- Same types of cell respond differently to stimulus, study shows
Using new technology that allows scientists to monitor how individual cells react in the complex system of cell signalling, Stanford University researchers have uncovered a much larger spectrum of differences between each cell...
(Issue date: 29 June 2010)
- Technique enables precise control of protein activity in living cells
Cancer occurs when human cells move and multiply inappropriately. Within cells, a process called phosphorylation serves as an on/off switch for a number of cellular processes that can be involved in cancer, including metabolism,...
(Issue date: 29 June 2010)
- Down with jet lag
The active agent metyrapone influences corticosterone synthesis and enables faster adaptation to altered circadian rhythms. Journeys across several time zones make our internal body clocks go haywire. We feel exhausted and tense,...
(Issue date: 29 June 2010)
- CSHL team discovers that messenger RNAs are regulated in far more ways than previously appreciated
A team of molecular biologists from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has discovered that mRNAs can be targeted for destruction by several modes and molecules, highlighting a previously unanticipated complexity in the control...
(Issue date: 29 June 2010)
- Ronin recruits protein allies to sustain embryonic stem cell growth
Ronin, crucial to the self-renewal of embryonic stem cells, and a co-regulator called Hcf-1 binds to a small strand of DNA called a hyperconserved enhancer element to control a gene "program" that stimulates growth of stem cells...
(Issue date: 29 June 2010)
- Higher levels of vitamin B6 and methionine are associated with a marked decrease in risk of developing lung cancer
Nearly 900 people within the EPIC study who developed a lung cancer were identified and compared to 1770 comparable people who did not develop a cancer.
Blood samples taken at the start of the study were measured for 4...
(Issue date: 21 June 2010)
- New world Helicobacter pylori genome sequenced, dynamics of inflammation-related genes revealed
An international team of researchers led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech have sequenced the genome of an Amerindian strain of the gastric bug Helicobacter pylori, confirming the...
(Issue date: 21 June 2010)
- New Role for Ancient Clock
The pancreas has its own molecular clock. Now, for the first time, a Northwestern University study has shown this ancient circadian clock regulates the production of insulin. If the clock is faulty, the result is diabetes.
The...
(Issue date: 21 June 2010)
- Double Flu Fighter: H1N1 Flu Vaccine Likely Works for 1918 Flu
The vaccine for last year's pandemic H1N1 influenza also appears to protect against the 1918 Spanish influenza virus, which killed approximately 50 million world-wide, according to new research.
The findings assuage fears that...
(Issue date: 21 June 2010)
- FLY CELLS FLOCK TOGETHER, FOLLOW THE LIGHT
Scientists at Johns Hopkins report using a laser beam to activate a protein that makes a cluster of fruit fly cells act like a school of fish turning in social unison, following the lead of the one stimulated with light.
The...
(Issue date: 21 June 2010)
- How the wrong genes are repressed
The mechanism by which ‘polycomb’ proteins critical for embyronic stem cell function and fate are targeted to DNA has been identified by UCL scientists.
A key feature of stem cells is the suppression of genes that when later...
(Issue date: 15 June 2010)
- Mass. General researchers develop functional, transplantable rat liver grafts
Discarded livers have potential to be reengineered into usable replacement organs
A team led by researchers from the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has developed a technique that...
(Issue date: 15 June 2010)
- Veterinary Researchers Achieve Cloning First
Researchers at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences have achieved another cloning first with the successful delivery of a foal using oocytes from a live mare, the first such clone in the...
(Issue date: 15 June 2010)
- Size matters -- when it comes to DNA
Study into telomere length may improve understanding of the development of disease
A new study at the University of Leicester is examining a sequence of DNA- known as telomeres - that varies in length between individual.
This...
(Issue date: 15 June 2010)
- How bacteria make syringes
For a successful infection, bacteria must outwit the immune system of the host. To this aim, they deliver so-called virulence factors through a transport channel located in the bacterial membrane. In some bacteria this transport...
(Issue date: 15 June 2010)
- Researchers make blood poisoning breakthrough
The lives of millions of people struck down by blood poisoning – or sepsis – could be saved after a team of researchers, including an expert from the University of Glasgow, made a medical breakthrough in how the condition is...
(Issue date: 09 June 2010)
- Researchers use X-ray diffraction microscope to reveal 3-D internal structure of whole cell
Three-dimensional imaging is dramatically expanding the ability of researchers to examine biological specimens, enabling a peek into their internal structures. And recent advances in X-ray diffraction methods have helped extend...
(Issue date: 09 June 2010)
- 'Remote Control' for Cholesterol Regulation Discovered in Brain
Circulation of cholesterol is regulated in the brain by the hunger-signalling hormone ghrelin, researchers say. The finding points to a new potential target for the pharmacologic control of cholesterol levels.
The animal study...
(Issue date: 09 June 2010)
- New Rust Resistance Genes Added to Common Beans
New cultivars of common bean developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their university colleagues could shore up the legume crop’s defences against the fungal disease common bean rust.
According to Talo...
(Issue date: 09 June 2010)
- Gates open on understanding potassium channel controls
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have made a significant advance in understanding how potassium channels, which permit the flow of electric currents central to many of the body’s biological processes, control the flow...
(Issue date: 09 June 2010)
