A common butterfly, found in a variety of habitats from the southern United States to northern Argentina, is actually comprised of at least 10 separate species, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.
Astraptes fulgerator, a medium-large skipper butterfly, is a routine visitor to urban gardens and tropical rainforests. While the “species” has been known to science since 1775, only now has examination of a small and standardized signature piece of the genome –
Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified specific clusters of genes within human aortas that appear to predict with great specificity which patients may be at highest risk for developing atherosclerosis, as well as the severity of the disease.
For the researchers, this is an important first of many steps toward developing highly individualized approaches to identifying and treating atherosclerosis that are tailored to and informed by a patient’s unique genet
Short stretch of DNA sequence fast, accurate method for identifying species
The task of identifying Earth’s estimated 10 million species has daunted biologists for centuries – fewer than two million have been named. Using a technique called DNA barcoding, researchers at Rockefeller University and two Canadian institutions have uncovered four new species of North American birds. The findings are reported in the September 28 issue of Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology.
Findings could have implications for treating lung disease
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have identified a master gene that controls the first breath a newborn infant takes. The findings could have implications for treating premature babies and children and adults with lung disease or lung injury. While other genes have been identified as having roles in lung development, this master gene, called Foxa2, controls key factors that allow the lungs o
In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Temple University researchers report that one of the functions of the c-myb gene, which leukemia cells depend on for proliferation, is the formation of white blood cells.
“This study is another step in the process of validating the c-myb gene as a potential target for new cancer drugs,” said Prem Reddy, Ph.D., professor and director of the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology at Te
A new study headed by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that Florida is an exporter of more than just fruit and star athletes.
Studying genetic variation in the common brown lizard, Anolis sagrei, the researchers found that introduced populations of the lizard in five different countries can be traced back to the Sunshine State as their site of export.
The team analyzed a small region of DNA from more than 600 different individuals to get a genetic “ID
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have figured out a key molecular step by which a cancer cell can unhook itself from the mesh weave of other cancer cells in a tumor, and move away to a different part of the body – the process, known as metastasis, that makes cancer so dangerous.
Describing what they call a critical “molecular switch” – detailed in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Cell Biology – the researchers say the door is now
Animal study sheds light on effects of hospital drugs
Chronic use of opiate drugs may alter brain neurons to make animal brains more sensitive to stress, according to a new study. If the research proves applicable to humans, the findings may help explain how hospital patients who have received morphine may be susceptible to stress disorder, attention problems and sleep disturbances. The effects on the brain may also contribute to better understanding of drug addiction.
The
Cannabinoid receptor necessary, but can’t be overloaded, mouse model shows
Marijuana use may increase the risk of ectopic (tubal) pregnancies, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported this week. The researchers studied CB1, a “cannabinoid” receptor that binds the main active chemical for marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
In pregnant mice that lacked the gene for the receptor, or in which the receptor was blocked, the embryo failed to go
In what may be a first step toward expanding the arsenal against HIV, UC Irvine researchers have successfully targeted an HIV protein that has eluded existing therapies.
Researchers targeted Nef, a protein responsible for accelerating the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Nef was targeted with small molecules synthesized by the researchers – molecules that disrupted Nef’s interaction with other proteins. The technique used for identifying the synthetic mo
Stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood, then given intravenously along with a drug known to temporarily breach the brain’s protective barrier, can dramatically reduce stroke size and damage, Medical College of Georgia and University of South Florida researchers say.
“What we found was interesting, phenomenal really,” says Dr. Cesario V. Borlongan, neuroscientist and lead author of the study published in the October issue of the American Heart Association journal, Stroke.
Implications include developing materials that both detect and kill biological agents
University of Pittsburgh researchers have synthesized a simple molecule that not only produces perfectly uniform, self-assembled nanotubes but creates what they report as the first “nanocarpet,” whereby these nanotubes organize themselves into an expanse of upright clusters that when magnified a million times resemble the fibers of a shag rug. Moreover, unlike other nanotube structures, these tubes
Yale researchers demonstrate the crucial role of a membrane lipid called phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns (4,5)P2) in the communication of information between synapses in the brain, according to a study published this week in Nature.
“This study is the first to show that lowering the levels of this lipid in nerve terminals affects the efficiency of neurotransmission,” said senior author, Pietro De Camilli, Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology and a Howard Hughes Me
For the second time in two years, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a new type of regulatory T cell that reduces asthma and airway inflammation in mice, bolstering the theory that a deficiency of such cells is a prime cause of the breathing disorder as well as allergies.
The team’s research not only provides a detailed profile of these newfound cells but also sheds light on how such cells are related to other T cells and suggests that there
MacroPore Biosurgery, Inc. (Frankfurt: XMP) today announced that adipose tissue-derived regenerative cells improved heart function following myocardial infarction in a large-animal preclinical safety study. This study, performed in swine, confirms previous preclinical work by MacroPore Biosurgery and others suggesting that the Company’s proprietary, patented technology is safe and may be clinically useful in treating heart disease. The goal of the study was to determine the safety of adipose tissue-
Ten years ago, Valter Longo had an inkling of a theory of aging that is now challenging the dogma of one of science’s heavyweights – Charles Darwin.
From graduate school to a career as an assistant professor in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Longo’s ideas were questioned by peers and students alike as he explored a new way to look at aging that directly opposes principles set forth by Darwin in his theory of
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