Using a water droplet 1 trillion times smaller than a liter of club soda as a sort of nanoscale test tube, a University of Washington scientist is conducting chemical analysis and experimentation at unprecedented tiny scales.
The method captures a single cell, or even a small subcellular structure called an organelle, within a droplet. It then employs a powerful laser microscope to study the contents and examine chemical processes, and a laser beam is used to manipulate the cel
X-rays yield pictures and chemical clues that may help trace contaminants, thwart terrorists
As part of the search for better ways to track and clean up soil contaminants, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a new way to “image” the internal chemistry of bacteria. The technique will allow scientists to “see” at the molecular level how soil-dwelling microbes interact with various pollutants. T
When it comes to fighting stains, “greener” is better. Chemists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say they have developed an alternative material for making stain-resistant coatings that does not lead to the contamination of the environment with PFOA, a pervasive chemical that has been termed a “likely carcinogen” by an EPA advisory board.
PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) is used directly in the manufacture of the coatings used in nonstick cookware and is also pro
An unusual type of antibiotic being developed by chemists at Notre Dame University shows promise in defeating deadly “superbugs” — highly drug-resistant staph bacteria that are an increasing source of hospital-based infections. The novel antibiotics, which could some day save lives, were described today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
The new antibiotics are synthetic forms of cephalosporin, a broad-spectrum a
A class of anticancer drugs currently being evaluated in phase 3 clinical trials may also be an effective treatment for Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a fatal genetic disorder that causes premature aging. If upcoming studies in a HGPS mouse model validate the results of experiments in cultured cells in the laboratory, a clinical trial of these drugs in HGPS children may begin as early as next spring.
Brian Capell, a New York University medical student participating i
Advances in the molecular modeling and simulation of complex biological systems are enabling researchers to study how certain microbial systems may play an important role in the remediation of contaminated soils. One target is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common microbe in sediments and the subsurface. This bacterium is also an important opportunistic pathogen that can cause fatal infections in people with a weakened immune systems.
T.P. Straatsma is leading a team of researchers model
A new laboratory method for quickly detecting active anthrax proteins within an infected blood sample at extremely low levels has been developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the National Cancer Institute.
Current detection methods rely on injecting live animals or cell cultures with samples for analysis and require up to several days before results are available. Describ
Bitter-tasting fescue takes over more quickly with help of plant-eating bugs, animals
New research by biologists at Rice University, Indiana University and George Mason University reveals how some non-native fescue grass gets a leg up over competing native plants: it’s passed over by plant-eating insects and animals because its leaves are laced with toxic alkaloids, thanks to a symbiotic fungus that has co-evolved with the grass.
In a 54-month study conducted at Indi
A Rensselaer researcher has developed a new tool to help unravel the function of an elusive DNA structure. The findings, which were presented today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, D.C., could lead to a better understanding of diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
The standard version of the human genome is a double-stranded helix of complementary bases: adenine binds to thymine and cytosine binds to guanine. “Our focus is on a
If living cell is replaced by a test-tube with DNA and a set of substances, it is possible to get proteins in a more simple and inexpensive way. That was done by Russian biochemists synthesizeing insulin without help of transgene Escherichia coli. The researchers’ concept was funded by the Ministry of Science and Molecular and Cellular Boioplogy, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Insulin for diabetics has been obtained so far by utilizing biotechnological synthesis. The basic materia
How a newly discovered mechanism keeps inflammation under control
When macrophages, the first line defender cells of the immune system become activated, they produce an inhibitor, which acts back on them to suppress their activity. This has been revealed by the work of scientists at the German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF) in Braunschweig together with colleagues at the Hannover Medical School and at the University of Münster. The suppressor turned out to be an “old acqu
Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered that patients who have two specific gene variants are more than three times as likely to suffer a stroke after heart surgery.
Furthermore, since the two implicated genes are involved in the body’s immune response to insult or injury, the researchers said that their findings strongly suggest that inflammation plays an important role in post-operative stroke.
The researchers said that if the findings are conf
Discovery may lead to promising new research tools
University of Oregon scientists report their discovery of the basis for the blue coloration found in many coral reef formations in an article published this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Jim Remington and Nathan Henderson of the university’s Institute of Molecular Biology describe the crystal structure of a cyan (greenish-blue) fluorescent protein from a sea anemone in the report, which
A special stretch of genetic material may turn off the immune suppression that stymies attempts to fight cancer with a vaccine, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) at Houston.
In a report in today’s issue of the journal Science, Dr. Rong-Fu Wang, a professor in the BCM Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and Department of Immunology, and his colleagues describe a new strategy to turn off the function of a special group of T cells to suppress immune response to
Plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal malaria parasite, is a housebreaking villain of the red blood cell world. Like a burglar searching for a way in to his targeted premises, the parasite explores a variety of potential entry points to invade the red blood cells of its human victims. When a weak point is found, the intrusion proceeds.
Scientists have known about the parasite’s housebreaking habit for a decade, but just how it breaks in to blood cells has been unknown.
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum uses different pathways to invade red blood cells, evading the body’s immune system and complicating efforts to create effective vaccines against the disease. A research team led by Australia’s Alan F. Cowman, an international research scholar with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has identified a gene that the parasite uses to switch back and forth between invasion pathways.
Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute
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