For the first time, researchers have sequenced all 36 genes of novel receptors that appear to play a critical role in the innate immune protection of zebrafish – an achievement that could lead to a better understanding of infectious diseases and certain cancers.
Their paper, titled “Resolution of the novel immune-type receptor gene cluster in zebrafish,” appears online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “This is the most genetically complex system
Working with an enzyme that degrades anti-cancer drugs in humans, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill biochemists and colleagues have made a discovery that they believe eventually could help improve such drugs’ design and effectiveness.
The scientists have shown that the enzyme protein can be made to “fly through the vapor phase” — from which solvent water is totally absent — without changing its structure.
When a solution containing the enzyme was introduced
Get a group of scientists together and mention the word “chlorine” and watch the sparks start to fly. That’s exactly what happened at a forum on a different, but related, topic of sustainability, sponsored by the news magazine Chemical & Engineering News, a publication of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
As a result of a “vigorous and provocative debate” about chlorine at that forum, the magazine’s editors asked two leadin
It’s a good thing that the now eight-year-old son of Miklos Gratzl, a Case Western Reserve University biomedical engineer, got a splinter in his finger one day – at least for the sake of science. With apologies to his son – instead of an “Ouch!” moment, for Gratzl it was more of an “A-ha!” moment.
As he was removing it from his son’s finger, the splinter gave him an idea: Since it showed no open wound in the skin, he thought to himself that a sensor like a sliver would be ideal
Alpine cranberries have significant biological activity that can help to combat herpes virus type II (HSV-2) infection, one of the most common viral infections in humans, writes Emma Dorey in Chemistry & Industry.
Researchers at the Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan isolated a compound called proanthocyanidin A-1 from the evergreen shrub, also known as Vaccinium vitis-idaea, lingonberry or partridgeberry. Chun-Ching Lin and his team found that the compound significantly suppre
An amazingly sensitive method for selective analysis of amino acids, sugars, fatty acids, and other vital compounds has been developed by Russian scientists. This method allows determining even their trace quantities (fractions of nanograms). It is applicable in identifying cancerous cells and diagnostics of cancer at the earliest stage, when traditional diagnostics fail to catch sight of the disease.
Dr. Igor Revel’sky and his colleagues from the Moscow State University have dev
Moscow scientists have come forward with a new methodology of fighting fire, as fire can be stopped if deprived of airflow. It is possible that soon fire-wardens will extinguish fire not with water or foam, but with liquid nitrogen.
A bright-red fire-engine has been demonstrated at the exhibition ‘High tech-2004’, held at Krasnaya Presnya exhibition complex in Moscow. The engine was so huge, that inside its body it could accommodate a tank the size of a well-fed elephant. The
Purdue University chemists have developed a fast, efficient means of analyzing chemical samples found on surfaces, resulting in a device that could impact everything from airport security to astrobiology to forensic science.
A team, including R. Graham Cooks, has improved the mass spectrometer, a device well known to chemists for its ability to provide information on the composition of unknown substances. Mass spectrometers, essential tools in any modern chemistry lab, are often
Human mitochondrial peptide deformylase, a new anticancer target of actinonin-based antibiotics
A molecular mechanism that was formerly thought to be important only in bacteria has now been shown to be a potential target for an anticancer therapy based on antibiotic use. David Scheinberg and colleagues, at the Sloan-Kettering Institute, have been investigating an enzyme in humans that is similar to one in bacteria called peptide deformylase (Pdf) and have found that an antibioti
Requirement for sphingosine 1–phosphate receptor-1 in tumor angiogenesis demonstrated by in vivo RNA interference
Tumor growth and metastasis require new blood ves-sel growth, a process called angiogenesis. There are many factors involved in the nor-mal growth and stabilization of new blood vessels. One of these, sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1), is required during embryonic development to stabilize new blood vessels. Timothy Hla and colleagues, from the University of Con
Mitochondrial survivin inhibits apoptosis and promotes tumorigenesis
As cancer progresses, cancer cells acquire the ability to become resistant to programmed-cell-death, called apoptosis. Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of apoptosis is key for developing proper cancer therapies. Survivin is a member of a family of proteins that are inhibitors of apoptosis (IAPs), but the means by which survivin inhibits apoptosis remains largely unknown. Dario
A brain protein already known to play a central role in the “feast or fast” signaling that controls the urge to eat has now been found to influence appetite in a second way. The discovery identifies a potential new target for drugs against obesity.
Earlier research has shown that this protein, called MC4R, is a receptor on neurons in the hypothalamus region of the brain and receives signals through at least two pathways about the status of the body’s fat reserves. If fat
Along with five European academic laboratories, researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to Ghent University are accelerating the study of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
Taking advantage of the new RNAi technology, they are able to study the function of genes with the aid of specially designed fragments that turn off the corresponding genes. The scientists are building a collection of such fragments in Arabidopsis. Their ul
There is increasing evidence suggesting that allergic-response diseases such as asthma, perennial rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis result from proteolytic or other enzymatic activity in common allergens. Dust is commonly allergenic, and to investigate the presence of active proteases in dust, researchers led by Jennifer Harris at The Scripps Research Institute and Nicolas Winssinger at the Université Louis Pasteur examined an extract derived from dust mites. The researchers devised and used a novel
Female mice that are abnormally small due to gene “knockout” technology are also bad mothers whose poor parenting skills cause their young to die within a day or two of birth, scientists report this week in the on-line edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Since Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D., cloned the gene for testicular orphan receptor 4 (TR4) 10 years ago, he and other scientists have tried to learn its function – scientists call it an “orphan” recept
Morphogens are molecules that play a role in the development of organs
Scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center believe they have answered some critical questions that address how signaling molecules, called morphogens, work. Morphogens are secreting signaling molecules that play a key role in the formation of the shape and size of organs. For example, these molecules play a role in determining the bean-like shape of human kidneys. But when these molecules mal
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