Two variations in the gene for insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) are linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to research performed by scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and the University of Hawaii.
“Our results suggest that inherited variation in IGF1 may play a role in prostate cancer risk,” write the researchers in a paper published in the January 18, 2006, issue
For the first time DNA analysis can identify paper-degrading microorganisms. This is made possible by a molecular process developed for fungal infected documents at the University of Vienna with support from the Austrian Science Fund FWF. Fungal species can now be clearly identified by means of a DNA region known as ITS1, making it easier to choose effective countermeasures for conserving historic documents.
It is generally easy enough to say how the ravages of time take their
The colouring agents traditionally used to stain organic tissues are no longer sufficient to meet today’s needs. The study of cell metabolism can only advance with better tools than those currently available. It has become necessary to observe smaller things at lower concentrations and one of these things is the degree of intracellular acidity or pH. Any organism works at pH levels close to those of ordinary water, but there are certain biological processes that take place in unusually acidic
A perfect model to study GPCR activation and dimerization
We have aspired at understanding and further dissecting the molecular mechanism of activation of the Glycoprotein hormone receptors (GpHr), members of the G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily.
First, we have focused on a network of polar interactions among highly conserved residues within the transmembrane (TM) region. Combination of site-directed mutagenesis and molecular dynamics simulations applied to
Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have identified a protein fragment in some human breast cancers that may help predict a patient’s chances of survival.
The presence of the fragment, called p95HER-2, in breast cancer tissue correlates closely with lymph node metastasis and earlier recurrence of the disease, suggesting that p95HER-2 is a marker and perhaps even involved in metastasis.
“By studying this marker we have a better chance
Scientists generally agree that all cloned animals are biologically flawed. But they don’t agree about what that means for stem cells derived from cloned embryos, the basis for therapeutic cloning.
Also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, therapeutic cloning is a promising approach to create individually customized cellular therapies for treating certain disorders. Demonstrated in mice but not in humans, it begins with stem cells derived from a cloned embryo. But if clo
Scientists have developed a successful strategy for interfering with Ebola virus infection that protected 75 percent of nonhuman primates exposed to the lethal disease. This is the first successful antiviral intervention against filoviruses like Ebola in nonhuman primates. The findings could serve as the basis for a new approach to quickly develop virus-specific therapies for known, emerging, and genetically engineered pathogens.
In today’s online issue of the journal
Researchers for the first time have created a three-dimensional image of apolipoprotein E, a protein long associated with cardiovascular disease and more recently with Alzheimer’s disease, as it appears when it is bound to fat-like substances known as lipids.
Using the technique known as x-ray crystallography, scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) have created the highest-resolution x-ray structure of a lipoprotein particle to date.
Scientists have gotten their first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that Nature has been using for eons to help silence unwanted genetic messages. A team of researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley used x-ray crystallography at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS) to determine the crystal structure of Dicer, an enzyme that plays a critical role in the process known as RNA interference. The Dic
A collaboration, led by Sydney scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and University of New South Wales, has discovered the first risk gene specifically for bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness. This means that people who have a particular form of this gene are twice as likely to develop the disease.
Dr Ian Blair, lead author of the research paper published in Molecular Psychiatry, says: “We are the first group in the world to take a multi-
Result supports interaction between bone formation and production of blood, immune cells
Scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HCSI) have defined a molecule that dictates how blood stem cells travel to the bone marrow and establish blood and immune cell production. The discovery may help improve bone marrow stem cell transplantation and the treatment of several blood disorders.
As published in the January 15th issue of G&D, Dr. Joel Richter’s laboratory at UMASS Medical School has identified a critical role for the RINGO/Spy protein in the control of cytoplasmic polyadenylation. CPEB is a highly conserved, sequence-specific RNA-binding protein that modulates polyadenylation, and thereby mRNA translation. Dr. Richter and his graduate student, Kiran Padmanabhan, now show that CPEB phosphorylation (and subsequent activation) is regulated by RINGO/Spy in Xenopus oocytes
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center say they have jumped a significant hurdle in the use of RNA interference (RNAi), believed by many to be the ultimate tool to both decode the function of individual genes in the human genome and to treat disease.
Reporting in the journal Genes and Development, investigators have developed a simple way to use the RNAi approach to silence a selected gene in a specific tissue in a mouse to determine the function o
Research in monkeys suggests that the natural plant estrogens found in soy do not increase markers of breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. In fact, they may provide a protective effect in some women. The research is reported today in Cancer Research.
“Even at high doses, we found no evidence that the estrogen-like compounds in soy, called isoflavones, stimulate cell growth or other markers for cancer risk in breast tissue,” said Charles E. Wood, D.V.M., Ph.D., lead rese
A component of many proteins has been found to constitute one of the most powerful and resilient molecular “springs” in nature, researchers have discovered. The engineers and biologists from Duke University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute say their discovery could lead to a new understanding of mechanical processes within the living cell. The discovery also could provide potent nanoscale “shock absorbers” or “gate-opening springs” in tiny nanomachines.
The team’s fin
A team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department, has come up with new findings that may have implications in delaying and slowing down cognitive deterioration in old age. The basis for these developments is Schwartz’s team’s observations, published today in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience, that immune cells contribute to maintaining the brain’s ability to maintain cognitive ability and cell renewal throughout life.
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