- Novel Protein Essential for Successful Pregnancy
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and their colleagues at the Society for the Investigation of Early Pregnancy have helped clarify the function of a unique protein called Preimplantation Factor, which is produced by healthy...
(Issue date: 30 May 2010)
- Rutgers Cell Biologist Pinpoints How RNA Viruses Copy Themselves
Nihal Altan-Bonnet, assistant professor of cell biology, Rutgers University in Newark, and her research team have made a significant new discovery about RNA (Ribonucleic acid) viruses and how they replicate themselves.
Certain...
(Issue date: 30 May 2010)
- Berkeley Researchers Image Glycans on Embryonic Cells Hours After Fertilisation
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC), Berkeley, have successfully attached imaging probes to glycans – the sugar molecules...
(Issue date: 30 May 2010)
- Scientists develop new method to identify glycosylated proteins
Various processes in our body are controlled by subsequent changes of proteins. Therefore, the identification of such modifications is essential for the further exploration of our organism. Now, scientists of the Max Planck...
(Issue date: 30 May 2010)
- Shape matters: the corkscrew twist of the ulcer bug H. pylori enables it to 'set up shop' in the stomach
The bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which lives in the human stomach and is associated with ulcers and gastric cancer, is shaped like a corkscrew, or helix. For years researchers have hypothesised that the bacterium’s twisty shape...
(Issue date: 30 May 2010)
- First Self-Replicating Synthetic Bacterial Cell
Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomic research organisation, published results describing the successful construction of the first self-replicating, synthetic bacterial cell. The team...
(Issue date: 24 May 2010)
- Silica cages help anti-cancer antibodies kill tumours in mice
Packaging anti-cancer drugs into particles of chemically modified silica improve the drugs' ability to fight skin cancer in mice, according to new research. Results show the honeycombed particles can help anti-cancer antibodies...
(Issue date: 24 May 2010)
- Some statins have unintended effects and warrant closer monitoring, study finds
The type and dosage of statin drugs given to patients to treat heart disease should be proactively monitored as they can have unintended adverse effects, concludes a new study.
Researchers at The University of Nottingham found...
(Issue date: 24 May 2010)
- Speedy couriers in the cell
Every single one of our cells contains so-called motor proteins that transport important substances from one location to another. However, very little is known about how exactly these transport processes occur. Biophysicists at...
(Issue date: 24 May 2010)
- Scientists make important step toward stopping plaque-like formations in Huntington's disease
Research identifies gene candidates likely to be responsible for plaque-like formations that lead to neurological decline in Huntington's and similar diseases
They might not be known for their big brains, but fruit flies are...
(Issue date: 24 May 2010)
- New Twist on Potential Malaria Drug Target Acts by Trapping Parasites in Cells
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers and colleagues seeking to block invasion of healthy red blood cells by malaria parasites have instead succeeded in locking the parasites within infected blood cells, potentially...
(Issue date: 18 May 2010)
- A warm sensor maintains skin barrier
Japanese research group led by Prof. Makoto Tominaga and Dr. Takaaki Sokabe (National Institute for Physiological Sciences: NIPS) found that TRPV4 ion channel in skin keratinocytes is important for formation and maintenance of...
(Issue date: 18 May 2010)
- Baby corals dance their way home
Baby corals find their way home in their first days as free-swimming larvae by listening to the noise of animals on the reef and actively swimming towards it, an international team of researchers working in the Caribbean has...
(Issue date: 18 May 2010)
- How microtubules let go of their attachments during cell division
Whitehead Institute researchers have determined a key part of how cells regulate the chromosome/microtubule interface, which is central to proper chromosomal distribution during cell division.
"This is the surveillance machinery...
(Issue date: 18 May 2010)
- Scripps Research Study Overturns Decade-Old Findings in Neurobiology
In findings that should finally put to rest a decade of controversy in the field of neurobiology, a team at The Scripps Research Institute has found decisive evidence that a specific neurotransmitter system—the endocannabinoid...
(Issue date: 18 May 2010)
- Scientists ID Bacterial Genes that Improve Plant Growth
You might think bacteria that "invade" trees are there to cause certain destruction. But like the helpful bacteria that live within our guts, some microbes help plants thrive. To find out what makes these microbe-plant...
(Issue date: 18 May 2010)
- New understanding of dengue fever could help with vaccine
Some of the human immune system's defences against the virus that causes dengue fever actually help the virus to infect more cells, according to new research.
The researchers behind the work, from Imperial College London, hope...
(Issue date: 09 May 2010)
- New insights into the mystery of natural HIV immunity
When people become infected by HIV, it’s usually only a matter of time, barring drug intervention, until they develop full-blown AIDS. However, a small number of people exposed to the virus progress very slowly to AIDS — and some...
(Issue date: 09 May 2010)
- The Neanderthal in us
Analysis of the Neanderthal genome indicates that, contrary to previous beliefs, humans and Neanderthals interbred. The first genome sequence from an extinct human relative is now available. Together with an international...
(Issue date: 09 May 2010)
- Intercell acquires antibody technology platform to further exploit its capabilities to combat infectious diseases
Intercell AG has announced that it has signed an agreement with Cytos Biotechnology Ltd. to acquire Cytos' platform technology for monoclonal antibody discovery. The technology is based on expression cloning of monoclonal...
(Issue date: 09 May 2010)
