A new antifreeze protein discovered in tiny snow fleas by Queen’s University researchers may lengthen the shelf life of human organs for transplantation.
Drs. Laurie Graham and Peter Davies, from the Department of Biochemistry, found that the potent protein produced by the fleas to protect themselves against freezing is capable of inhibiting ice growth by about six Celsius degrees. This would allow organs to be stored at lower temperatures, expanding the time allowed between removal
Bacteria found in soil around Tokyo are not indigenous to the area. A study published in the open access journal Saline Systems reveals a large proportion of salt-loving bacteria in non-saline soil around Tokyo. The researchers suggest that dust storms may have carried the bacteria from their natural habitats in China.
Akinobu Echigo and colleagues, from Toyo University and the Noda Institute for Scientific Research in Japan, analysed bacteria found in non-saline soil collected in garden
We often make unwise choices although we should know better. Thunderstorm clouds ominously darken the horizon. We nonetheless go out without an umbrella because we are distracted and forget. But do we? Neurobiologists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies carried out experiments that prove for the first time that the brain remembers, even if we don’t and the umbrella stays behind. They report their findings in the Oct. 20th issue of Neuron.
“For the first time, we can
Genetic material derisively called “junk” DNA because it does not contain the instructions for protein-coding genes and appears to have little or no function is actually critically important to an organism’s evolutionary survival, according to a study conducted by a biologist at UCSD.
In the October 20 issue of Nature, Peter Andolfatto, an assistant professor of biology at UCSD, shows that these non-coding regions play an important role in maintaining an organism’s genetic integr
Nine-year-old boy from northern Alberta tested and found to have genetic abnormality; first time it’s been identified by researchers
Researchers at the University of Toronto (U of T), Capital Health’s Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and their international collaborators have discovered a genetic abnormality that causes a type of language impairment in children – a discovery that could lead to isolating genes important
A new study suggests that a substance made by immune cells plays a key role in the progression of a disease in animals that closely mimics multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings further suggest that blocking the molecule, known as macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) might prevent the progression of the disease.
Researchers at The Ohio State University Medical Center conducted the study using mice that develop a disease that mimics MS. They compared these animals to similar
Entomologists have isolated three key genes that determine when female mosquitoes feed on blood and when they decide to switch to an all-sugar diet to fatten up for the winter.
David Denlinger, professor of entomology at Ohio State University, hopes this discovery will lead scientists to other genes that help the mosquitoes survive cold weather – in particular, those genes related to how insects handle the West Nile Virus when they enter a kind of hibernation.
Denl
Biotech cotton has beaten back pink bollworm eight years running, reports a team of scientists from The University of Arizona in Tucson.
The surprising finding is good news for the environment. Arizona farmers who plant the biotech cotton known as Bt cotton use substantially less chemical insecticides than in the past.
Insect pests sometimes evolve resistance to such chemicals in just a few years, a fate that was predicted for biotech crops genetically altered to produc
UCR-led research team shows that organisms use their biochemical characteristics to overcome limitations arising from their body size
Life scientists have long maintained that, based on body size, small organisms are more metabolically active than large organisms. But a new study led by Bai-Lian Li, professor of ecology at UC Riverside, shows that this is true only for organisms that are closely related evolutionarily and have body masses differing by no more than 6-7 orders of mag
Alcohol, like any other substance that reinforces behaviour, such as another drug of abuse or even food, has a certain capacity to enhance social memory, that is, the ability to remember other individuals. If a mouse is administered alcohol immediately after being introduced to another animal of its own kind, the former will recognise the latter sooner. This phenomenon, which has significant implications when it comes to understanding the process underlying alcohol addiction, does not have a d
Yale researchers have reported a method to count the absolute number of individual protein molecules inside a living cell, and to measure accurately where they are located, two basic hurdles for studying biology quantitatively.
“The method makes possible accurate measurements of proteins inside cells using microscopic methods usually used just to show where proteins are located,” said senior author Thomas D. Pollard, M.D., Chair and Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular &
The scientific magazine Brain Research has recently published the results of research work by scientists from the University of Navarra. The work describes the presence and location of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) in the brain of the rat and characterises the neurones expressed therein, above all within the cerebral cortex of this rodent. The authors are José Luis Velayos and Francisco José Moleres, research scientists at the Department of Anatomy at the University of Navarra.
A way to detect fragments of broken brain cells that leak into the bloodstream may help doctors more quickly and precisely treat people with severe head injuries or brain diseases, say researchers at the University of Florida’s McKnight Brain Institute.
UF scientists have discovered they can use an approach similar to one commonly used in HIV or pregnancy testing to find bits of axons – nerve fibers that help brain cells communicate – in the blood and spinal fluid of laborator
Brain tumors called ependymomas that occur in different parts of the central nervous system appear to arise from subpopulations of stem cells called radial glia cells (RGCs), according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The discovery explains why some identical-looking ependymomas are actually distinctly different diseases, the researchers said.
This new information, in combination with the techniques used to conduct the study, holds promise for designi
Variation in dopamine receptor gene is associated with hypertension, could help explain why people have different risk, especially as they age
A new genetic discovery made by a University of Michigan team may help explain why some people develop high blood pressure and others don’t — and why some people’s blood pressure increases as they age.
It also gives new insight into how the kidneys govern the balance of salt in the body, a crucial task for regulating blo
Findings may lead to new treatments for asthma and other inflammatory-related diseases
Defects in immune system cells called T helper cells may lead to diseases characterized by a faulty inflammatory response such as autoimmunity and asthma. Understanding the molecular steps involved in how T helper cells mature may help researchers develop treatments for these diseases.
Helper T cells differentiate into two different types of cells –Th1 or Th2 – which are responsible
Feedback
