As a part of a research collaboration, scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Sweden, have developed a new drug candidate against HIV-infection. The new substance, named alphaHGA, will be tested on patients this year. In a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, parts of the research essential for the performance of the clinical trial are presented.
At the end of 2004, approximately 40 million people were living with HIV-infection, most of them in southern Afr
A useful tool for evolution studies
An international team of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Professor Alfredo Ruiz, has launched in this month’s issue of the journal Genome Research the first detailed physical map of the Drosophila buzzatii chromosomes. This fly species is used worldwide as a model for studies in evolutionary genetics.
The investigation involved two steps. First, a genomic library was produced. This library comprises more th
Scientists from the UK and around the world will benefit from £6M grant awards for large-scale science research facilities. This significant investment will ensure that the world-leading Council for Central Laboratories of the Research Councils’ (CCLRC) large facilities will remain internationally competitive and capable of providing the technological infrastructure necessary for UK and international scientists to probe materials deeper, faster and more accurately than ever before.
Ei
Study marks first step in decoding gene regulatory logic
Investigators from the University California, San Diego (UCSD) Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and NimbleGen Systems have developed an efficient method to identify thousands of regulatory sequences in the human genome, according to a study published today in Nature.
Genes are defined by their ability to generate a functional product. Thus the ’promoter’ – a DNA sequence that cont
If you thought the sleep-deprived months with your newborn were tough, pity the poor mother dolphin or killer whale.
Reporting in the June 30 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Nature, UCLA/Veterans Affairs neuroscientists report a developmental pattern in bottlenose dolphins and killer whales that is unique from other mammals, with calves of both species active 24 hours a day during their first month.
The mother also has minimal sleep during this period, but unlike a
Physiology is sometimes a crossroads where many different paths converge. Such is the case with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a severe and often fatal condition also known as adult respiratory distress syndrome or simply “shock lung.”
Acute respiratory distress syndrome can be caused by a number of underlying conditions, including smoke inhalation, a severe blow to the chest, bad pneumonia, septic shock, severe blood loss, or drug overdose. Although the causes vary greatly, t
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Vienna University of Technology have developed a modular system that combines chemical and biological sensing tools capable of providing simultaneous, nano-level resolution information on cell topography and biological activity. The tools integrate micro and nanoscale electrodes into the tips of an atomic force microscope (AFM). A veritable Swiss army knife of sensors, the patented technique is currently being tested to combine other sensing
Map of gene control regions provides tool for understanding cells’ different roles
In another step to decipher information in the human genome, scientists have discovered the location and sequence of over 10,000 DNA regions that function as genetic on-off switches, or “promoters” in human fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are relatively generic, easily maintained, human cells that form connective tissues throughout the body. By knowing the specific sequences of DNA that control the ne
Findings may lead to new methods to control beetles, which have decimated Lake Tahoe and Western forests
University of Nevada, Reno scientists have ended a decade-long controversy over the process by which bark beetles make pheromones: they manufacture their own monoterpenes – the fragrant substances plants produce and which are often used in perfumes. It had been thought that insects and other animals were incapable of making these substances.
“The goal of our research is ult
A new method for manipulating macromolecules has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The technique uses double-stranded DNA to direct the behavior of other molecules. In previous DNA nanotechnology efforts, duplex DNA has been used as a static lattice to construct geometrical objects in three dimensions. Instead of manipulating DNA alone into such shapes, the researchers are using DNA to control the folding and resulting structure of RNA. Eventually,
Size doesn’t matter, at least not the size of the eyespots on a male butterfly’s wings when female butterflies consider potential mates.
Instead, females are attracted to the “sparkle” created by the ultraviolet reflectivity of the pupils, the white circles at the center of eyespots, according to new research from University at Buffalo biologists.
The research, to be published online June 29 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, overturns
Visceral leishmaniasis, which is the most severe form of the leishmaniases, hits an annual total of 500 000 people, mostly in the developing countries. It is caused by the parasite Leishmania infantum. A flagellate protozoan, it uses as vector an insect resembling a midge, the sand fly, colonizing the intestine and then the salivary glands. The female insect feeds on mammals’ blood. It can thus pass the parasite on to humans by a single bite. Once in the blood stream, L. infantum passes into parti
In a study expected to greatly benefit crop plants, scientists have deciphered the genome of a root- and seed-dwelling bacterium that protects plants from diseases.
The research provides clues to better explain how the helpful microbe, Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5, naturally safeguards roots and seeds from infection by harmful microbes that cause plant diseases. The genome paper will be published in Nature Biotechnology and was scheduled to be posted online on June 26.
Using technology that makes it possible to zoom in on smaller sections of cell chromosomes than ever before, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified nearly 100 chromosome regions where genes are either over-copied or missing in non-small cell lung cancer. The findings provide new clues about the location of genes potentially involved in the most common type of lung cancer –– and one of the deadliest of all malignancies –– and a range of possible targets for future therapies.
The Patagonian Hippidion horse genus and North American stilt-legged horses have found a new place on the evolutionary tree, according to a new article in the open access journal PLoS Biology. In the paper, Jaco Weinstock, Alan Cooper, and colleagues use ancient DNA to argue that the Hippidion genus is younger than previously thought and that American stilt-legged horses were American endemics, not Asian emigres. Their analysis has also whittled down the taxonomy of North American species to just
Intergenerational transmission of infant abuse is more likely caused by early experience than genetic inheritance, new University of Chicago research on macaque monkeys shows.
“Maternal abuse of offspring in macaque monkeys shares some similarities with child maltreatment in humans, including its transmission across generations,” said Dario Maestripieri, Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago.
“The mechanis
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