Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a possible way to distinguish lethal metastatic prostate cancers from those restricted to the walnut-size organ.
If future studies show their test — measuring the level of activity of a signaling pathway called Hedgehog — can predict which prostate cancers will spread, the results could revolutionize decision making processes for prostate cancer patients, the researchers say.
Most prostate cancers grow slowly, making “watchful wai
Biologists take for granted that the limbs and branches of the tree of life – painstakingly constructed since Linnaeus started classifying organisms 270 years ago – are basically correct. New genetic studies, the thinking goes, will only prune the twigs, perhaps shuffling around a few species here and there.
Hence the surprise when a new University of California, Berkeley, study of the largest family of salamanders produced a genetic family tree totally inconsistent with the accepted
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified a telltale change in cellular machinery that could help clinicians predict whether prostate cancers are likely to spread or remain relatively harmless in the prostate.
The researchers found that a cellular signaling molecule called Hedgehog, which drives normal development and regeneration of prostate tissue, is greatly activated in prostate cancers. This elevated activity distinguishes dangerous metastatic cancers – those t
Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) at Ghent University are joining the fight against chronic intestinal disease with a genetically modified bacterium (Lactococcus lactis). The modified bacterium is able to produce medication right in the intestine. This is often the crux of the problem: a number of medicines are presumed to be effective, but until now it has been impossible to get them into the intestine in a simple manner. The researchers have shown t
A series of experiments reported on this week in the journal Science shows for the first time that novel biosensor dyes can directly reveal activation of proteins in individual living cells.
The research, led by Dr. Klaus M. Hahn, professor of pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine, demonstrated that at least one of the dyes Hahn developed makes it possible to dramatically visualize the changing activation and intracellular location
Mosquito abatement usually means one thing: blasting the pesky critters with pesticides. Those pesticides, although highly effective, can impair other organisms in the environment.
Que Lan, insect physiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her colleagues in the entomology department are working on a new, more targeted approach to mosquito control: inhibiting their ability to metabolize cholesterol.
Cholesterol, the sticky substance that accumulates on the lini
Researchers have developed a new genetic test that can help predict whether parents who have one child with the “isolated” form of cleft lip or palate are likely to have a second child with the same birth defect. Isolated clefts account for 70 percent of all cleft lip and palate cases.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences provided funding for the st
For many years scientists have believed they understood how closely related species that occupy the same regions of the ocean were kept from interbreeding. It turns out they were only seeing part of the picture.
New research from the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories shows that common assumptions about sea urchin reproduction don’t hold true for all species of the invertebrate creature. The work could lead to better understanding of fertilization among mammals,
There may be new treatments for stroke, migraine, Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders, thanks to the discovery of a mechanism for regulating brain blood flow made by researchers at the University of British Columbia.
Scientists found that astrocytes — cells that surround nerve cells and all blood vessels in the brain — have a primary role in regulating blood flow within the brain, and hold promise as a target for new therapies. The findings of the two-year study funded by the Ca
A large number of diseases − including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and mad cow disease − are the result of proteins that erroneously assume the wrong shape, causing them to stick to each other. This phenomenon is perceptible, but up to now it has been difficult to predict. Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), in collaboration with a German research group, have developed TANGO − a
SCI (Society of Chemical Industry) has named Dr Gordon E. Moore, Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation, as winner of the 2004 Perkin Medal. Moore will receive the award at the 98th annual Perkin Medal Award Dinner on September 14 in Philadelphia, USA.
Moore predicted the industry’s ability to exponentially increase the amount of transistors that could be placed on a silicon chip and open the doors for semiconductor chips to become the lowest cost and most efficient method for deliv
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have made a breakthrough by using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as a reaction medium for the preparation of molecules of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
Many industries throughout the world have begun using the non-toxic, environmentally friendly scCO2 as a solvent, replacing harsher volatile organic solvents, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons. Until no
Pioneering research on leukaemia cells can have identified their vulnerable spot. This new knowledge can now be used to produce more effective medicines.
A group of scientists at the University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital made a surprising discovery when they stimulated leukaemia cells with the growth hormone GM-CSF. The reaction of the cells surprised everyone and would seem to indicate that scientists in Bergen have uncovered a new biological principle and conseque
A team of scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science has revealed the structure of a cellular editor that “cuts and pastes” the first draft of RNA straight after it is formed from its DNA template. Many diseases appear to be tied to mistakes in this process, and understanding the workings of the machinery involved may lead to the ability to correct or prevent them in the future.
Since the discovery, around 25 years ago, that the bits of
Millions of genetic tests using just one drop of blood.
Queensland PhD student Angus Johnston has invented a unique technology with the potential to test for hundreds of diseases, cancers and genes in one, cheap, test. He hopes that within five years the technology will be available in a desktop unit for less than AU$30,000. “This is a unique, patented technology that has the potential to revolutionise genetic testing,” said Angus Johnston, PhD student and co-inventor of the technolo
The bacteria that destroy about one-third of the potent greenhouse gas methane before it can reach the atmosphere use a neat trick to gather a key nutrient for the job. They produce a small organic compound and release it into the surrounding environment, where it “lassos” atoms of copper. The bacteria then reabsorb the compound and use the copper as a weapon against methane, from which they extract energy. The crystal structure of the compound–called methanobactin–will be reported in the Sept. 10
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