A physical chemist at Washington University in St. Louis is combining powerful lasers with clever timing schemes to characterize how chemical reactions occur with very precise atomic and time resolution. Understanding the mechanisms and physics of a chemical reaction at the most fundamental level could provide valuable insights into new directions for the field of chemistry.
Richard A. Loomis, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, is a physical chemist building on the femtochemistry adv
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are transplanting jellyfish genes into mice to watch how neural connections change in the brains of entire living animals. The development represents the merging of several technologies and enable researchers to watch changes inside living animals during normal development and during disease progression in a relatively non-invasive way.
“This work represents a new approach to studying the biology of whole, living animals,
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are developing methods to track molecular events in the body to diagnose disease long before symptoms appear and to predict the effectiveness of drug therapies. The research is under way at the School of Medicine’s new Molecular Imaging Center at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. The Center is funded by a five-year $9.4 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.
“Molecular imaging combines the latest in
A dietary supplement in the form of a cheap, fortified, orange-flavored drink can reduce Third World deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron, iodine and vitamin A, a Cornell University physician and international nutritionist reports. The supplement, he says, eases the so-called “hidden hunger” that plagues more than 2 billion people worldwide and particularly affects pregnant and nursing mothers and young children.
Studies by Michael C. Latham, professor of international nutrition at C
EU-funded project named `MICROBE DIAGNOSTICS` has developed new tools that enable more extensive and rapid analysis of our gut microbiota than has been possible earlier.
These new methods are based on the unique genetical codes each microbe contains. The project has developed 16 new testing devices, so called oligonucleotide probes. These probes are able to describe a more varied set of organisms that live in our microbiota than previously has been recognised by scientific methods. With these met
An important breakthrough has been made in determining the forces responsible for the evolution of populations in nature. By studying wild populations of grayling (a close relative of salmon), Mikko Koskinen and Craig Primmer at the University of Helsinki and Thrond Haugen at the University of Oslo found that natural selection, a force suggested by Charles Darwin in `The Origin of Species`, was responsible for up-to 90% of grayling evolution.
In their study, published in Nature on October 24
Advanced space technology is being found more down-to-earth uses – even within the cars driven on Europe`s roads.
The ESA conference ‘Technology Exchange between Space and Automotive Industry’ is to highlight how spin-offs from space are influencing the evolution of European automobiles, heralding improvements in safety, performance and power. It will take place 6 November at ESOC, Darmstadt in Germany.
“Space technology deals with the challenging conditions of launching an
New research at the University of North Carolina sheds light on the process that silences a group of genes in the developing embryo.
Down regulation of gene expression or “gene silencing” is considered crucial in normal development. In the embryo, proteins expressed by different sets of genes help signal the pattern of development, including limb formation. However, when that work is completed, the genes responsible must be turned off, explains Dr. Yi Zhang, assistant professor of bi
A recent study of coral formations in different tropical locations will be used to help geologists reconstruct climate and storm patterns of the past and learn more about the preservation of reefs. The findings will be presented by David Meyer, University of Cincinnati professor of geology, at the upcoming 2002 meeting and exposition of the Geological Society of America.
Meyer’s previous research established that coral reefs can be an index of the ocean’s health and are greatly impacted by
A genetic variant that can explain the occurrence of a type of rheumatic disorder called SLE has been identified by a research team at Uppsala University, Sweden. The team, led by Associate Professor Marta Alarcón at the Rudbeck Laboratory, is presenting its finding in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
Nearly 6,000 predominantly young women are victims of systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE. The disease is partly genetic and causes damage to the skin and various organ
Duke University chemists report they have made a significant advance toward producing tiny hollow tubes of carbon atoms, called “nanotubes,” with electronic properties reliable enough to use in molecular-sized circuits.
In a report posted Oct. 28, 2002, in the online version of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Duke group described a method to synthesize starting catalytic “nanocluster” particles of identical size that, in turn, can foster the growth of carbon nanotubes that
Treatment with a common diabetes drug effectively shrank these tumors in mice
While most cases of a hormonal disorder called Cushing’s Syndrome are caused by non-cancerous pituitary tumors that secrete too much of a particular hormone resulting in high cortisol levels, the disorder can ultimately lead to an early death for many patients whose tumors cannot be removed surgically.
Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that pituitary tumors express an
Promising animal test results that could lead to a vaccine to fight rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases were announced by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The vaccine reversed an arthritic-like disease in rats by mobilizing part of the immune system to protect joints under attack by other immune cells. The work was reported in two related papers in the September Journal of Immunology .
Autoimmune diseases, in which the immune
Texas research shows mid-September success with containerized trees
Most foresters hold to the straight and narrow when it comes to planting pine trees: nursery seedlings go in the ground between Dec. 1 and March 1. Period.
But a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station study is branching out to show that early planting — even as early as mid-September – can give slash pine trees a growing head start towards better survivability, thus faster regrowth on harvested or burnt area
Sometime within the next two years, researchers will detect the first signals of gravity waves — those weak blips from the far edges of the universe passing through our bodies every second. Predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, gravity waves are expected to reveal, ultimately, previously unattainable mysteries of the universe.
Wai-Mo Suen, Ph.D., professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis is collaborating with researchers nationwide to develop waveform t
In search of cosmic mayhem
A physicist at Washington University in St. Louis working with scientists at the Smithsonian Institution is unveiling the dark, violent side of the universe.
Studying the highest energy photons known to science, Washington University Associate Professor of Physics James H. Buckley, Ph.D., and his colleagues are analyzing bursts of gamma rays released from massive black holes at the center of so-called active galaxies.
Using the Whipple Ob
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