Human organs deteriorate rapidly without free-flowing blood. The condition, known as ischemia, can be a problem during surgical operations or the transport of graft organs. MICROTRANS’ answer is a small silicon needle with multiple sensors, capable of continuously measuring the electrical impedance of tissues.

Heart surgeons carefully monitor a beating heart on an electrocardiograph. But if they need to artificially stop the heart during a procedure, these measurements may be lacking f

Are longer sperm more successful than shorter sperm in the race for life? This is one of the questions Dr. Matthew Gage (University of East Anglia) will be addressing on Wednesday 31st March 2004 at the annual SEB meeting in Edinburgh (29th March – 2nd April 2004). Dr. Gage will present evidence that sperm speed, size and shape all matter when it comes to male success in sperm competition.

Sperm competition is a widespread phenomenon that occurs when sperm of more than one male compete to fe

A single strand of plant or animal DNA may contain tens of thousands of genes, each programmed to produce a specific protein essential for the growth or survival of the organism. The challenge for geneticists is to isolate individual genes and determine their function – a painstaking process often requiring years of laboratory trial and error.

Now an international research team has discovered a technique that dramatically streamlines this process for certain kinds of genes. Developed by sc

Biochemists have performed detailed structural studies that reveal for the first time how an enzyme key to DNA replication stalls when an error occurs, to allow it to be corrected. Without such instantaneous braking, such mistakes in DNA replication would wreak havoc on DNA replication, killing the cell.

To their surprise, the scientists observed how the enzyme, DNA polymerase, retains a “short-term memory” of mismatches, in some cases halting itself past the point of the mismatch, so that

First comprehensive proteomic analysis of how proteins change as an animal develops

Carnegie Mellon University scientists have performed the first comprehensive proteome analysis of protein changes that occur in a developing animal, making surprising findings that could require scientists to revise standard thinking about how proteins orchestrate critical steps in embryonic development.

Their findings could one day provide a sensitive way to measure how drugs or environmental

The findings could potentially lead to a better understanding of the role of stem cells in the development of colon cancer

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College have uncovered a novel pattern of gene expression in the stem cell-rich bottom of tiny “crypts” in the tissue lining the colon. By identifying these patterns, the scientists hope to be able to identify mechanisms through which stem cells contribute to the development of colon cancer.

“Having a genetic signature f

High quality outcomes allow researchers to identify cancer-related genetic changes that span years

For the first time, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have demonstrated the ability to extract RNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples archived for up to five years. What’s more, the technology used retrieves high-quality samples, allowing researchers to identify cancer-related genetic changes. Accepted as a “late-breaking” abstract, the research was presented to

Ordinarily, the cell membrane prevents invasion by foreign genetic material, which is why genetic engineers often have to use a pipette and forced air to jab a new piece of a gene through the cell wall into the genome in order to carry out gene therapy or introduce particular attributes into a crop or organism.

But an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech has figured out how to chaperone DNA across cell membranes. Amanda Rudisin of Lucinda, Pa., a senior in biology, will present her team&#

New storage method amplifies cells available for science

Like many other kinds of cells used in biomedical research, human embryonic stem cells are stored and transported in a cryopreserved state, frozen to -320 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of their liquid nitrogen storage bath.

But when scientists thaw the cells for use in the lab, less than 1 percent awake from their frigid slumber and assume their undifferentiated state. This ’blank slate’ form is charact

Neurobiologists have discovered that a nearly identical version of a gene whose mutation produces an inherited language deficit in humans is a key component of the song-learning machinery in birds.

The researchers, who published their findings in the March 31, 2004, issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, said that their finding will aid research on how genes contribute to the architecture and function of brain circuitry for singing in birds.

Among the lead researchers was neurobiol

Dr. Miles Brennan of the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute at the University of Denver (ERI) and Dr. Ute Hochgeschwender of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have patented a method of reducing insulin resistance that could lead to potential treatments for diabetes accompanying obesity.

Insulin is a hormone that prompts cells to store glucose, a natural sugar, while another hormone called glucagon has the opposite effect, prompting cells to release stored glucose into the bloodstream. In he

A drug commonly prescribed to halt pre-term labor and stave off premature birth might leave the brains of children susceptible to other chemicals ubiquitously present in the environment, according to research conducted on laboratory animals by Duke University Medical Center pharmacologists. Their new study found that rats exposed to the pre-term labor drug terbutaline suffer greater brain cell damage than those not given the drug upon secondary exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos.

The

Many women report an increase in gingival inflammation and discomfort associated with their menstrual cycle, according to findings published in the March Journal of Periodontology. This is the first time this well-known phenomenon has ever been studied.

“What we found is that several women reported considerable oral symptoms prior to menses,” said Eli E. Machtei, D.M.D., Unit of Periodontology Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Rambam Medical Center and Technion Faculty of Medicine.

Surgeons battle time and the body’s defenses as they stitch together veins and arteries, whether after an injury or in the course of such treatments as transplants or bypasses. Loss of blood before a site is closed and too much clotting soon after challenge medical care.

Virginia Tech researchers are creating biocompatible adhesives for use with vascular tissue that will speed the process of mending tissue. They will present the research at the 227th annual meeting of the American Chemical

Scientists from the New Jersey University of Medicine and Dentistry have discovered a whole new class of enzymes which may represent a major advance in understanding the way bacterial cells self destruct under stress, researchers will hear on Wednesday, 31 March 2004, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting in Bath.

“These enzymes, called messenger RNA interferases, attack extremely accurately targeted sequences in bacterial messenger RNA”, says Professor Masoyori Inouye of th

How do you know if a stranger will be nice or nasty? Professor Cliff Summers’ group at the University of South Dakota has found that you can predict the social status of male lizards before they fight. What is more, green Anolis lizards show their fighting fitness through a colour signal on their face.

Wayne Korzan has discovered that how fast you recover from stress, to participate in feeding and courtship, can also foreshadow dominant social rank. Fast lizards are dominant lizards. As in