Finding may impact understanding of mechanical facets of many diseases
An international team led by Jeffrey J. Fredberg, professor of bioengineering and physiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, has found that the cell modulates its mechanical properties in much the same way as a glassblower shapes fine glassware. This new view of cellular functions sheds light on mechanical facets of phenomena as diverse as asthma, cancer, inflammation, and vascular disease. These findi
Living organisms need to sense the amount of energy that is available to them and regulate the activity of their genes accordingly. Scientists have made the unexpected finding that a histone protein, which wraps DNA into tight bundles and regulates gene activity, can bind a small molecule produced in our cells. This novel finding in itself was a breakthrough for researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), but what made it more interesting was which specific molecule it bind
Scientists in the UK have proved that human embryonic stem cells can develop in the laboratory into the early forms of cells that eventually become eggs or sperm. Their work opens up the possibility that eggs and sperm could be grown from stem cells and used for assisted reproduction, therapeutic cloning and the creation of more stem cells for further research and for the improved treatments for patients suffering from a range of diseases.
Behrouz Aflatoonian will tell the 21st
Scientists in Belgium have discovered how to clone human embryos from eggs that have been matured in the laboratory. Their discovery should make it easier for scientists to create embryonic stem cell lines from cloned embryos and develop them to provide eggs and sperm for infertile couples, the 21st annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Monday 20 June).
Until now, scientists investigating human cloning for therapeutic purp
In one of the first molecular studies of the human antibody response to yellow fever, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers and their colleagues have found the crucial bit of virus that people’s immune systems need to spot and quash this often-fatal re-emerging disease.
The findings may help scientists improve the existing vaccine, which has rare but severe side effects, said Jan ter Meulen, an HHMI international research scholar and associate professor of v
Insects develop resistance to engineered crops when single- and double-gene altered plants are in proximity, Cornell researchers say
Genetically modified crops containing two insecticidal proteins in a single plant efficiently kill insects. But when crops engineered with just one of those toxins grow nearby, insects may more rapidly develop resistance to all the insect-killing plants, report Cornell University researchers.
A soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (
Cape Cod Marine Life Lures Biomedical Researchers to the Marine Biological Laboratory
It’s annual migration time on Cape Cod again, the time of year when Woods Hole squid arrive by the tens of thousands. It’s a sign of spring to the fishermen who make a living in this important New England fishery. But here at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), it triggers an influx of hundreds of scientists and students from around the world, who return here faithfully every summer to study
In battle of the sexes, male fireflies may lie when it comes to love
This summer, in a darkened meadow west of Boston, Tufts University biologists are continuing to shine new light on the frenzied love life of fireflies. For the first time, researchers will explore the question of whether male fireflies’ flashing light – previously shown in one species to indicate superior physical and genetic quality – has evolved in another species to provide misinformation to prospective ma
Scientists in the USA have discovered a new way of obtaining embryonic stem cells that avoids contamination by other types of cells and reduces the numbers of embryos needed to create embryonic stem cell lines.
Dr Takumi Takeuchi told the 21st annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday 20 June) that if he and his colleagues could replicate the research, which had been carried out in mice, in humans, it would make it easier to colle
In the fifty-year history since the structure of DNA was first revealed, what was once a Nobel prize- winning research discovery has become an omnipresent cultural icon co-opted for promoting everything from fragrances to musical acts. Now, the familiar DNA double helix is serving as a microscopic trellis in order to further advances in nanotechnology aimed at improving human health.
Hao Yan, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and an assistant profes
The basic economic theory that people work harder to avoid losing money than they do to make money is shared by monkeys, suggesting this trait has a long evolutionary history, according to a Yale University study under review by the Journal of Political Economy.
This phenomenon, known as “loss aversion,” refers to the tendency for people to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. “A large body of studies suggest that losses are more than twice as psychologically power
Tissue derived from human embryonic stem cells
For years, a major obstacle has dashed the hopes of creating “replacement parts” for the human body: the lack of an internal, nourishing blood system in engineered tissues. Without it, thicker tissues can’t thrive, which has confined tissue engineering’s practical application to thin skin, which can recruit blood vessels from underlying tissue.
Now, researchers in Institute Professor Robert Langer’s lab at MIT ha
Gene for lung and diaphragm development in mice and humans
To breathe normally, people need more than just healthy lungs. A diaphragm—the large muscle that creates a vacuum to draw air into their lungs—is also crucial. Birth defects in the diaphragm, such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia (which are about as common as cystic fibrosis), are often fatal. “A lot of people haven’t heard of this [disorder] because so many of the kids die early,” said Kate Ackerman, Harvard Medical
Outstanding antiviral action of multiple antibiotics remains unclaimed due to high drug toxicity. Russian physicians are trying to get nontoxic drug dosage form and have achieved success as regards to anit-AIDS antibiotic – Heliomycinum. Their effort has been funded by the International Science and Technology Center.
Specialists of the Lomonosov Moscow State Academy of Fine Applied Chemistry and Ivanovsky Scientific Research Institute of Virology (Russian Academy of Medical Scienc
Physicians have won the victory over the natural variola virus: it does not exist in nature any longer. Now, it is also necessary to destroy the viruses kept in the laboratory, however, their genetic material should be preserved. Resolution of this task in Russia is funded by the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC).
Specialists of the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology “Vector” (Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation) supported by the Internati
A study of how the body expels parasitic worms has led to a surprising new discovery about the immune system that could help in the treatment of bowel cancer.
Scientists investigating whipworms, parasites that infect one-fifth of the world’s population as well as livestock and domestic animals, have discovered a new way that the body effectively eliminates the parasites.
The University of Manchester research, published in the US journal Science, found the reason why som
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