Key step in process of developing targeted therapeutics to combat epilepsy
Scientists from Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital are able to depict for the first time how an important molecule called IP3 and its receptor interact to control calcium levels in cells, a process that is vital to normal brain function.
The study is published in this week’s edition of the international scientific journal Nature, and is a collaboration between scientists at Princess Margar
Sure Santa Claus asks boys and girls what toys they want, but, why they want them is a better question. The answer may have to do with a biological pre-wiring that influences boys’ and girls’ preferences based on the early roles of males and females, says a Texas A&M University psychologist.
It’s commonly believed that boys and girls learn what types of toys they should like based solely on society’s expectations, but psychologist Gerianne Alexander’s work with verv
A University of Sheffield scientist has isolated a bacterium that may cause cancers in those with a genetic pre-disposition to the disease.
Dr Milton Wainwright, of the University’s Molecular Biology and Biotechnology department, researched historical literature and found that, as early as the 1890s, bacteria were believed to cause cancer. Unfortunately, none of the bacteria involved in these studies were ever kept or even named, making it impossible to verify claims about their role
Findings based on ’knock-out’ mice detailed in the journal Physiology and Behavior
A team led by University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher Deborah J. Good has identified a gene that appears to play a role in obesity, physical activity, and sex behaviors in mice. Good works with so-called “knock-out” mice, which have a specific gene deleted. Scientists then monitor the animals for changes in their physiology and behavior, in an effort to determine the gene’s role. H
What molecule or particle passes the finishline first? A good way to split a fluid sample into its separate parts is: organize a contest in a micro-channel. The largest parts will pass the optical detector first, the smaller ones follow at short distance. This principle of ‘hydrodynamic chromatography’ is now also possible on a chip. ‘On-chip’ separation is faster, needs tiny samples and uses minimum of harmful solvents. Marko Blom developed this separation chip within the MESA+ research institute of
Investigators at the University of Calgary and McGill University have identified genes that underlie two severe diseases of vitamin B12 metabolism. The two diseases, known as the cblA and cblB forms of methylmalonic aciduria, may produce brain damage, mental retardation and even death if not detected in infancy or early childhood.
Melissa Dobson, a graduate student at the University of Calgary working with Roy Gravel PhD in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is lead autho
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Whitehead Institute have discovered a pattern of genetic activity in several types of primary tumors that appears to predict the likelihood that they will spread, or metastasize, to other parts of the body. If larger studies support these findings, this early indicator of life-threatening cancer spread might lead to a clinical test that would help determine appropriate treatment.
The study will be published by Nature Genetics on its
A tapeworm may be the unlikely source of a new contraceptive – 100% effective in either sex!
Despite intensive research, scientists have so far failed to find the perfect contraceptive for women – let alone men. However, a study in freshwater fish of the carp family has found a parasite, Ligula intestinalis, that makes the fish infertile. The infertility appears to be caused by a compound released by the parasite, which suppresses the production of eggs in females and sperm in males. P
Findings with lab mice may lead to novel cholesterol-lowering drugs against heart disease
Two people eat the same egg, cheese and ham muffin for breakfast, yet one absorbs significantly more cholesterol into his or her blood than the other. Why?
The answer, and all of its implications for combating heart disease, remains stubbornly hidden within our DNA. In recent genetic studies with lab mice, however, researchers at The Rockefeller University have begun to close in on the culpr
A California research team has mapped an entire group of human enzymes, providing important information for the development of a new generation of drugs to treat cancer and other diseases. The findings will be published in the Dec. 6 issue of Science.
In the study, the team from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the biotechnology company SUGEN created a detailed catalog of the 518 protein kinase genes encoded by the human genome. Protein kinases are among the most important regu
A comparison of the newly completed, publicly available, genome sequence of the mouse with the prior sequence of the mouse from Celera Genomics Inc. and with the human genome provides a consensus view of the mouse and important insights into human genes. Hot on the heels of the mouse genome sequence published in this week’s Nature by the Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium of publicly funded laboratories, Genome Biology publishes the first comparison of this ’public’ mous
Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh report in the current Journal of Medical Genetics that they have found defects in the gene that produces a common protein in urine and that these defects are linked to two inherited kidney diseases.
For six years, the researchers had studied a family from Western North Carolina that has been plagued with a rare kidney disease, trying to learn more about the genetics of the disease. Anthony J. Bleye
A totally new and highly controversial theory on the origin of life on earth, is set to cause a storm in the science world and has implications for the existence of life on other planets. Research* by Professor William Martin of the University of Dusseldorf and Dr Michael Russell of the Scottish Environmental Research Centre in Glasgow, claims that living systems originated from inorganic incubators – small compartments in iron sulphide rocks. The new theory radically departs from existing perception
Researchers at Ohio State University have identified three genes that are involved in the seasonal clock that determines when hamsters reproduce.
While researchers have learned a lot about reproductive clocks in some animals, this study is unique in helping uncover at least part of the genetic basis for determining how the reproductive system shuts off in the fall and restarts in time for spring.
“This study offers some of the first insights into how changes in gene expression are a
Pseudomonas putida has potential for use in bioremediation, promoting plant growth and fighting plant diseases
In a successful transatlantic collaboration, scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, MD, and at four research centers in Germany have deciphered and analyzed the complete genome of a bacterium, i>Pseudomonas putida , that has the potential to be used to remediate organic pollutants in soil as well as to help promote plant growth and fig
Neuroscientists trying to tease out the mechanisms underlying the basis of human sympathy have found that such feelings trigger brain activity not only in areas associated with emotion but also in areas associated with performing an action. But, when people act in socially inappropriate ways this activity is replaced by increased activity in regions associated with social conflict.
Understanding the neurophysiology of such basic human characteristics as sympathy is important because some peo
Feedback
