Researchers seeking to direct cancer-killing immune cells against the deadliest brain tumors have three new targets that show promise in laboratory studies and in a Phase I patient trial, according to two articles in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research.
The antigens, previously associated with several other types of cancer cells, were recently found to be expressed in the most common and aggressive type of malignant brain tumor, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Scientists at Ce
The gradual subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath the North American plate puts tremendous stress on the seafloor, creating cracks and fissures, hydrothermal vents, seafloor spreading, and literally hundreds of small earthquakes on a near-daily basis.
Now a North American team of scientists has documented for the first time a new phenomenon – the creation of a void in the seafloor that draws in – rather than expels – surrounding seawater. They report their discovery in the July 15 issue
An Oregon Health & Science University research team has uncovered a novel form of transmission between neurons in the brain that is mediated by dopamine. The neurons are found in parts of the brain associated with movement, substance abuse and mental disorders.
Scientists at the Vollum Institute, OHSU School of Medicine, reported in a study published in the journal Neuron that the neurotransmitter dopamine is released from midbrain nerve cells in a much more precise, targeted manner than previo
In a study of 33 HIV+ couples who engaged in frequent, unprotected sex, Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology researchers found no evidence of superinfection, the sequential acquisition of multiple HIV variants.
HIV is a highly mutable virus encompassing two quite different types around the world, HIV-1 and HIV-2. Within those types there are variations known as “subclades” that are typically subdivided further into genetically differentiated strains. The epidemic in the U.S. cons
Adult stem cells in the brains of mice possess a broader differentiation potential than previously thought and may be capable of developing into other cell types including those involved in the formation of new blood vessels, according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health. The finding could help resolve a critical question about these promising, but still mystifying cells. The report by Fred H. Gage, Ph.D., and colleagues at t
Current conservation planning may be hindering not helping endangered wildlife – opportunistic land purchases may be best bet for highly threatened species
A new study published in the August issue of the journal Ecology Letters shows that elaborate modeling efforts used to guide land conservation result in plans that are rarely achievable in the real world–and may actually be counter-productive to achieving long term protection of plants and animals.
“Conservation agen
Canine genome available now to research community worldwide
The first draft of the dog genome sequence has been deposited into free public databases for use by biomedical and veterinary researchers around the globe, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today.
A team led by Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Ph.D., of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Mass., and Agencourt Bioscience Corp., Beverl
’we can supply a group of previously unavailable materials to the nanotechnology community’
A University of Southern California engineer has discovered a way to manufacture composite “nanocables” from a potent new class of substances with extraordinary properties called Transition Metal Oxides (TMOs).
Chongwu Zhou, an assistant professor in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Electrical Engineering, is creating dense arrays of ultrafine wires made of magn
Perhaps the most commonly mutated of all cancer-linked genes is the gene for a tumor suppressor called p53. Scientists estimate that at least half of human cancers involve mutant p53. In the course of performing its regular duties, the normal p53 protein binds to DNA, and a number of cancer-linked p53 mutations affect the DNA-binding region of the p53 protein.
But precisely how does the p53 protein bind to DNA? Since DNA binding is crucial to the protein’s usual function, the answer to thi
Science teachers will have free access to a comprehensive selection of exciting multimedia resources to help them teach and inspire pupils studying science at Key Stage 3 with a new interactive CD-rom. The material has been selected and edited in a project involving top UK scientists, teachers and education consultants.
Seeingscience with CCLRC has been produced by CCLRC, a UK government-funded research council which operates the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. It provides l
Collisions in the Asteroid Belt result in the asteroids being completely destroyed and shattered into countless pieces. Computer simulations predict that most of these fragments will eventually fall into the Sun. Some of them, however, will hit the Earth after millions of years as meteorites. It is possible that this could also occur much earlier. In certain positions in the Asteroid Belt, the orbiting time of an object around the sun is a multiple of the orbit of the giant planet Jupiter. The so-
EMBL and partners begin MitoCheck, a multinational research project on cell cycle regulation
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) join forces with top scientists from eleven research institutes in Austria, Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom for “MitoCheck” – the largest integrated research project on cell cycle control within the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme (FP6). The partners will receive an 8.5 million Euro grant to address a
Conflicting regulation from local, state and federal authorities can cause inconsistent safety practices in the food retail business, but aggressive education can allow food handlers to better comply with safety measures according to food safety experts at this week’s annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists, the international not-for-profit scientific society.
In the retail sector, regulatory inconsistencies can be a problem when stores deliver products to off-site facilities
Women with breast cancer who receive unwanted support have more trouble adjusting to the disease than those who receive no support at all, a new study suggests.
Researchers Julie S. Reynolds and Nancy A. Perrin of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research and Oregon Health & Science University in Portland report in the journal Health Psychology that the negative effect of unwanted support was more substantial to the women’s psychosocial adjustment to their illness than was the positiv
By studying rodent models of the relatively rare inherited form of Lou Gehrig’s disease and tissue samples from a patient with the condition, scientists have discovered the first evidence that damage to nerve cell powerhouses is directly responsible for these cells’ death. The findings appear in the July 9 issue of Neuron.
The research team from the University of California San Diego, Johns Hopkins and elsewhere discovered that dysfunctional proteins clog the transport system that
A newly published study by a University of Wisconsin research team points the way to solving two of life’s seemingly eternal but unrelated mysteries: how birds that migrate thousands of miles every year accomplish the feat on very little sleep and what that ability means for humans who are seriously sleep-deprived or face significant sleep problems.
The study, published online in the July 13 issue of PloS (Public Library of Science) Biology, found that a group of sparrows studied in the l
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