Science Advances – UF Innovate

UF Diabetes Researchers Test Therapy To Prevent Immune Attack Against Insulin-Producing Cells (UF Health)

sooyoungryu — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:11:03 +0000

It is, in a sense, like visiting the scene of an intended crime.

A University of Florida Health study details a new strategy to potentially slow the progression of Type 1 diabetes using a drug designed to act directly on insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

That is where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys those cells.

UF Health Study Alters Dogma on Cerebrospinal Fluid

sooyoungryu — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While studying blood stem cells, Edward W. Scott, Ph.D., a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology, discovered something that may change the way scientists understand how cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, functions in the nervous system.

For 150 years, it has been believed that cerebrospinal fluid — like its name — only circulated in the central nervous system of the brain and spinal cord. Now, after testing his theory in mouse models, Scott and his team confirmed their key finding: cerebral spinal fluid flows all the way from the brain’s spinal cord to the peripheral nervous system. The study was published in Science Advances on Wednesday.

“This breaks one of the oldest standing dogmas in neuroscience,” Scott said. “I chalk it up to just paying attention to the things that don’t go the way you expect them to, and then trying to track down what was misunderstood in the first place. It’s where most of the discoveries in my career have come from.”

A Protein That Enables Smell — and Stops Cell Death

Sara Dagen — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While smell plays a considerable role in the social interactions of humans — for instance, signaling fear or generating closeness — for ants, it is vitally important. Researchers from New York University and the University of Florida found that a key protein named Orco, essential for the function of olfactory cells, is also critical for the cells’ survival in ants.

Their study showed that mutating the orco gene in Harpegnathos saltator jumping ants dramatically decreased the number of olfactory neurons, suggesting that Orco is necessary for the development and life of these cells. The findings, published in Science Advances, offer insights into the cellular and molecular basis of how animals socialize.

Ants have evolved approximately 400 smell receptors—a number closer to humans than most other insects—thanks to their use of pheromone communication.