Few conditions are more detrimental to human brains than the one popularly referred to as mad cow disease. But now there’s reason to suspect that the protein which, when malformed, causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cows and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people, might also be necessary for healthy brain function. Researchers from Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital have discovered that the normal form of this det
Every year, East Coast fever destroys the small farmer’s dream of escaping poverty in Africa. Killing more than a million cattle and costing some $200 million annually, this tick-borne disease rages across a dozen countries in eastern and central Africa. Now, an international team of scientists has taken the first major step toward a vaccine to prevent East Coast fever. Their work, published in the February 13-17 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, s
Scientists at Georgia Tech have created technology capable of detecting trace amounts of biological or chemical agents in a matter of seconds, much faster than traditional methods, which can take hours or up to a day. The system uses reusable hydrogel microlenses so small that millions of them can fit on a one-inch-square plate. It could greatly enhance the ability of authorities responding to a biological or chemical weapons attack as well as increase the speed of medical testing. The researc
Discovery suggests potential treatment for regenerating nerve tissue after stroke
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School have discovered a new population of cells in human umbilical cord blood that have properties of primitive stem cells.
Umbilical cord blood is generally known to contain hematopoietic stem cells that can only produce cells found in blood. The new findings, however, identify a small population of cord blood cells with the characterist
Humans and chimps share most of their genes, yet they differ dramatically in many ways—their walk, the sizes of their brains and their capacities for speech and language, for example.
Scientists would like to know how and when such differences arose, and new research from the University of Michigan shows how one process—gene loss—may have figured in.
The work, by a group led by associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Jianzhi Zhang, is reported i
Very thin but hardy, unblemished skin and slow developing gills appear to be keys to survival for newly hatched Antarctic notothenioids, a group of fish whose adults thrive in icy waters because of antifreeze proteins (AFPs) in their blood.
Such adaptations are important, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say, because the larval fish of at least two species of notothenioids that inhabit the Ross Sea at McMurdo Sound and Terra Nova Bay surprisingly lack
At the Campus Vienna Biocenter research has begun into environmental stress-induced changes to the plant genome supported by the Austrian genome program (GEN-AU). A EUR 1.3 million budget has been allocated to the three-year project. Two task groups at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences and five at the Campus will investigate how extreme environmental conditions impact on the plant genome. It is also hoped that evidence will be found to support the hypothesis that inheri
The latest issue of The Biochemist looks at stem cells, their potential in medicine and the ethical questions to which they give rise.
As part of the Biochemical Journal centenary, the issue carries an exclusive interview with Mike Berridge and Bob Michell and a review of signalling. We interview Sir Philip Cohen, the new president of the Society, on his career in biochemistry and the role of science.
Contents include:
Stem cell research: ethics and geography
Indiana University School of Medicine has begun unique clinical trial
Indiana University School of Medicine scientists have begun a unique clinical trial using stem cell injections as a treatment that could offer hope to tens of thousands of people who face sores, ulcers and even amputations due to severe peripheral artery disease.
An estimated 10 million Americans are affected by the poor blood circulation — generally in the legs — of peripheral artery disease (PAD). It i
A Florida State University scientist used a gene transfer technique to block the expression of a gene associated with clinical depression in a new study of mice that could lead to better treatment of human beings with this condition.
Carlos Bolanos, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, was among a team of researchers that identified the role of a gene called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in the development of social aversion. Mice treated with a tra
Based on laboratory research, scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have a new theory as to why people with Alzheimer’s disease have trouble performing even the simplest memory tasks, such as remembering a family member’s name.
That’s because they discovered a physical link between apolipoprotein E (APOE), the transport molecules known to play a role in development of the disease, and glutamate, a brain chemical necessary for establishing human memory.
In
They may not be able to make love last, but a team of University of Florida researchers has figured out how to at least make the flowers go the distance.
A UF environmental horticulturist has developed ways to extend flower quality and vase life by three or more days through post-harvest techniques so consumers see a difference in the flowers they purchase – not only on Valentine’s Day but throughout the year.
“Our research has shown that keeping flowers cold as they mov
By changing individual atoms in key places in proteins, Duke University chemists have found new evidence for the importance of comparatively weak “hydrogen bonds” in enabling stringlike proteins to fold into the maximally stable shape they need to assume their roles as biological workhorses. Such protein folding immediately after proteins are synthesized is central to their function in the cell.
Although they are much weaker than the preeminent “covalent” chemical bonds that bind atoms
“Backward” DNA leads to DNA breaks associated with leukemia, study finds
When otherwise normal DNA adopts an unusual shape called Z-DNA, it can lead to the kind of genetic instability associated with cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The study, issued in advance of the Feb. 21 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates for the first time th
Anti-malarial drugs are most effective in people with lupus who are genetically predisposed to high levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha and low levels of the cytokine IL-10. A study published today in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy reveals that anti-malarial drugs, widely used to treat systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), bring serum levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) back to normal in SLE patients. The research shows that these drugs are more effective in patients who
Researchers have identified a key component of the mechanism spermatozoa use to abruptly convert their tail motion from a steady swimming undulation to the whip-cracking snap that thrusts them into an egg. The finding opens a new research pathway that the researchers said could help scientists both recognize new forms of male infertility and design new contraceptives to thwart sperm entry into the egg.
What’s more, they said, the exquisitely delicate analytical technique they used t
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