A biologist at The University of Texas at Austin has presented a new theory that sheds light on how organisms, including viruses like HIV, rapidly evolve in the face of vaccines and antibiotics.
Dr. Lauren Ancel Meyers says the new model could help identify genes that increase a pathogen’s ability to evolve quickly against immune responses. Knowing those genes could help scientists develop new and better vaccines.
Meyers’ model predicts that populations can evolve “geneti
How germ cells decide whether to be sperm or eggs
Johns Hopkins biologists have determined how developing embryos tell their specialized “germ cells” whether to develop into a male’s sperm or a female’s eggs.
Present in both male and female embryos, germ cells are the precursors to both sperm and eggs. Unable to “decide” on their own which to become, however, germ cells must take “advice” from other cells within embryos as to which is the appropriate sex. The Johns Hop
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have identified a previously unknown family of virulence factors that make the bacterium responsible for the plague especially efficient at killing its host.
In the process, the team not only demonstrated that the use of the common roundworm is a valid model for studying the virulence of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague. They also showed that the interaction between Y. pestis and the worm is quite similar to what occur
Results reported at American Chemical Society meeting
A chemical catalyst developed at Carnegie Mellon University completely destroys dangerous nitrophenols in laboratory tests, according to Arani Chanda, a doctoral student who is presenting his findings on Sunday, Aug. 28, at the 230th meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, D.C. (Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Convention Center Hall A).
“We found an efficient, rapid and envi
Chemistry and biology researchers at Virginia Tech have enhanced the abilities of the molecules they are creating to deliver killing blows to cancer cells. The man-made molecular complexes enter cancer cells and, when signaled, deliver killing medicine or cause the cell to change. The new supermolecules have more units that will absorb light – providing more control over the range of light frequencies that can be included and excluded as signals and the responses.
Karen Brewer, p
Chemists are several steps closer to teasing hydrogen fuel from water using man-made molecular devices that collect electrons and use them to split hydrogen from oxygen.
Virginia Tech graduate students in chemistry will present two posters at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 28 through Sept. 1, 2005, describing photochemical processes.
Electrons are negatively charged particles that allow atoms to react and form bond
Brookhaven’s ’Electro Pen’ may impact a host of developing nanotechnologies
At the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists have developed a new chemical “writing” technique that can create lines of “ink” only a few tens of nanometers, or billionths of a meter, in width.
“Our new ’writing’ method opens up many new possibilities for creating nanoscale patterns and features on surfaces. This may have a significant
Coffee provides more than just a morning jolt; that steaming cup of java is also the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Scranton (Pa.). Their study was described today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
“Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close,” says study leader
DNA isn’t just for storing genetic codes any more. Since DNA can polymerize — linking many molecules together into larger structures — scientists have been using it as a nanoscale building material, constructing geometric shapes and even working mechanical devices.
Now Cornell University researchers have made DNA buckyballs — tiny geodesic spheres that could be used for drug delivery and as containers for chemical reactions.
The term “buckyballs” has been used up to
Research teams at Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd., Bayer CropScience and DuPont have developed two new classes of broad-spectrum insecticides that show promise as a safer and more effective way to fight pest insects that damage food crops. The insecticides, which represent the first synthetic compounds designed to activate a novel insecticide target called the ryanodine receptor, may also help tackle the growing problem of insecticide resistance, the researchers say. They described their studies today
Biochemical technique expected to yield new, more effective test for disease-causing prions in cattle and humans
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have found a way to detect in blood the malformed proteins that cause “mad cow disease,” the first time such “prions” have been detected biochemically in blood.
The discovery, reported in an article scheduled to appear online in Nature Medicine Aug. 28, is expected to lead to a much more
Chicken-produced antibodies demonstrate enhanced cell killing compared to conventionally produced anti-cancer antibodies
Origen Therapeutics today announced the first published scientific report of fully functional, human sequence monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) produced in chickens. The antibodies were expressed solely in the chicken oviduct and deposited into egg white in concentrations of 1-3 milligrams per egg. Moreover, antibodies produced in this manner demonstrated 10-100 fo
Scientists from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) have achieved a new breakthrough in cancer research. The researchers, connected to Ghent University, have discovered the function of an important mediator involved in suppressing the development of tumors. Using a mouse model, they have shown that absence of the mediator makes the mice susceptible to the development of cancer. Through this research, the scientists are contributing to a better understanding of the molec
The European Bioinformatics Institute and Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB)–Ghent University have launched the PRoteomics IDEntifications database (PRIDE; www.ebi.ac.uk/pride). PRIDE allows researchers who work in the field of proteomics – the large-scale study of proteins – to share information much more readily than was previously possible. This will allow them to exploit the growing mass of information on how the body’s complement of proteins is altered in many disease
Myelodysplastic / myeloproliferative diseases (MDS/MPD) are blood stem cell disorders characterized by ineffective formation and development of blood cells in the bone marrow, resulting in abnormal development of bone marrow precursor cells and a reduction in the number of blood cells. The broad spectrum of symptoms makes MDS/MPD difficult to treat, and there are no good prognostic markers available. No single gene defect has been found for these diseases, and no animal model was available
Insulin resistance is a fundamental factor in non-insulin-dependent diabetes. Prolonged activation of the insulin receptor, inflammation, and excessive insulin levels can induce insulin resistance by decreasing levels of insulin receptor substrate (IRS) proteins. However, the mechanism(s) underlying the destruction of IRS proteins and subsequent resistance to insulin have not been well defined. Proteins of the SOCS family have been implicated in the negative regulation of insulin signaling and
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