Prion Research Center to open this week
Scientists around the world are striving to learn as much as possible about the phenomenon that causes mad cow disease so that they will be prepared if and when an epidemic breaks out, according to Dr. Albert Taraboulos of the Institute of Microbiology of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School. He explained that the exact incubation period of the disease is unknown and so scientists are working hard to ensure that they are not caught unpr
UK researchers announced a first this week when they reported their discovery of how lobsters change colour from the blue-purple of their ocean-floor camouflage to the distinctive orange-red when cooked.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, scientists from Imperial College London, University of Manchester, Daresbury Laboratory and Royal Holloway, University of London describe how they have solved the structure of a key part of the lobster shell protein, Beta
Bacteria prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate and will swim towards it on an agar plate, so teachers have found out this week (15-19 July) at a summer school run by the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Reading. The experiment is one of a series of A-level practicals currently being produced for teachers by the Society.
“We have developed the chocolate experiment to show that bacteria can detect a food source and swim towards it – a process called chemotaxis. But we’ve see
The effect of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF), such as those emitted around high-voltage transmission lines on human health, is controversial. Some studies suggest an association between exposure to ELF-EMF and incidence of leukaemia, although little direct evidence exists that exposure causes damage to biological molecules. A new study, published in the Cancer Cell International, presents experimental evidence to show that extremely low frequency electro-magnetic fields can
Over the past few years, covalent modifications of histone tails have emerged as an important mechanism of gene regulation in eukaryotes. Now, scientists have identified a major euchromatic histone methyltransferase in mammalian cells that is crucial for normal embryonic development, and possibly the prevention of cancer. In a report published in Genes & Development, Dr. Yoichi Shinkai and colleagues have identified a protein called G9a as an enzyme that adds a methyl group to the lysine 9 amino acid
Scientists at VTT and the University of Florida take immunotechnology to a new level
Mimicking the cell walls transport system by biocoated nanotubes opens novel possibilities for numerous applications
Living cells transport selectively molecules in and out through their cell walls. This process is remarkably accurate and efficient. In co-operation with Professor Charles Martin`s workgroup from the University of Florida, VTT`s Research Professor Hans Söderlund and Researcher
Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have discovered a new class of proteins that see light, revealing a previously unknown system for how light works.
The novel photoreceptors are part of the gears that drive biological clocks, the cellular timekeepers of the circadian rhythm, which paces life’s daily ebb and flow in a 24-hour light-dark cycle. Their identification also opens a window for genetically engineered drug delivery systems that exploit the properties of these newfound molecu
After 40 years of searching for the photoreceptor that controls multiple vital processes in fungi, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have discovered the protein that triggers this phenomenon.
Light regulates several physiological processes in fungi, including their ability to produce spores and the synchronization of their internal biological clocks, but their photoreceptors – receptors that are sensitive to light and are essential for most ongoing processes – were not
The average back garden may contain twice as many species as have so far been identified on the whole planet, according to a study published today by British scientists.
But gardeners would need a microscope to observe the massive biodiversity, which exists almost entirely among micro-organisms in the soil.
Using new methods of analysis, Dr Tom Curtis, of the Department of Civil Engineering, Newcastle University, England, and colleagues, estimated that a tonne of soil could contain
Genes that are inappropriately turned on play a critical role in triggering some diseases. For researchers, the trick is learning how to deactivate these genes to treat illnesses. In a step toward reaching that goal, scientists at Stanford University Medical Center have developed a gene-therapy technique to switch off genes in mice. The finding could potentially lead to ways of treating such diseases as cancer, hepatitis C and AIDS.
In plants and lower organisms such as flies or worms, rese
The Science Generation project which European research commissioner Philippe Busquin is presenting in Brussels today aims to make decision-makers, politicians and scientists, as well as the general public, better informed on action to be taken at the interface between life sciences and society. This project, receiving €1.44 million in EU funding, seeks to set up networks of scientists, students and journalists, extending into the regions, with colloquia and public opinion surveys and debates online
As film buffs queue to watch the new Spider-man movie, geography students from the University of Sussex have gone one better by discovering a new species of spider in the wild.
The second year undergraduates were taking part in a field course to the Seychelles, one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. As part of this trip the students were responsible for helping to set insect traps in the Vallée de Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Praslin, the second-largest island in
Bacteria that reproduce inside aphids have not changed their genetic make-up for the last 50-70 million years. This makes the genomes of these bacteria the most stable of all organisms yet studied. This finding is presented by a team of scientists at Uppsala University, Sweden, in the latest issue of the scientific journal Science.
Under the leadership of Professor Siv Andersson, researchers Ivica Tama, Lisa Klasson, Björn Canbäck, Kristina Näslund, Ann-Sofie Eriksson, and Johan Sandström at
Scientists discover Spot 42 function in the galactose operon
Although the E. coli galactose operon is a staple of most biology textbooks, a new report in the July 1 issue of Genes & Development shows that our understanding of this common example of bacterial gene regulation is still evolving.
Dr. Poul Valentin-Hansen and colleagues at the University of Southern Denmark report that a small RNA, called Spot 42, functions by an antisense mechanism to differentially regulate gene exp
Researchers at MIT and Rice University have discovered that microRNAs, an emerging class of non-protein gene regulators thus far only identified in animals, also exist in plants. By extending the known phylogenetic range of miRNAs to plants, this work points to an ancient evolutionary origin for microRNAs. The report is published in the July 1 issue of the scientific journal Genes & Development.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) compose a class of short, noncoding RNAs, 20-24-nucleotides in length, that h
Artificial “Sugazyme” catalyzes synthesis of novel proteins with special features
University at Buffalo chemists have developed a remarkably simple and effective biotechnological method for synthesis of novel proteins using amino acids that do not occur in nature by using unique, programmable ribozymes (enzymes made of RNA, or ribonucleic acid) that they evolved in the lab.
The technology, described in the July issue of Nature Biotechnology, provides a potentially important
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