Humans and other animals may appear to be symmetrical on the outside, but symmetry is only skin deep. Many body organs, such as the stomach, the heart and the liver, are tipped to the right or left side. So how does the developing embryo distinguish left from right? Salk scientists have now discovered that the foundations for the basic left-right body plan are laid by a microscopic ’pump’ on the outer surface of the embryo’s underside that wafts chemical messengers over to the left
For the first time, scientists have shown that humans use an immune defense process common in plants and invertebrates to battle a virus. The new finding that human cells can silence an essential part of HIV’s genetic make-up could have important implications for the treatment of people infected with the virus. Led by Kuan-Teh Jeang, M.D, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part the National Institutes of Health, the researchers published their find
A protein identified by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine appears to play a major role in the release of neurotransmitters and therefore communication between nerve cells.
In a report that is the cover article in the current issue of the journal Cell, Dr. Hugo Bellen, BCM professor of molecular and human genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and his colleague Dr. P. Robin Hiesinger demonstrate that a protein called Vha100-1, a member of the pore-for
Nuclear transfer yields immune-matched human embryonic stem cell lines from patients with spinal cord injury, juvenile diabetes and immune deficiency
Research from the Republic of Korea’s Seoul National University published in this week’s edition of Science represents a major advance in the science of using stem cells to repair damage caused by human disease and injury, according to Gerald Schatten, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of research development in the department of
Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory have discovered a genetic link to porencephaly, a rare but devastating neurological condition.
Their research, published in the May 19 issue of the journal Science, may have significant implications for preventing the disease in humans.
Usually exhibited in infants shortly after birth, symptoms of porencephaly include mental retardation, cerebral palsy or epilepsy. The brains of porencephaly patients show degenerative cavities and lesio
Borrelia bacteria are capable of masking themselves in the human body and deceiving the immune defence system. In this way they can hide in the human organism even for periods of years. In their recent studies Professor Seppo Meri and his team have managed to trace the evasive movements of the Borrelia bacterium in the body. Their work is part of the Microbes and Man research programme, jointly funded by the Academy of Finland and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.
Migrating birds transmit different forms of the Borrelia bacterium or Borrelia spirochetes to every corner of the globe. Birds are especially prone to Borrelia infected ticks during their autumn and spring migrations. The bacteria may also persist for several months in the birds and it may then be reactivated in response to migration. Borrelia spirochetes and the role of birds as global transmitters of the bacteria have been investigated by a Swedish research group led by Professor Sven Bergst
A glance at the frog’s skin can say what kind of blood the amphibia has, the blood composition accounting for frog’s capability to get on alongside human beings. The research by the Ural ecologists has been supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.
The crucial importance for the frog is in the light strip on the back along the spinal column. V.L. Vershinin, Doctor of Biology, specialist of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of
Researchers have located a gene dubbed dead end that when mutated or lost, causes testicular tumors in mice. They say their study, published in the online journal Nature, on May 18, 2005 will likely offer future insights into the genetic causes of the disease in humans because the cancer originates from the same cell type, the primordial germ cell, in both mice and men.
If that notion is validated through further research, the finding could lead to a way to either screen for the
In this week’s journal Nature, researchers report finding the first gene responsible for inherited susceptibility of testicular cancer in mice. The Ter mutation occurs in a gene called dead end, which is involved in normal testicular development and which may play a role in inherited forms of a testicular cancer occurring in infants.
The mutation causes a huge increase in testicular cancer incidence, from 5 percent to 94 percent. Although this dramatic rise was described i
New findings in research led by Purdue University biologists provide further evidence that the protein envelope protecting DNA in viruses evolved billions of years ago from a common ancestor and uses the same basic protein “fold” to construct the critical outer shell.
The most recent findings, which appear in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the T4 virus has a similar protein fold in its outer shell, or capsid, as another viru
A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin have demonstrated a new way of fighting antibiotic resistance: by stopping evolution.
In the June issue of the open-access journal PloS Biology, the team describes how a protein called LexA in the bacterium Escherichia coli promotes mutations and helps the pathogen evolve resistance to antibiotics. The scientists also show that E. coli evolution could be halted in its tracks by subjecting the
Engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have found a way to modify a plastic to anchor molecules that promote nerve regeneration, blood vessel growth or other biological processes.
In the study led by Dr. Christine Schmidt, the researchers identified a piece of protein from among a billion candidates that could perform the unusual feat of attaching to polypyrrole, a synthetic polymer (plastic) that conducts electricity and has shown promise in biomedical applications. When
Analysis of plate internal structure rules out thermoregulation
The bizarre plates and spikes that lined the backbones of the long-extinct stegosaurs were probably extreme examples of the often elaborate and colorful displays developed by animals to recognize fellow members of their species, according to an international team of paleontologists.
The team’s analysis of stegosaur plates lends support to a growing consensus among paleontologists that the weird adornments of
A gene that signals a yeast cell to make bread rise and mice to eat a better diet also helps selectively silence the immune system, researchers have found.
The finding may help explain how a mother avoids rejecting a genetically foreign fetus and provides a new target for treatments to help the immune system ignore other desirables like a transplanted organ. “Think of this like a radio transmitter and a receiver,” says Dr. David H. Munn, pediatric hematologist-oncologist at the
When primitive nerve cells begin forming an eye in the mouse embryo, they are programmed to build a retina. But the ability to see depends upon connecting the retina to the brain via the optic nerve. Unless these embryonic cells are given the right cue at the right time, they mistakenly form a huge eye that consists entirely of retina and lacks the optic nerve.
The discovery that the retina is the ’default’ setting for development in the embryonic eye comes from research
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