An international consortium of scientists, including a team from The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), is a step closer to the next generation of treatments to combat disease, after publishing a comprehensive analysis of the human and mouse transcriptomes.
A senior member of the consortium and IMB researcher Professor David Hume said transcriptome describes all of the information read from the genome by a cell at any given time.
“Essentia
A commercially developed vaccine has successfully protected mice and ferrets against a highly lethal avian influenza virus, according to the investigator who led the study at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The vaccine was developed by Vical Incorporated in San Diego, California.
This finding, coupled with results of previous studies that showed protection against multiple human influenza strains, suggests that such a vaccine would protect humans against multiple variants of
Researchers have found that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) carry a population of immune cells that overreact to Epstein-Barr virus. The virus, which causes mononucleosis and may contribute to some cancers, has long been suspected to play a role in MS. However, the mechanism linking the virus to the disease was poorly understood.
Scientists think that MS—which can cause vision problems, muscle weakness, and difficulty with coordination and balance—is a result of the im
During April, computers in the UK have been working overtime in the fight against avian flu. As part of an international collaboration, computers at eleven UK universities and research labs have put in one hundred thousand hours of time searching for possible drug components against the avian flu virus H5N1. The analysis used a computing Grid, a new network that brings together worldwide computer resources to solve scientific problems.
The computing Grid used in the UK was originally
For the past four years, while ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has been slewing between different targets ready for the next observation, it has kept its cameras open and used this spare time to quietly look at the heavens. The result is a ’free-of-charge’ mission spin-off – a survey that has now covered an impressive 25 percent of the sky.
The rapid slewing of the satellite across the sky means that a star or a galaxy passes in the field of view of the telescope for ten
Thanks to a series of highly successful projects in the EUREKA MEDEA+ Cluster, Europe leads the way in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for the production of future generations of semiconductor chips. As a result of strong co-operation between chipmakers, equipment suppliers and research centres, European companies will dominate the world market for equipment and materials. This is expected to generate some 18,000 jobs, mainly at a high technical level, as well as a €1 billion turnover b
The European Science Foundation has signed a new extended Memorandum of Understanding with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The document was formally signed by Professor Bertil Andersson, Chief Executive of the Foundation, and Professor Motoyuki Ono, President of JSPS.
The Memorandum provides for the close cooperation between both organisations for the organisation of ‘Frontier Science Meeting Series for Young Researchers’, which bring about 80 young researchers fr
Different methods of cooking vegetables could vary their effects on dental erosion, a study by researchers at the University of Dundee has found.
A research team led by Dr Graham Chadwick in the School of Dentistry have investigated whether the method of cooking a popular vegetarian dish, Ratatouille, would have any impact on the acidity of the food, and therefore the potential for contributing to dental erosion.
Their research found that, however it is cooked, ratatouil
People with Type 2 diabetes aged between 35 and 54 are over three times more likely to die than those without the condition according to research published today in the journal Diabetic Medicine. For people aged from 85 to 89, the increased risk of death for those with diabetes is over 50 per cent.
The research on 44,230 people with Type 2 diabetes also found that women with diabetes were more than twice as likely to die as their peers without the condition. For men, the increas
Measuring the rotation period of a rocky planet like the Earth is easy, but similar measurements for planets made of gas, such as Saturn, pose problems. Researchers from JPL, Imperial College London and UCLA present new results in this week’s Nature (4th May 2006) that may solve the mystery. Using the magnetometer instrument on Cassini, they have found a clear period in the magnetic field of the planet that they believe indicates a day of 10 hours and 47 minutes.
This is a whole 8 minutes s
A team of researchers of the University of Cadiz, headed by Carmen Estrada Cerquera, has started a project of excellence, subsidized with 166,000 euros from the Andalusian Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise, that aims to study neural stem cells and the conditions in which they could be used in the treatment of diseases.
According to the said researcher, this project “is part of the attempt that many laboratories are currently making worldwide to get to know better the bio
The inventor of DNA Fingerprinting at the University of Leicester, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, is to be honoured with a prestigious international accolade later this year, it has been announced.
Sir Alec, who is Royal Society Wolfson Research Professor in the Department of Genetics, is to be awarded the Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics 2006 by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of the discovery of the revolutionary technique.
T
A 15-year follow-up of women in a breast cancer trial has found that fenretinide[1] – a drug related to vitamin A – significantly cuts the risk of a second breast cancer among younger patients.
The Italian research team reporting the findings on-line today (Thursday 4 May) in Annals of Oncology[2], are sufficiently convinced of the drug’s protective potential to call for a trial to test its use as a preventive in pre-menopausal healthy women at high risk of the disease. They are now
Cordoba-based company Termos La Campera S.L.L. has found a solution to increase honey production: to make beehives of polyurethane. This insulating material keeps beehives at a constant temperature and therefore bees do not have to flutter their wings in order to cool hives down in summertime, using this time to produce honey or procreate instead. This company has received 101,393 Euros from a new order of incentives for innovation and managerial development called Orden de Incentivos a la Innovació
In July 2005, the race to find a vaccine that would stem the worldwide rate of 13,000 new cases of HIV infection each day moved from competition among research institutions to a strategy of cooperation.
An international “virtual research center” – the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) – was awarded up to $300 million over seven years to support efforts to develop an HIV vaccine.
The first of several research studies in this collaboration now is under way and
Walking fitness makes a significant difference in predicting the likelihood of future disability in the elderly, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) and their collaborators found that the ability to walk 400-meters, or about a quarter mile, was an important determinant not only of whether elderly participants would be alive six years later but also how much il
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