Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have made an important breakthrough in understanding how inflammation is regulated. They have just discovered that a key immune alarm protein previously believed to calm down the immune response actually does the opposite. Their work has numerous potential impacts, especially in the context of understanding and responding to autoimmune disorders and inflammation. While our immune system serves a very important function protecting us from infection and injury, when immune responses become too aggressive this can…
A marine researcher at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science has identified a new bottlenose dolphin subspecies found only in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. “While there is a common belief that all dolphin species are already known, improvements in technologies and methodologies are helping to reveal a greater biodiversity in more recent years,” said Ana Costa, Ph.D., a Rosenstiel lecturer specializing in marine mammalogy. After examining and analyzing a series of specimens, Costa…
An international research team led by the Department of Biology at the Universität Hamburg has investigated the potential impacts of climate change on non-vascular vegetation (mosses, lichens) and their functions in ecosystems worldwide. Based on this, the researchers have developed a concept paper proposing the next important steps for the research field. The results were published in the journal “New Phytologist”. The so-called non-vascular photoautotrophs (NVP), including mosses, lichens, terrestrial algae and cyanobacteria, are organisms that receive their energy from…
In the annals of shoulder surgery, NFL quarterback Drew Brees is an anomaly. In 2005, Brees was tackled and the rotator cuff tendon in his throwing shoulder was severely torn, a potentially career-ending injury. But after surgery and rehab, Brees returned the next season, led his team to the playoffs, and went on to win the 2010 Super Bowl. Unfortunately, rotator cuff repairs don’t always go so well, especially among seniors, the age group most susceptible to these injuries. The…
LIKAT simplifies method that prevents premature degradation of drugs in the body. What people ingest is broken down biochemically by the organism in the metabolism: valuable substances are digested, less essential ones are discarded and excreted. In the case of drugs, this degradation sometimes begins before they can fully develop their healing effect. Chemists try to prevent this by replacing atoms of hydrogen (H) in the drug molecule with deuterium (D), an isotope of hydrogen. In her dissertation at the…
Laser makes water behave like a high-speed switch. All the operations of computers and smartphones are based on circuits. The speed at which a component can switch between the states zero and one ultimately determines how fast a computer can run. Modern computers use semiconductors that make electrical switching possible. “They are inherently limited in their speed,” explains Claudius Hoberg. Together with his colleagues, he has unveiled a possible novel approach to water-based circuits. The water in which the researchers…
The correlation between small RNA molecules and aging-related brain diseases has been described on EMBO Reports. The study lays the groundwork for future RNA diagnostic tests for neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers from the Neurobiology of miRNA team coordinated by Davide De Pietri Tonelli at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) has discovered the correlation between a class of small RNA molecules, piRNAs, and brain inflammation. The study lays the groundwork for the development of new diagnostic technologies able…
Creators envision ‘gelbots’ crawling through human bodies to deliver medicine. A new gelatinous robot that crawls, powered by nothing more than temperature change and clever design, brings “a kind of intelligence” to the field of soft robotics. The inchworm-inspired work is detailed today in Science Robotics. “It seems very simplistic but this is an object moving without batteries, without wiring, without an external power supply of any kind – just on the swelling and shrinking of gel,” said senior author…
Researchers establish mode of action of crucial signalling complexes. Pathogens are frequently usurping the host’s cytoskeleton for their own needs – new insights might lead the way towards development of novel anti-infectives. Bacterial pathogens like Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria and many others exploit the protein skeleton of the cells they infect in order to spread throughout the host. However, how is this so-called cytoskeleton of host cells assembled and remodelled? Answers to this question can provide new approaches for combatting the…
By revealing how the structure of the PI3Kα protein changes in cancer cells, Scripps Research scientists point toward ways to target it with drugs. To design drugs that stall the growth of aggressive cancers, it helps to know the structures of the proteins that are revving the cancers’ engines. In a series of three papers published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scripps Research scientists have illuminated the three-dimensional structure of phosphoinositide 3-kinase alpha (PI3Kα), a protein often…
Charts called fitness landscapes could help researchers better understand the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and find treatments. Antibiotic resistance, when infection-causing bacteria evolve so they are no longer affected by typical antibiotics, is a global concern. New research at the University of Tokyo has mapped the evolution and process of natural selection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in the lab. These maps, called fitness landscapes, help us better understand the step-by-step development and characteristics of E. coli resistance to…
Osaka Metropolitan University scientists use cryogenic electron microscopy to investigate how the marine green macroalga Codium fragile photosynthesizes. Plants that live on land, such as spinach, grow by using sunlight to perform photosynthesis. How, then, do algae photosynthesize in the deep sea, an environment where only a little light reaches them? Land plants mainly absorb red and blue light from the sun and use it for photosynthesis. However, only weak blue-green light reaches the ocean floor. Therefore, macroalgae growing in…
By directly targeting RNA, UC San Diego researchers were able to eliminate toxic protein buildup that causes the progressive neurodegenerative condition while not significantly disrupting other human genes. Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurological disorder that causes progressive loss of movement, coordination and cognitive function. It is caused by a mutation in a single gene called huntingtin or HTT. More than 200,000 people worldwide live with the genetic condition, approximately 30,000 in the United States. More than a quarter of…
Scientists find out what stem cell networks look like and where they came from. An ancient fish called a ‘living fossil’ has helped researchers understand the basics of stem cells. This will further stem cell research and be a step in the direction of creating artificial organs. A beating heart. A complicated organ that pumps blood around the body of animals and humans. Not exactly something you associate with a Petri dish in a laboratory. But that may change in…
Ribosomes, the tiny protein-producing factories within cells, are ubiquitous and look largely identical across the tree of life. Those that keep bacteria chugging along are, structurally, not much different from the ribosomes churning out proteins in our own human cells. But even two organisms with similar ribosomes may display significant structural differences in the RNA and protein components of their mitoribosomes. Specialized ribosomes within the mitochondria (the energy producing entities within our cells), mitoribosomes help the mitochondria produce proteins that…
Biofilms, complex communities of bacteria, abound around us: on the surface of cheese where they give off flavors and aromas, in streams where they form the slimy substance on rocks, on our teeth where they form plaque. Living in a biofilm provides numerous advantages to bacteria: things like resource sharing, shelter from predators, and increased resistance to toxic compounds such as antibiotics. But having the option to leave the biofilm when environmental conditions deteriorate can be a plus for bacteria,…
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