With the National Institutes of Health announcing recently that the genome of the skate is going to be sequenced, the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory is poised to play an important role in this large-scale project.
The decision to fund the sequencing of the skate was in response to a proposal submitted by MDIBL, the Genome Sequencing Center of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Benaroya Institute in Seattle. Approval came from the National Hu
Networks are everywhere. Trying to catch connecting flights as we shuttle from one airport to the next can make distances between cities seem even greater than they are. Discovering that you are sitting next to a friend of a friend on one of those flights (social contact networks) can make the world seem a much smaller place. Diverse networks, from airports to social interactions to genes and proteins, often have surprisingly similar structure. In all of these networks, some nodes are highly con
In a first, Carnegie Mellon University scientists have “programmed” cells to make their own contrast agents, enabling unprecedented high-resolution, deep-tissue imaging of gene expression. The results, appearing in the April issue of Nature Medicine, hold considerable promise for conducting preclinical studies in the emerging field of molecular therapeutics and for monitoring the delivery of therapeutic genes in patients.
“For 20 years it has been the chemist’s job to develop agents that
A complete picture of Foot-and-Mouth Disease’s key replication enzyme could lead to the development of new drugs to control the disease without recourse to vaccination or slaughter, scientists report today.
By solving the structure of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) enzyme named ’3C protease’ scientists have taken an essential step towards developing protease inhibitors, a class of anti-viral drug that has proved hugely successful in controlling HIV.
Findings may yield methods for improving fertility as well as developing male contraceptives
For 40 percent of the estimated six million American couples battling infertility, the problem lies with the man. But help may be on the way. New research in mice by scientists at Rockefeller University and the Population Council sheds light on the causes behind male infertility. The findings, reported in the March issue of Developmental Cell, also include potential targets for developing a
In a first article, Loeys et al describe a new aortic aneurysm syndrome characterized by the main triad of hypertelorism, bifid uvula and/or cleft palate and aortic aneurysms with arterial tortuosity. This new entity also presents with alterations of the skeletal, craniofacial, neurocognitve development. Importantly, the nature of the aortic aneurysms seems very aggressive and aneurysms occur throughout the arterial tree. In a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Ghent U
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered how fish have evolved over the last 400 million years to stay motionless at different water depths.
A research team led by Dr Michael Berenbrink, a Comparative Physiologist at the School of Biological Sciences, has revealed how modern fish, such as pike and cod, have developed a way of floating at certain water levels using a gas-filled swimbladder.
Dr Berenbrink investigated the mechanism that allows fishes to ke
Chemists say they have identified a gene that appears to play a key role in the development of type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes, a disease that affects about one million people in the U.S. and is on the rise worldwide. They described their findings, which they say could lead to new drug interventions and possibly gene therapy, today at the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
In
A protein that normally helps hold the skin intact is also needed by skin cancer cells as they spread to other regions of the body, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered. Identifying this protein’s role opens the door for stopping the spread of this deadly cancer-the second most common cancer type in the United States.
The work, which appears in the March 18 issue of Science, is the first published research implicating the protein, co
Taking a new approach to the painstaking assembly of nanometer-sized machines, a team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has successfully used single bacterial cells to make tiny bio-electronic circuits.
The work is important because it has the potential to make building the atomic-scale machines of the nanotechnologist far easier. It also may be the basis for a new class of biological sensors capable of near-instantaneous detection of dangerous biological agents
Infectious diseases researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are noticing a significant increase in the number of infections due to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and the number of asymptomatic individuals who harbor the organism in their bodies.
In fact, in a recent analysis of children seen in 2003 at the emergency department of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, approximately 60 percent of the skin infections due to the s
A new set of priorities for the chemical industry will be revealed by the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) today during the launch of their new Policy Priorities booklet at the House of Commons, London.
On the eve of the Budget, and as we near the General Election, these issues have a particular significance for policy makers. The booklet argues that the correct public policy framework can help the chemical industry to continue to be productive and innovative and to work
Old masters never used the green pigment copper resinate supposed to be present in their paintings. Dutch art historian Margriet van Eikema Hommes reached this conclusion on the basis of old paint recipes, investigations of paintings and experiments to reproduce the green paint. The scientist recently published her results in a richly-illustrated book.
Green copper-containing glazed paint on oil paintings by artists such as Frans Hals, Raphael and Titian was not made by dissolvi
Chemical catalysts used to produce clean fuels gradually become less active. Dutch researcher Bas Vogelaar believes that the loss of sulphur atoms might be an important cause of this. He investigated hydroprocessing catalysts which remove sulphur compounds from petrol and diesel.
Crude oil contains sulphur compounds which form sulphur oxides during the combustion process. These sulphur oxides are an important source of acid rain.
Hydroprocessing catalysts are used in oi
A unique technique for neutralizing the action of the leptin protein in humans and animals – thereby providing a means for controlling and better understanding of leptin function, including its role in unwanted cell growth — has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Leptin was discovered ten years ago and has attracted attention first because of its involvement in control of appetite and later by its effect on growth, puberty, digestion and immun
For every man who thinks women are complex, there’s new evidence they’re correct; at least when it comes to their genes.
Chromosomes contain the set of instructions to create an organism. Men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, the latter being responsible for the characteristics that make men male, including the male sexual organs and the ability to produce sperm. In contrast, women have two copies of the X chromosome. But, because the X chromosome carries a bigg
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