Finding may have ramifications for vaccines, autoimmunity and atherosclerosis
Scientists have uncovered a new method the immune system uses to label foreign invaders as targets to be attacked. Researchers showed that the immune system can brand foreign proteins by chemically modifying their structure, and that these modifications increased the chances that cells known as lymphocytes would recognize the trespassers and attack them. “Now that we know that some T cells need to see
In mammals, sperm from the male determines the sex of the offspring. In birds, however, it is the female’s sex chromosome that determines offspring sex. Now, Cornell University researchers think they understand the mechanism that several bird species use to bias the sex ratios of their offspring toward female.
By experimenting with domestic chickens, they have determined that the presence of higher-than-normal levels of the hormone progesterone during the first meiosis — t
Researchers have found a gene they suspect plays an important role in triggering the blight that wiped out Ireland’s potato crops a century-and-a-half ago.
And the pathogen that contains this gene still causes massive amounts of agricultural damage throughout the modern world– on the order of billions of dollars each year. The scientists describe the gene, called Avr3a, in a study that appears online in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienc
Penn State chemical engineers have demonstrated proof of concept for a new protein purification process that combines ultrafiltration’s high throughput with high specificity achievable through electrically-charged dyes that bind to the protein.
Ultrafiltration is widely used now in the pharmaceutical industry, by milk and whey producers and in water purification. The new process promises to broaden the scope of ultrafiltration to more fine separations.
In the proof of c
The blood-thinning drug Warfarin tops the list of drug side-effects in Sweden. Patient sensitivity to Warfarin varies, which can lead to over-dosage and in certain cases to death. A study led by Mia Wadelius at Uppsala University in Sweden, together with researchers in Cambridge, indicates that two genes may be the explanation. The findings are being published in the latest issue of The Pharmacogenomics Journal.
Warfarin is used to prevent blood clots, but a side-effect can be seve
A new way to identify gastric carcinoma patients with high probability of develop a more aggressive form of disease has just been described on the latest issue of the journal Glycobiology.
Researchers have found that the peptide sequence* of mucins – a group of proteins expressed by epithelial cells -seemed to be directly associated with the expression of tumour markers linked to very severe gastric carcinomas. Because peptide sequences are genetically determined, not only this
Large-scale comparative and functional genomics study characterizes bacterial pathogen responsible for major vegetable crop losses worldwide
Scientists at four major genomics and plant pathology laboratories in China have collaborated on a project to characterize the causative agent of “black rot” disease, which is the most serious disease of vegetable crops worldwide. Their study, which represents the largest comparative and functional genomics screen for a plant or animal bacter
An antibody that targets the blood vessels nourishing tumors significantly reduced breast cancer formation and growth in mice when combined with a current cancer drug, according to researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Their work appears in today’s issue of Cancer Research.
“This antibody could enhance the therapeutic efficacy of the drug docetaxel in breast cancer patients,” said Dr. Philip Thorpe, professor of pharmacology at UT Southwestern and senior author of
Findings demonstrate that abnormal expression of the BCL6 gene causes lymphoma
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have created the first mouse model that develops a lymphoma the same way that humans do. This advancement has the potential to significantly speed the development of new, improved therapies for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common type of human B cell lymphoma. Human B cell lymphomas cause 85 percent of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, the
A University of Alberta researcher is strapping tiny backpacks to toads in an effort to discover why one species is in serious decline.
Connie Browne, a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences, is spending this summer haunting the ponds and sloughs in northern Alberta, Canada, using tiny radio transmitter backpacks to track Canadian and Western toads.
Browne hopes to capture 12 of each kind and using soft surgical tubing, she will belt the toads into tin
The drug DFMO prevents cancer in laboratory models of lymphoma but fails to kill existing cancerous cells that have lost the ability to self-destruct, according to investigators at St. Jude
Drugs that block the enzyme Odc prevent the onset of cancers that would otherwise be triggered by a family of cancer-causing genes called Myc, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The researchers showed that disabling Odc disrupts the ability of Myc genes to
Scientists in Dundee have embarked on a major research programme funded by the charity DebRA which it is hoped will ultimately lead to a successful treatment for a previously incurable genetic skin condition.
DebRA has awarded a grant of £1.6 million to Professor Irwin McLean and Professor Birgitte Lane for a five-year research project into the condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa.
Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic condition in which the skin and body linings blist
The lure of a seafood diet may explain why early humans came out of Africa, according to research by the universities of Leeds and Glasgow published in Science this week.
Early modern humans in East Africa survived on an inland diet based on big game but by 70,000 years ago their diet had changed to a coastal one consisting largely of shellfish. However, dramatic climate change seems likely to have reduced the Red Sea’s shellfish stocks. New DNA evidence suggests their taste
Turns out building cars and building life have a lot in common – it all comes down to quality control.
Scientists at Michigan State University have made a major discovery on the inner workings of genetic coding, mapping out mechanisms of one of life’s most elemental functions: RNA synthesis. Their work has crucial implications for how a normal cell forms a tumor and how a virus runs amok. The work is published in the May 13 edition of the scientific journal Molecular Cell.
Is there an evolutionary relationship to land-based lichens?
Researchers from China and the United States have found evidence of lichen-like symbiosis in 600-million-year-old fossils from South China. The previous earliest evidence of lichen was 400 million years old, discovered in Scotland. The discovery also adds to the scarce fossil record of fungi and raises new questions about lichen evolution.
Xunlai Yuan, a paleontologist with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and P
An international research team has identified a new group of enzymes that may help uncover how cells direct internal traffic. The discovery has future implications for conditions — such as polycystic kidney disease, male infertility, behavioral disorders and cancer — that involve defects in protein fibers called microtubules. The findings will be published in the online journal Science Express on May 12, 2005.
The team was co-led by Jacek Gaertig, associate professor of cellular
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