of the normal aging process, older adults frequently experience a decline in their olfactory ...

Bioelectricity new weapon to fight dangerous infection

30-May-2017 - Changing the natural electrical signaling that exists in cells outside the nervous system can improve resistance to life-threatening bacterial infections, according to new research from Tufts University biologists. The researchers found that administering drugs, including those already used in ...

Bioinspired process makes materials light, robust, programmable at nano- to macro-scale

Ultralight web of silk nano fibers withstands load 4,000 times its weight

01-Mar-2017 - Researchers at Tufts University's School of Engineering have developed a new bioinspired technique that transforms silk protein into complex materials that are easily programmable at the nano-, micro- and macro-scales as well as ultralight and robust. Among the varied structures generated was a ...

Silk stabilizes blood samples for months at high temperatures

12-May-2016 - Researchers at Tufts University have stabilized blood samples for long periods of time without refrigeration and at high temperatures by encapsulating them in air-dried silk protein. The technique has broad applications for clinical care and research that rely on accurate analysis of blood and ...

More ancient viruses lurk in our DNA than we thought

29-Mar-2016 - Think your DNA is all human? Think again. And a new discovery suggests it's even less human than scientists previously thought. Nineteen new pieces of non-human DNA -- left by viruses that first infected our ancestors hundreds of thousands of years ago -- have just been found, lurking between our ...

Researchers prevent, normalize tumors using light to control cell electric signals

18-Mar-2016 - Tufts University biologists using a frog model have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to prevent tumors from forming and normalize tumors after they have formed by using light to control electrical signaling among cells. The work is the first reported use of optogenetics to ...