Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) play an important role in the development of prostate cancer, according to research by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine and the University of California, Irvine. The findings are published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Mitochondrial DNA, which is separate from nuclear DNA, is found in the hundreds of mitochondria located in the cytoplasm outside of each cell’s nucleus. The mitochondria o
The bacterium that causes the severe disease known as rabbit fever, Fancisella tularensis, is a potential biological weapon of devastating force. Now scientists at Umeå, in collaboration with several international associates, have mapped the entire genome of the bacterium.
Researchers at the Swedish Defense Research Agency FOI NBC Defense and Umeå University are part of an international consortium that is now publishing its results in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics. The
By studying mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to child, researchers have found that most of the actual European inhabitants seem to have come from re-expansion of hunter-gatherers populations, which have migrated from Iberia, Europe after the end of the last Ice Age reports an article in the January issue of Genome Research.
In the study of human evolution through history and pre-history there are now two indispensable sets of genes to follow: Y-chromosome and mitoch
Gene transfer technique immunizes mice within 12 hours
Using gene transfer technology, investigators were able to immunize mice against anthrax in just 12 hours, according to new research featured in the February 2005 issue of Molecular Therapy, the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy (ASGT).
In any bioterror attack, vaccines that provide a rapid, effective defense against the pathogen will be key to saving lives. Research underway at
Little is known about the specific role of histones – the protein ’spool’ around which the famous DNA double helix is folded.
Now, researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have unraveled one mystery about what histones accomplish in the complex chemical cascade that determines the function of a cell in the body. Their findings are published in the Jan. 12, 2005 online edition of the journal Nature.
Scientists at U.Va’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
To commemorate 100 years since the term ’hormone’ was first coined, the Society for Endocrinology’s flagship journal will be publishing a series of special, free, reviews that recognise the past 100 years of hormones, and look to the future of the expanding science of endocrinology.
Published in January’s issue of Journal of Endocrinology is a fascinating biography of Ernest Starling, the man who addressed the Royal College of Physicians in June 1905 and first used
An international project in nanobiotechnology is being launched at the University of Kent 30-31 January 2005. The project’s primary objectives are the establishment and maintenance of a European centre of excellence in the area and it is funded for five-years in the first instance.
Novel and Improved Nanomaterials, Chemistries and Apparatus for Nano-Biotechnology (NACBO) is co-ordinated by the University of Kent and is funded with a total of 15.6m Euro, of which 8m Euro is grante
A genetically unusual population of ants is changing some of the fundamental ways researchers think about insect colonies.
Social insects, like ants and bees, thrive on the caste system – a precise division of duties among colony members. In most of these societies, environment is thought to influence whether larvae develop into queens or sterile female workers, said Steve Rissing, a professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State University.
But in
Morse code is a simple, effective and clear method of communication and now scientists believe that cells in our body may also be using patterns of signals to switch genes on and off. The discovery may have major implications for the pharmaceutical industry as the signalling molecules that are targeted by drugs may have more than one purpose. The number of ‘dots and dashes’ being used by each signal could have different purposes, all of which could be modified by a drug.
The rese
Large and powerful predators such as swordfishes, tunas, and many sharks are unique among fishes in that they possess physiological mechanisms that warm their eyes. A new investigation reported this week sheds important light on the purpose of warming the eyes and the advantage that “warm eyes” confer on ocean predators.
Swordfishes, which hunt in water as cold as 3°C (about 37°F), can maintain their brain and eye temperatures 10°C–15°C (18°F –27°F) above ambient temperatures by u
So-called nuptial gifts – often consisting of food or tokens – are typically bestowed by males on females as part of courtship and copulation rituals in many species. By manipulating the nuptial gifts that female insects receive during copulation, researchers have now shown that female preferences can be exploited by males who are “cheating” on their reproductive investment by presenting easily obtainable token gifts.
Gift-giving during courtship and copulation occurs across the
Ghent – The development of cancer is a complex process with a number of different causes. The root problem is loss of control in the cell division process. A fundamental biological process, cell division can be studied in many organisms. Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected with Ghent University are studying cell division in plants and thereby uncovering general principles. They are now revealing the importance of the DEL1 protein in the control
A new family of genes called Novel Structure Proteins (NSP) discovered by researchers in the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine in Temple University’s College of Science and Technology could have the potential for predicting the possibility of tumor growth in a patient.
The study was done by Nianli Sang, Ph.D., then a doctoral student at the University and now an assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson University and the Cardeza Foundation. It wa
Chunying Du, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator at the Stowers Institute, has published findings that reveal a previously unknown pathway of Bruce, the gene encoding a protein that inhibits apoptosis, or programmed cell death.
The findings are available online at www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0408744102v1 and will be published in the Jan. 18 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Bruce has long been recognized as an inhibitor of apoptosis, but until now,
Based on successful animal studies, a novel vaccine that uses immune cells as factories to produce Her2/neu protein may offer a way to treat some human breast cancers, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Their study, published in the online journal, Breast Cancer Research, on Nov. 29, 2004, showed that the vaccine protected 86 percent of experimental mice against HER2/neu-associated breast cancer, even though the tumors were implanted directly
Dr. Roger Brent, President and Director of Research at the Molecular Sciences Institute (“MSI”), announced today the release of a new approach to simulation of intracellular biochemical networks in the January edition of Nature Biotechnology.
The research article, entitled “Automatic generation of cellular reaction networks with Moleculizer 1.0,” describes MSI’s discrete stochastic event simulator, which keeps track of the thousands of complex species formed from pathway protei
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