Molecule developed from marine mollusk overcomes risks of current methods
Human embryonic stem cell (HESC) lines, or cultures, in the U.S. are not suitable for use in the budding field of regenerative medicine. Their creation using mouse feeder cells, a specialized growth medium, allows scientists to study their basic characteristics, but ultimately the HESCs are too risky to develop in applied medicine because mouse-associated viruses possibly contaminate them.
Now, Rock
Ophthalmology researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a key risk factor for the development of cataracts. For the first time, they have demonstrated an association between loss of gel in the eye’s vitreous body — the gel that lies between the back of the lens and the retina — and the formation of nuclear cataracts, the most common type of age-related cataracts.
The researchers reported their findings in the January issue of Investigative Op
In four months, when flower buds spring up from the ground, you may wonder how plants know it’s time to bloom. This question has baffled plant biologists for years. Now, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have an answer: a gene that functions as an alarm clock to rouse certain plants from a vegetative state in the winter to a flowering state in the spring.
According to the researchers, the findings, published in the Jan. 8 issue of the journal Nature, could lead to new metho
Northwestern University researchers have prevented learning and memory deficits in a model of Alzheimer’s disease using a gene-targeting approach to block production of beta-amyloid, or “senile,” plaques, one of the hallmarks of the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition affecting over 15 million people worldwide that causes memory loss and, ultimately, dementia. Some research suggests that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by an increased amyloid burden in
Georgetown University Medical Center researchers today published the first ever fMRI study of hyperlexia, a rare condition in which children with some degree of autism display extremely precocious reading skills. Appearing in Neuron, the case study uncovers the neural mechanisms that underlie hyperlexia, and suggest that hyperlexia is the true opposite of the reading disability dyslexia.
Hyperlexia is found in very rare cases in children who are on the “autism spectrum,” meaning they
A research biologist at Wright State University is studying rhythmic cycles in birds to learn if we have a physiological clock in our stomach that determines when we get hungry.
Thomas Van’t Hof, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biological sciences, recently returned from Japan, where he presented lectures and conducted research on circadian (24-hour) rhythms in birds. He visited Okayama University of Science, a sister university of Wright State, plus the University of Tokyo and Nagoya Univ
Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have determined how toxin produced by anthrax bacteria blocks a person’s normal immune response, a discovery that could lead to new treatments for anthrax infection.
In a paper to be published in the January 15th issue of The Journal of Immunology the UCSD scientists show why, in the presence of anthrax toxin, human immune cells fail to respond normally to lipopolysaccharide—a component of the cell walls of many bacteria including the ba
New method tracking single atoms may lead to improved drug design
Until now, scientists studying the workings of ultra-microscopic forms have had to rely on the scientific equivalents of still photos, something like trying to fathom driving by looking at a photograph of a car. Now, Prof. Irit Sagi and her team of the Structural Biology Department are using new and innovative methods developed at the Weizmann Institute to see real-time “video clips” of enzyme molecules at work. The res
Microscopic Mojave Desert plants growing on the underside of translucent quartz pebbles can endure both chilly and near-boiling temperatures, scavenge nitrogen from the air, and utilize the equivalent of nighttime moonlight levels for photosynthesis, a new study reports. The plants, which receive enough light through the pebbles to support photosynthesis, could offer a model for how plants first colonized land, as well as how they might have evolved on Mars, said the scientists who performed the stud
By revealing the architecture of an essential enzyme in a parasite, Dartmouth researchers are helping address a public health issue.
Researchers in the laboratory of Amy Anderson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, have unveiled the structure of an enzyme called dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase, also known as DHFR-TS, from a waterborne parasite called Cryptosporidium hominis. Knowing the chemical structure of the enzyme will help researchers design highly targeted drugs to
Research by North Carolina State University scientists, in conjunction with scientists from the Netherlands and BioResource International, an NC State spin-off biotechnology company, has shown that, under proper conditions, an enzyme can fully degrade the prion – or protein particle – believed to be responsible for mad cow disease and other related animal and human diseases.
These transmissible prions – believed to be the cause of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the technical name fo
Researchers at Northeastern University today announced that they have demonstrated that, contrary to previous research, swinging the limbs during the act of running requires a significant fraction of energy. In contrast to the established hypothesis, which asserted that force produced when the foot is on the ground (stance-phase) is the only determinant of the energy cost of running, Northeastern researchers observed that a significant fraction energy was used to fuel muscles that move the limb while
Corn mutant reveals gene coordinating major steps in meiosis
Berkeley – For all its importance in sexual reproduction, the process of creating eggs and sperm, called meiosis, is still poorly understood.
How the chromosomes in germ cells pair off, trade a few genes and split to give each gamete half a normal complement of genes is so complicated that researchers have had a hard time making sense of the mechanisms involved.
A team of biologists at the University of C
In research published today scientists at the John Innes Centre (JIC), Norwich(1), report on what plants do during the hours of darkness. During daylight hours plants use the energy from sunlight to power the production of food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water. This process (photosynthesis) is well understood, but what happens when the sun goes down? The JIC researchers have found a previously unknown sugar transport system within plants and this has, for the first time, shed light on what plan
Find opens debate about whether man’s earliest ancestors came from Asia and were diurnal or nocturnal
A skull and jawbones recently found in China is the oldest well-preserved primate fossil ever discovered – as well as the best evidence of the presence of early primates in Asia. But the fossil raises the tantalizing possibility that remote human ancestors may have originated in Asia and stirs up debate about the nature of early primates.
In the words of Robert D. Martin
Biologists unravel part of the mystery behind disappearance of shell material
Chitin, the Earth’s second-most abundant biological material, is a major component in the flurry of skeletal debris discarded daily by crustacean creatures in the world’s oceans. If left undisturbed, this tough insoluble material, a cousin to cellulose, would pile up on the ocean’s floor and wreak havoc with marine ecosystems. Fortunately, armies of bacteria act as chitin’s cleanup crew,
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