- Transplanted gene-modified blood stem cells protect brain cancer patients from toxic side effects of chemotherapy
For the first time, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have transplanted brain cancer patients’ own gene-modified blood stem cells in order to protect their bone marrow against the toxic side effects of...
(Issue date: 14 May 2012)
- Magnetic imagers capture our thoughts
Magnetic imagers are often used in brain research, but the images are not always analysed correctly. Anders Eklund has developed a much safer analysis method.
A lot of research aims to understand how the human brain works, where...
(Issue date: 14 May 2012)
- Rutgers team discovers novel approach to stimulate immune cells
Dipak Sarkar, professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and his research team have been able to take a new pharmacological approach to activate the immune cells...
(Issue date: 14 May 2012)
- Scientists find differences in long-lived rodent’s protein handlers
The naked mole-rat, a curiously strange, hairless rodent, lives many years longer than any other mouse or rat. Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio’s Barshop Institute of Longevity and Aging...
(Issue date: 14 May 2012)
- A*STAR scientists discover ‘switch’ to boost anti-viral response to fight infectious diseases
Singapore scientists from Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have for the first time, identified the molecular ‘switch’ that directly triggers the body’s first...
(Issue date: 14 May 2012)
- Protein signal is crucial for accurate control of insect size
Two independent groups of researchers have identified a hormone that is responsible for keeping the growth and development of insects on track. The results suggest that Dilp8 provides an important signal to slow body growth and...
(Issue date: 06 May 2012)
- Scientists aim to starve lung tumours
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death throughout the world. Standard treatment methods do not usually result in long-term recovery. In addition to the proliferation of the tumour cells, the growth of blood vessels...
(Issue date: 06 May 2012)
- Infection of Epstein Barr Virus shown to be more complex
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) not only causes various infectious diseases in man, it can also induce certain types of cancer. Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the LMU have now identified the molecular components that allow...
(Issue date: 06 May 2012)
- Scientists measure communication between stem cell-derived motor neurons, muscle cells
Bennett G. NovitchIn an effort to identify the underlying causes of neurological disorders that impair motor functions such as walking and breathing, UCLA researchers have developed a novel system to measure communication between...
(Issue date: 06 May 2012)
- New technique could identify drugs that help fight broad range of viruses
Results of a new study demonstrate the feasibility of a novel strategy in drug discovery: screening large numbers of existing drugs — often already approved for other uses — to see which ones activate genes that boost natural...
(Issue date: 06 May 2012)
- MSU invention could help pharmaceutical industry save money
Two Michigan State University researchers have invented a protein purifier that could help pharmaceutical companies save time and money.
The details of the invention demonstrate that MSU chemists Merlin Bruening and Greg Baker’s...
(Issue date: 02 May 2012)
- Jarid2 may break the Polycomb silence
Historically, fly and human Polycomb proteins were considered textbook exemplars of transcriptional repressors, or proteins that silence the process by which DNA gives rise to new proteins. Now, work by a team of researchers at...
(Issue date: 02 May 2012)
- Potent protein heals wounds, boosts immunity and protects from cancer
Lactoferrin is an important iron-binding protein with many health benefits. The major form of this powerful protein, is secreted into human biofluids (e.g. milk, blood, tears, saliva), and is responsible for most of the...
(Issue date: 02 May 2012)
- How does the immune system fight off threats to the brain? New U-M research yields fresh insight ".
Like a police officer calling for backup while also keeping a strong hold on a suspected criminal, immune cells in the brain take a two-tier approach to fighting off a threat, new research from the University of Michigan Health...
(Issue date: 02 May 2012)
- Pod corn develops leaves in the inflorescences
In a variant of maize known as pod corn, or tunicate maize, the maize kernels on the cob are not ‘naked’ but covered by long membranous husks known as glumes. According to scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant...
(Issue date: 02 May 2012)
- Photoreceptor transplant restores vision in mice
Scientists have shown for the first time that transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptors into the eyes of visually impaired mice can restore their vision.
The research suggests that transplanting photoreceptors -...
(Issue date: 23 April 2012)
- History is key factor in plant disease virulence
The virulence of plant-borne diseases depends on not just the particular strain of a pathogen, but on where the pathogen has been before landing in its host, according to new research results.
Scientists from the University of...
(Issue date: 23 April 2012)
- Scientists uncover how ‘checkpoint’ proteins bind chromosomes
The development of more effective cancer drugs could be a step nearer thanks to the discovery, by scientists at Warwick Medical School, of how an inbuilt ‘security check’ operates to guarantee cells divide with the correct number...
(Issue date: 23 April 2012)
- Single-neuron observations mark steps in Alzheimer's disease
Studying a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, neuroscientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen have observed correlation between increases in both soluble and plaque-forming beta-amyloid – a protein implicated in the...
(Issue date: 23 April 2012)
- IBN discovers human neural stem cells with Tumour targeting
Could engineered human stem cells hold the key to cancer survival? Scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the world’s first bioengineering and nanotechnology research institute, have discovered...
(Issue date: 23 April 2012)