Scientists have developed the first mouse model of a rare disease in which people age rapidly and start developing cancers and other diseases associated with the elderly when they are only about 30 years old.
The advance, reported in the August issue of Nature Genetics, is already shedding light on a suspected strong link between aging and cancer by suggesting that a single cellular protein can play a role in both processes, according to researchers.
“Given that most cancer
Taking advantage of a unique labyrinth of Texas caves festooned with tree roots, Duke University biologists have given trees the most exacting root-to-twig physical of their circulatory system yet.
The scientists’ findings reveal the impressive adaptive engineering of deep-rooted trees in adjusting the size and structure of their piping, or xylem, to maximize water uptake, maintain their integrity and avoid flow-blocking embolisms. In particular, the findings reveal how the deep
Chemical engineers at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed a new filtration system to enable scientists and engineers to separate and purify two different kinds of proteins having relatively close molecular weight. Until now, doing such separations with membrane filtration was impossible. This research was reported in the June 20, 2004 issue of Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
“This is good news,” said Kamalesh K. Sirkar, PhD, distinguished professor of chemical
C. elegans model helps identify protein linked to long QT syndrome – Could help lead to development of drugs that don’t cause calcium channel block
The worm C. elegans seems an unlikely candidate for studies related to cardiac arrhythmias. After all, the microscopic organism doesn’t even have a heart.
That fact did not deter Christina I. Petersen, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Petersen and colleagues, includ
The University Twente (The Netherlands), representing a network of 12 partners, has received a considerable grant from the European Commission to implement the nanotechnology program ‘Frontiers’.
Frontiers is a European network which aims at establishing leadership in research and innovation on behalf of life sciences related nanotechnology by integrating the strengths and facilities of the network partners. This integrated approach will strengthen Europe’s position in nanosciences
Timing is everything and our circadian clock, allows us (and almost every other organism on the planet), to predict the daily changes in our environment, such as light and temperature.
The University of Leicester is one of the main UK centres for clock and photoreceptor research, and new findings on the biology of the cryptochrome and light entrainment in the fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) by a team of Leicester biologists, led by Dr Ezio Rosato, have made a significant contri
Findings point to a different way to treat sleep disorders and anxiety
UC Irvine pharmacology researchers have found how a recently discovered brain protein plays a major role regulating sleep and stress – a discovery that can lead to a new class of drugs for treating ailments ranging from sleep and anxiety disorders to attention deficit disorder.
The UCI team conducted tests to see how neuropeptide S (NPS) affected behavioral responses in rodents. They found that NPS in
Researchers report they now can predict whether some parents are more likely than others to have a second child with the “isolated” form of cleft lip and palate, one of the world’s most common birth defects, according to results of a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was supported in part by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Heal
A defect in the action of a newly discovered protein may play a central role in muscular dystrophy, a disease of progressive muscle degeneration with no known cure.
Scientists at UCSF’s Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center discovered in an animal model of the disease that during periods of intense muscle activity, muscles remain excited too long and degenerate if the protein fails to transport the neurotransmitter acetylcholine away from the nerve-muscle synapse. Muscle d
New tool offers scientists great flexibility
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have successfully targeted unnatural sugar molecules with chemically unique functional groups onto the surfaces of cells in living animals without altering the animals’ physiology.
The achievement is a significant advance in the promising new field of metabolic engineering because it provides a new tool with which researchers can label specific cells in whole animals so that they can dif
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified, for the first time, a gene variation associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a complex, inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs. The gene variation, known as PTPN22, is found in approximately 16 percent (or one in six) of healthy Caucasians in the United States. However, nearly one in four (or 23 percent) lupus patients carry this variant, which has also now been associated with risk for type 1 diabetes and r
The wind transports pollen far less effectively than scientists assumed, according to a new study of invasive Atlantic cordgrass by researchers at UC Davis. This discovery will help control a cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, that is invading wetlands on the Pacific coast.
Plants including grasses, oaks and pine trees need the wind to carry pollen between plants, fertilizing nascent seeds. Scientists guessed that wind pollination was efficient, but the theory hadn’t been tested.
With increasing numbers of whole genomes being sequenced, researchers are keen to analyse the functions of the genes they contain and the proteins these genes encode. Yet, according to researchers writing in BMC Biology, to fully understand any genome, researchers must use palaeontology, geology and chemistry to help them discover the reasons why specific genes evolved.
Steven Benner and Eric Gaucher at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Frank and Rosalie Simmen at the U
University of Leeds genetics researchers are part of an international project to determine the genome sequence of the fast-growing moss, Physcomitrella patens. Understanding how this British weed works will help scientists get to the root of how other species live and grow and, potentially, improve their resilience.
The quick-growing moss has been used in plant research for over 30 years as it’s easy to cultivate in laboratories. Genetic information from the project will help
A gigantic protein complex responsible for looking after bent out of shape proteins has been visualised by scientists working in Japan and the UK.
The structure of the chaperonin complex of the bacteria Thermus thermophilus reveals clues about how the important molecule may do its job of folding new or damaged proteins within cells. Led by Professor So Iwata of Imperial College London, the team of scientists announce their findings in this month’s edition of the journal Structu
Scientists at the Babraham Institute have discovered that conflict between genes inherited from our parents may affect our ability to adapt to life after birth, and have lasting effects on our weight. We inherit similar sets of genes from both our parents, but of a small number of genes only one of the copies is active, the copy from the other parent being ‘imprinted’ to be silent.
The research group, headed by Dr Gavin Kelsey has published a study in Nature Genetics which describes
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