The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2005 jointly to Yves Chauvin Institut Français du Pétrole, Rueil-Malmaison, France, Robert H. Grubbs California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, USA and Richard R. Schrock Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA “for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis”.
Metathesis – a change-your-partners dance
This year’s Nobel Prize
Which flu did you get? TIGR scientists survey five New York flu seasons
On the eve of the 2005-06 flu season, scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) have captured influenza evolution in action. In a study published in this week’s journal Nature, the researchers report the first large-scale project to sequence the influenza virus. The study offers a unique snapshot of the rapidly evolving flu virus in a human population–and a new strategy for surveillance.
New studies in mice have shown that immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues can function for at least a year — most of the life span of a mouse — and give rise to multiple types of neural cells, not just neurons. The discovery may bode well for the use of these neural stem cells to regenerate brain tissue lost to injury or disease.
Alexandra L. Joyner, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at New York University School of Medicine, and her former post
Swiss study shows that hair follicles contain bonafide multipotent stem cells
Using an animal model, a research team led by Yann Barrandon at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) and the CHUV (Lausanne University Hospital) has discovered that certain cells inside the hair follicle are true multipotent stem cells, capable of developing into the many different cell types needed for hair growth and follicle replacement. In an article appearing in the Oct 3 advance o
Phase 2 enzyme inducers appear to stop harmful inflammation
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that plant-derived compounds known for their ability to protect tissue also appear to block the activity of an enzyme that triggers inflammation in joints. Their findings, based on experiments with human cells in a lab, could lead to new arthritis treatments and better methods of making artificial cartilage.
The discovery was detailed in a paper published in the Sept.
Obese mice are more susceptible to liver abnormalities
Mice that were fed diets high in fat and sugar developed immune system abnormalities in their livers, including reduced numbers of natural killer T (NKT) cells. These diet-related changes may contribute to obesity-related liver disease, according to a new study. The study is published in the October 2005 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by J
Two new studies on Hepatitis C (HCV) patients who underwent liver transplants examined a potential biomarker that could be used to predict who might develop hepatic fibrosis, a formation of scar-like tissue that can lead to cirrhosis. The studies found that changes in a certain type of liver cell were useful in determining those who were at the greatest risk for developing this serious complication.
The results of these studies appear in the October 2005 issue of Liver Transplanta
For the first time, a team of investigators at Carnegie Mellon University has shown that the binding of metal ions can mediate the formation of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) duplexes from single strands of PNA that are only partly complementary. This result opens new opportunities to create functional, three-dimensional nanosize structures such as molecular-scale electronic circuits, which could reduce by thousands of times the size of today’s common electronic devices. The research results wi
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers studying hemoglobin genes, mutations of which play a role in genetic blood disorders like sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia, have shown in studies with mice that the KLF2 protein is crucial for making young red blood cells.
The findings may point researchers to future gene therapies for patients with sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia.
In the October issue of Blood, the journal of the American Association for Hem
Significant for Huntington’s disease and colon cancer
Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered the inner workings of a defective DNA repair process and are first to explain why certain mutations are not corrected in cells. The finding is important because genetic instability and accumulations of mutations lead to disease. This discovery may lead to ways of fixing the process to avoid Huntington’s disease and some types of colon cancer.
The Mayo team discovered that unde
The first close-up look at a pro-inflammatory signaling molecule involved in immune response in mammals suggests that researchers “should rethink what they are doing” in creating drugs based on a fruit-fly model, scientists say.
Reporting in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of Immunology, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign unveiled the crystal structure of mouse interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase-4 (IRAK-4).
They found a distinct highly stru
A University of York scientist has won the world’s most prestigious award for the excellence of his research into carbohydrates.
The International Carbohydrate Organization is to present the Roy L Whistler International Award for 2006 to Professor Gideon Davies, of the University’s Department of Chemistry.
Professor Davies is only the second UK-based scientist to win the award, which recognises scientists “who have made contributions of excellence in carbohydrat
The latest issue of The Biochemist is all about live cell imaging. Articles range from studying whole embryos – using an entirely new technique – to tracking individual molecules: all this, and a broadside on the honesty of images in the digital age. Comment, reviews, days out – something for everyone in the October Biochemist.
Single molecule detection
By Laurent Groc, Daniel Choquet, Brahim Lounis and Laurent Cognet
Over the last decade, Single-Molecule Detection (S
University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemists have developed an approach that allows them to measure with unprecedented accuracy the strengths of hydrogen bonds in a protein. The scientists were then able to predict the function of different versions of the protein based on structural information, a novel outcome that was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor of biochemistry John Markley, along with a team that included graduate student I-
Fast, highly reliable detection of residues that could indicate the presence of explosives and other hazardous materials inside luggage is now possible with technology under development at Purdue University.
A research team led by R. Graham Cooks has found a way to determine the presence on a surface of trace quantities of chemicals – such as those found in biological and chemical warfare agents, as well as several common explosives – within a few seconds. The researchers
Microarray technology could be used to tailor therapy according to the individual, and prevent breast cancer patients from having to undergo painful unsuccessful therapies. In a study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research, researchers analysed tumour tissue samples and identified a group of 64 genes that can be used to predict a patient’s response in the five years after adjuvant therapy for breast cancer. Identifying patients whose breast tumours express these genes could potenti
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