University of Michigan researchers have developed a faster, more efficient way to produce a wide variety of nanoparticle drug delivery systems, using DNA molecules to bind the particles together.
Nanometer-scaled dendrimers can be assembled in many configurations by using attached lengths of single-stranded DNA molecules, which naturally bind to other DNA strands in a highly specific fashion. “With this approach, you can target a wide variety of molecules—drugs, contrast agen
Timing is everything, it seems, even in science. A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has unraveled the first step in translating genetic information in order to build a protein, only to find that it’s not one step but two.
In a series of experiments, the scientists found that when yeast’s protein-building machinery recognizes the starting line for a gene’s instructions, it first alters its structure and then releases a factor known as eIF1, a step necessary to
While large-scale genomic sequencing technologies over the past decade have given scientists databases filled with the complete genomes of hundreds of organisms, not enough is being done to interpret all that data by assigning functions to sequenced genes (annotation), according to a report released today by the American Academy of Microbiology. An Experimental Approach to Genome Annotation proposes a new initiative to help address this challenge.
“Roughly 40% of predicted genes
Study finds surprisingly strong impact of genetic variation
Carrying the higher-risk genotype for Alzheimer’s disease appears to render even healthy older people subject to major problems with prospective memory, the ability to remember what to do in the future. For the group studied, this could affect important behaviors such as remembering to take medicine at a certain time or getting to a doctor’s appointment. The research appears in the January issue of Neuropsycholog
Currently available lines of human embryonic stem cells have been contaminated with a non-human molecule that compromises their potential therapeutic use in human subjects, according to research by investigators at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California.
In a study published online January 23, 2005 in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers found that human embryonic stem cells, including those curr
After a break in antiretroviral drug therapy in HIV-positive patients, the virus rebounds and begins to multiply. While this was feared to destroy, perhaps irreversibly, patient HIV-specific CD4+ T cells that are preferentially infected by the virus, it has now be shown to actually boost HIV-specific T cell production and activation, thereby boosting the immune response to the virus.
Scheduled interruption and resumption of antiretroviral treatment of HIV-positive patients has gen
Brain cells in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease have surprised scientists with their ability to recuperate after the disorder’s characteristic brain plaques are removed.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis injected mice with an antibody for a key component of brain plaques, the amyloid beta (Abeta) peptide. In areas of the brain where antibodies cleared plaques, many of the swellings previously observed on nerve cell branches rapidl
The scientists found that depressed female monkeys become socially withdrawn and have reduced body fat, low levels of activity, high heart rates and disruptions in hormone levels – all of which are known or suspected characteristics of major depression in women. Their research is based on female monkeys because women are 66 percent more likely than men to experience depression during their lifetimes.
“We believe these monkeys can be a useful model for learning more about depressio
A research team lead by University of British Columbia zoology assistant professor Darren Irwin is the first in the world to demonstrate a genetic gradient–or path of gradually changing genetic traits–between two distinct species that have been isolated by distance. The research challenges the prevailing theory among evolutionary biologists that species evolve only when separated by a geographical barrier.
The findings, published in the January 21 issue of Science magazine, ha
Another important piece to the photosynthesis puzzle is now in place. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley have identified one of the key molecules that help protect plants from oxidation damage as the result of absorbing too much light.
The researchers determined that when chlorophyll molecules in green plants take in more solar energy than they are able to immediately us
Gene chips, or microarrays, have proven to be immensely important in measuring the activity of thousands of genes at once in such cells as cancer cells or immune cells. The use of these chips has given scientists snapshots of gene activity that lead to better understanding of the genetic machinery of the cells. This understanding has led to new ways to kill cancers or to manipulate the immune system, for example.
Gene chips consist of vast arrays of thousands of specific genetic
Oncogene plays a critical role in tumor formation
Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have identified a new cellular oncogene essential for the development of cancer. Oncogenes are genes that, when mutated or dysfunctional, lead normal cells to become cancerous. The investigators have named the gene POKEMON (for POK Erythroid Myeloid Ontogenic factor). The work is being published in the January 20, 2005, issue of Nature.
“There are a number of g
Australian researchers (Thursday 20 January) announced that they have used pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to avoid a couple having a baby suffering from rhesus factor[1] disease – the potentially fatal condition caused by incompatibility between a baby’s blood and that of its mother.
Their pioneering work resulted in the birth of a healthy baby girl in November 2003 to a couple who had previously had one child severely affected by Rh disease.
Writing in
Cells have protein associated with embryonic development, limb regeneration
A year ago, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers discovered that the spleen might be a source of adult stem cells that could regenerate the insulin-producing islets of the pancreas. In a follow-up to that unexpected finding, members of the same team now report that these potential adult stem cells produce a protein previously believed to be present only during the embryonic development of mam
How do insects smell? Badly, according to a new study, if they lack a certain kind of protein critical to their ability to detect and interpret pheromones – the insect equivalent of “smelling.”
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how a protein, called an olfactory binding protein, links incoming pheromone signals and specific nerve cells in an insect’s brain, which in turn translate those signals. Pheromones are chemical signals given off by animal
A novel antiviral treatment combining nanoparticle and gene silencing technologies thwarts attacks of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — a virus associated with severe bronchitis and asthma, an animal study by University of South Florida researchers found. The study was reported in the January 2005 issue of the journal Nature Medicine.
RSV infects lung cells and can be life-threatening in very young children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. No vaccine or w
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