- Knockouts in human cells point to pathogenic targets
Whitehead researchers have developed a new type of genetic screen for human cells to pinpoint specific genes and proteins used by pathogens. In most human cell cultures genes are present in two copies: one inherited from the...
(Issue date: 29 November 2009)
- Hormone Ghrelin Can Boost Resistance to Parkinson’s Disease
Ghrelin, a hormone produced in the stomach, may be used to boost resistance to, or slow, the development of Parkinson’s disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report.
Parkinson’s disease is caused by a degeneration of...
(Issue date: 29 November 2009)
- "Safety Valve" Protects Photosynthesis from Too Much Light
Photosynthetic organisms need to cope with a wide range of light intensities, which can change over timescales of seconds to minutes. Too much light can damage the photosynthetic machinery and cause cell death. Scientists at the...
(Issue date: 29 November 2009)
- Leeds research finds new piece of BSE puzzle
A new treatment route for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human form Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (CJD) could be a step closer thanks to scientists at the University of Leeds.
The team have found that a protein...
(Issue date: 23 November 2009)
- Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found
We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single than when paired up...
(Issue date: 23 November 2009)
- Discovery of New Type of Immune Cells Regulating Inflammation in Chronic Diseases
Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Centre of Allergy and Environment (ZAUM) of Technische Universität München have discovered a new type of immune cells - the Th22 cells - which can protect the body against...
(Issue date: 23 November 2009)
- Researchers Begin to Decipher Metabolism of Sexual Assault Drug
It’s a naturally occurring brain chemical with an unwieldy name: 4-hydroxybutyrate (4-HB). Taken by mouth, it can be abused or used as a date-rape drug.
Now, a team of Ohio and Michigan scientists have determined new routes by...
(Issue date: 23 November 2009)
- Cross-country runabouts - immune cells on the move
In order to effectively fight pathogens, even at remote areas of the human body, immune cells have to move quickly and in a flexible manner. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry in Martinsried near...
(Issue date: 23 November 2009)
- Drug shrinks lung cancer tumours in mice
A potential new drug for lung cancer has eliminated tumours in 50% of mice in a new study. In the animals, the drug also stopped lung cancer tumours from growing and becoming resistant to treatment. The authors of the research,...
(Issue date: 16 November 2009)
- Study reveals why certain drug combinations backfire
Combination drug therapy has become a staple for treating many infections. For instance, doctors treat extensively drug resistant forms of tuberculosis with one drug that breaks down the pathogen’s protective barriers and opens...
(Issue date: 16 November 2009)
- Chromosomes dance and pair up on the nuclear membrane
Meiosis – the pairing and recombination of chromosomes, followed by segregation of half to each egg or sperm cell – is a major crossroads in all organisms reproducing sexually. Yet, how the cell precisely choreographs these...
(Issue date: 16 November 2009)
- Hoping for a fluorescent basket case –
Although recent advances have raised hopes that a protective vaccine can be developed, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) remains a major public health problem. Much has been learned about HIV-1, the virus that causes the...
(Issue date: 16 November 2009)
- Sweet as can be: how E. coli gets ahead
Scientists at the University of York have discovered how certain bacteria such as Escherichia coli have evolved to capture rare sugars from their environment giving them an evolutionary advantage in naturally competitive...
(Issue date: 16 November 2009)
- Nanoparticles may cause DNA damage across a cellular barrier
Scientists have shown in the laboratory that metal nanoparticles damaged the DNA in cells on the other side of a cellular barrier. The nanoparticles did not cause the damage by passing through the barrier, but generated...
(Issue date: 08 November 2009)
- CU-Boulder Map of Human Bacterial Diversity Shows Wide Interpersonal Differences
A University of Colorado at Boulder team has developed the first atlas of bacterial diversity across the human body, charting wide variations in microbe populations that live in different regions of the body and which aid us in...
(Issue date: 08 November 2009)
- Trinity Researchers Discover New Way to Kill Leukaemia Cells
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have identified a new way of killing leukaemia cells, including those resistant to current therapies. The researchers describe how a new drug, pyrrolo-1,5-benzoxazepine-15 (PBOX-15), is...
(Issue date: 08 November 2009)
- DNA molecules in moss open door to new biotechnology
Plasmids, which are DNA molecules capable of independent replication in cells, have played an important role in gene technology. Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden have now demonstrated that plasmid-based methods,...
(Issue date: 08 November 2009)
- Genome Sequence for the Domestic Horse to Be Unveiled
The whole genome sequence of the domestic horse has been completed by the genome-sequencing centre of The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in collaboration with an international team of researchers that includes scientists at...
(Issue date: 08 November 2009)
- New Synthetic Molecules Trigger Immune Response to HIV and Prostate Cancer
Researchers at Yale University have developed synthetic molecules capable of enhancing the body’s immune response to HIV and HIV-infected cells, as well as to prostate cancer cells. Their findings could lead to novel therapeutic...
(Issue date: 08 November 2009)
- Roche adopts Fluofarma’s high-content screening platform
Fluofarma, a leading company in High Content Screening (HCS) technologies, which offers services and counselling to the Pharmaceutical industry, announced that it entered into a multi-year agreement with Roche.
The...
(Issue date: 08 November 2009)
