Researchers at the Center for Biomedical Inventions at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have identified the genetic changes that Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, undergoes during infection of a living host.
For the first time, researchers have adapted gene-chip technology to carry out genomic analysis of gene expression during the course of infection not only for M. tuberculosis, but for any pathogen. The findings will appear in an upcoming issue
Two studies published in the online issue of Nature report no evidence to suggest that hematopoietic stem cells, which usually produce blood cells, can turn into heart cells after injection into the heart. These studies raise a cautionary note for interpreting the results of ongoing clinical studies in which hematopoietic stem cells are injected into the heart after a heart attack.
Loren Field, Ph.D., professor of medicine and of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and s
Discovery of the sequence of events in the binding of p27 to a protein complex is a model for explaining how 30 to 40 percent of the body’s proteins exploit their flexibility in order to do different tasks in the cell
Investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have demonstrated for the first time that–contrary to the long-held belief among scientists that proteins must maintain a rigid structure in order to perform an assigned task–many proteins actually exploit dis
USC study finds meat-tolerant genes offset high cholesterol and disease
When our human ancestors started eating meat, evolution served up a healthy bonus – the development of genes that offset high cholesterol and chronic diseases associated with a meat-rich diet, according to a new USC study.
Those ancestors also started living longer than ever before – an unexpected evolutionary twist.
The research by USC professors Caleb Finch and Craig Stanford appears in Wedne
A new study, published in the March 15th issue of Genes & Development, provides critical new insight into the shared mechanisms of normal organ development and solid tumor formation.
By studying the cerebellum (the structure in the brain largely responsible for coordinating motor activities) Drs. Alvin Kho, Isaac Kohane, David Rowitch, and colleagues at The Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have developed a novel method for comparing the genetic changes ass
Achieved by Hebrew University, UCLA scientists
A step towards building tiny motors on the scale of a molecule has been demonstrated by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
In an article appearing in the current issue of Science magazine, the researchers from the two institutions described how they were able – through light or electrical stimulation – to cause a molecule to rotate on an axis in a controlled f
To test whether chemicals are toxic to humans, researchers need to use liver cells that have been freshly harvested from mice or other mammals. A new collection of stable cell lines, described in BMC Biotechnology this week, could reduce the numbers of animals needed in such experiments.
The MMH-GH cell lines are derived from the liver cells of transgenic mice. These cells have been engineered to secrete human growth hormone when they are exposed to toxic compounds. The cells also continuou
Five years ago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers first reported finding that the nutrient choline played a critical role in memory and brain function by positively affecting the brain’s physical development.
Differences in development influenced action, the scientists and their colleagues found. In animal experiments conducted at Duke University, both young and old rats performed significantly better on memory tasks if they received enough choline before birth compared
Two independent research groups have established conclusively that prions are proteins, and that they do not depend on genes or other factors for transmission of their traits. According to the scientists, the studies answer a nagging question that had raised doubts among some researchers about the validity of the so-called “protein-only” hypothesis of prion infectivity.
Scientists have grappled for years with one of the central tenets of the protein-only hypothesis, namely, that a single pri
UCSF scientists have demonstrated for the first time that a change in the folded shape of a prion protein changes its infectious properties — including the prion’s ability to jump “species barriers.”
The research, based on studies of prion infectivity in yeast, solves one of the great puzzles about prions: If they are infectious proteins with no genetic material of their own and no ability to mutate genetically, how can a single prion exist in different strains that can cause differen
The mechanism used by the bacteria that cause anthrax, bubonic plague and typhoid fever to avoid detection and destruction by the body’s normal immune response – leading to life-threatening bacterial infections – has been identified by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
Published in the March 18, 2004 issue of the journal Nature, the lab-culture research with mouse cells identifies a protein kinase called PKR that causes the death of macrophage
British ecologists have gathered compelling new experimental evidence on how tropical rain forest food webs are constructed, findings that may have important implications for their environmental management.
The research reported in Nature today (18 March) demonstrates how species that never meet may nevertheless influence each other’s ecology through shared parasites, and confirms the action of an important ecological theory in the highly biodiverse rain forest environment.
Eco
New findings in animals suggest a potential treatment to minimize disability after spinal cord and other nervous system injuries, say neuroscientists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
“Our approach is based on a natural mechanism cells have for protecting themselves, called the stress protein response,” said Michael Tytell, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and the study’s lead researcher. “We believe it has potential for preventing some of the disability that occurs as a resul
Scientists report that they have identified a cellular mechanism that prevents the immune system from destroying chronic, incurable viral infections such as herpes, hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The research, published in the March issue of Immunity, explains why critical immune cells fail to act against the viral infection and demonstrates a successful intervention that facilitates elimination of the virus. The results open up exciting new avenues for design of future antiviral t
Advances in an area widely regarded in scientific circles as the ’next big thing’ – RNA interference (RNAi) – will be the major focus of a CSIRO-hosted conference on the Gold Coast in September.
The chairman of the ’Horizons in Livestock Sciences’ conference, CSIRO’s Dr Tim Doran, says RNAi research has major implications for plant, animal and human health.
“Since RNAi was first described in the 1990s, the technology has been rapidly adopted in laboratories
Microbes researchers highlight drawbacks of antibiotics
Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics can live in the human intestines for at least one year. Professor Charlotta Edlund from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and Research Professor Pentti Huovinen from the National Public Health Institute in Turku, Finland, are keen to highlight the risks involved in the excessive use of antibiotics.
In their research funded by the Academy of Finland, the two profess
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