Mapping of key genetic signposts across three human populations could help speed efforts to pinpoint disease-related DNA variations, and ultimately may promise more effective, individualized treatments. The research, scheduled to appear 18 February in Science, “will provide an invaluable resource for genetic research to improve human health,” said Donald Kennedy, the journal’s editor-in-chief. The work was unveiled today at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sc

The eyes may be the window to the soul, but many scientists would say the mouth is the window to the body.

Saliva and other oral substances are now emerging as the bodily fluids of choice for physicians, dentists and drug testers, researchers said today at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Saliva and other oral fluids (from the cheek and gum surfaces) contain many of the same proteins and other molecules that blood and ur

Something about nature loves a helix, the ubiquitous spiral shape taken on by DNA and many other molecules found in the cells of living creatures. The shape is so useful that, while researching the means of creating self-assembling artificial helices, physicists at the University of Pennsylvania believe that they have come across a plausible mathematical reason for why the helical shape is so common. Their findings appear in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science.

“The classi

Findings may provide insights into aging and cancer

Genomes throughout the animal kingdom and beyond are characterized by extensive segments that are inactive, lengthy stretches of DNA containing multiple genes that are closed to gene transcription. Scientists believe one reason for this broad gene silencing is the vital need for genomic stability, for protection against unwanted recombinations of genetic material or other disruptions of the genome’s integrity.

Genomic i

Tackling a pressing and controversial technical barrier in stem cell biology, scientists at the WiCell Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have crafted a recipe that allows researchers to grow human embryonic stem cells in the absence of mouse-derived “feeder” cells, long thought to be a source of potential contamination for the therapeutically promising cells.

The new findings, appear today (Feb. 17) in the journal Nature Methods and come on the heels of

Drawing on an understanding of how slugs, leeches and earthworms traverse their environments and grasp objects, a team of Case Western Reserve University biologists and engineers has developed two flexible robotic devices that could make invasive medical procedures such as colonoscopies safer for patients and easier for doctors to administer.

The researchers from Case’s departments of biology, mechanical and aerospace engineering and electrical engineering and computer scien

Researchers at Purdue University have built and demonstrated a prototype for a new class of miniature devices to study synthetic cell membranes in an effort to speed the discovery of new drugs for a variety of diseases, including cancer.
The researchers created a chip about one centimeter square that holds thousands of tiny vessels sitting on top of a material that contains numerous pores. This “nanoporous” material makes it possible to carry out reactions inside the vessels. T

For nearly a decade, scientists have been trying to fully understand a particular communication pathway inside of cells that contributes to many malignant brain and prostate cancers. While scientists have identified elements of this pathway, other key components have remained a mystery. Researchers at Whitehead Institute now have discovered a missing puzzle piece, a finding that may present drug makers with a significant new cancer target.

“We believe that we have identified a com

American Heart Association meeting report

Married women who avoid conflict with their spouses have an increased risk of dying from any cause, researchers report today at the Second International Conference on Women, Heart Disease and Stroke. Researchers also found that men whose wives’ come home upset with work outside the home have an increased risk of developing heart disease.

Researchers examined information on participants of the Framingham Offspring Study, a large

Research represents big step toward development of brain-controlled artificial limbs for people

Reaching for something you want seems a simple enough task, but not for someone with a prosthetic arm, in whom the brain has no control over such fluid, purposeful movements. Yet according to research presented at the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, scientists have made significant strides to create a permanent artificial device that can r

Findings might help improve lung growth in premature infants

Organ development in the embryo requires precise coordination and timing of cell growth in three-dimensional space to produce the correct anatomic form and shape. Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston, led by Dr. Donald Ingber, a senior researcher in the Vascular Biology Program, have demonstrated that the process of budding and branching in the developing lung is driven by mechanical forces generated within indiv

A little-known drug called naltrexone provides a “meaningful benefit” in helping alcoholics moderate their drinking, according to the latest review of evidence from 29 studies on four continents.

The findings, along with the recent FDA approval of a similar drug called acamprosate, open the door to new treatment options for drinkers who aren’t yet ready to face total abstinence. Naltrexone, which is not addictive, “should be accepted as a short-term treatment for alcoholism,” say a

Unmatched performance of Biacore T100 supports critical decision-making from research through to manufacturing and QC

Uppsala, Sweden, February 7, 2005. Biacore International AB (Biacore) (SSE: BCOR) today announced the launch of Biacore T100, a new generation system for protein interaction analysis.

Biacore T100 provides comprehensive information about how proteins interact with other molecules. The unique information generated by Biacore T100 is invaluable for many ap

Researchers have long puzzled over the apparently multiple causes of complex developmental disorders such as schizophrenia. Individuals seem to be predisposed to the disease by a tragic, mysterious combination of genetics, prenatal trauma, viral infection, and early experience. And its array of symptoms–including hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and antisocial behavior–has defied simple explanation.

In experiments with rats, however, researchers led by led by Gerard J.M. Ma

Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have found links in the cell death machinery of worms and mammals, opening new avenues for studying and targeting a process vital to development and implicated in cancer and autoimmune diseases.

The work, reported in the February 17 issue of Nature, demonstrates the role of mitochondria, the cellular power plant, in prompting worm cells to self destruct. These results unify cell death models along the evolutionary spectrum, from simple animal

Few events involving animals are more dramatic than when they band together and head out on the march cross-country. Among examples are the many thousands of wildebeests and other hoofed mammals that form herds and migrate across the African plains.

Countless millions of Mormon crickets and young locusts also sometimes unite with their own kind and form teeming, hungry islands of life that devour everything in their path that’s edible. Some spectacular marching packs stretch sever