Vanderbilt is one of nine US sites

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is participating in worldwide tests of a potential vaccine that can stimulate important immune responses against the virus that causes AIDS.

This is the first candidate vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to be studied simultaneously in so many locations, from Brazil to Thailand, according to Merck & Co. Inc., which developed the vaccine.

Vanderbilt currently is testing six p

Discovery could lead to development of protein-targeting drugs, OHSU researchers say

When HIV enters the human body, a fierce battle ensues between a ruthless viral protein and our long-misunderstood innate protection system. Ultimately, the protein seizes and destroys that system, and HIV replicates.

But Oregon Health & Science University researchers who discovered the mechanism by which this destruction occurs say our innate protection system could have a leg up in the mêl

Discovery shows power of mouse genome to identify human genes for rare genetic diseases

In a small town on Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean, people are living with a serious neurological disorder, called Cayman ataxia, found nowhere else in the world.

People born with this rare, inherited condition have poor muscle coordination, some degree of mental retardation, uncontrollable head and eye movements and difficulty speaking or walking.

Now, in a discovery that

Insights gained from extensive studies in mice may someday lead to treatments for comparable neurodegenerative diseases in humans

Scientists at Jefferson Medical College and the University of Michigan have uncovered a gene defect responsible for a muscle-wasting, neurodegenerative disease in mice known as mnd2. Their results may provide insights into the molecular origins of other such diseases in humans, including Parkinson’s disease.

In an online report on October 8 in the

First comprehensive view of protein activity in higher organism

UCSF scientists have developed a set of powerful tools that allow researchers to look in unprecedented detail at the full complement of thousands of proteins acting and interacting in a living organism. They have used the new tools to mine nearly the entire proteome of an organism – discovering what proteins are active in each cell, where they are active and in what quantity.

The results, published in two papers

A homeopathic remedy made from arsenic oxide could ease the suffering of the hundreds of millions of people at risk from arsenic poisoning worldwide. Research, published this week in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, suggests that Arsenicum Album reduces the liver damage caused by arsenic poisoning. Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a major health problem for people from India, Bangladesh and at least fifteen other countries. Drinking arsenic contaminated well water has cause

The digital world surrounding us is full of images. Many of them are very large and do not easily fit into small devices, such as smart mobile phones. Alexander Kolesnikov’s thesis brings a revolutionary change to this. He has invented the most efficient vector graphics compression technique in the world that will make all maps, drawings and cartoons fit into small but smart mobile phones.

Digital images on digital TV’s, DVDs and computer and mobile device displays come in two variants: ras

The signal, called Hedgehog, tells cells when and where to grow during embryonic development and is turned on in primitive cells,

For more than a century, biologists have been working to assign plants, animals and microbes their respective places on the tree of life. More recently, by comparing DNA sequences from a few genes per species, scientists have been trying to construct a grand tree of life that accurately portrays the course of life on Earth, and shows how all organisms are related, one to another.

However, despite the detailed insights provided by individual genes, that approach has proved cumbersome in its

An estimated 5,000 previously unknown ocean fish species and hundreds of thousands of other marine life forms are yet to be discovered, according to scientists engaged in a massive global scientific collaboration to identify and catalog life in the oceans.

The new marine fish species, being identified at an average rate of 160 per year (roughly three new species per week since year 2000), are being catalogued and mapped by the Census of Marine Life (CoML), an unprecedented cooperativ

Cornell University microbiologists, looking for bioremediation microbes to “eat” toxic pollutants, report the first field test of a technique called stable isotopic probing (SIP) in a contaminated site. And they announce the discovery and isolation of a bacterium that biodegrades naphthalene in coal tar contamination.

Although naphthalene is not the most toxic component in coal tar, the microbiologists say their discovery might eventually help to speed the cleanup of hundreds of 19th and 20

Fruits contain a number of vitamins and minerals that are used as supplements to treat everyday illnesses. Now, research suggests that common fruit extracts may have significant clinical benefits in decreasing risk for skin cancer. These studies are presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

“The incidence of skin cancer is rising faster than any other solid tumor in the United States. It

New research published this month in the journal Endocrinology highlights a possible safe, future treatment for postmenopausal women. The research, which was conducted by doctors at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, found that EM-652, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) given in association with an estrogen, may be effective at controlling hot flashes and preventing breast, uterine and ovarian cancer as well as osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Additionally, the combination

Yesterday, at its 105th meeting, ESA’s Science Programme Committee (SPC) has made important decisions concerning the Cosmic Vision programme. Due to the current financial exigencies and an outlook with no budget increase or other relief, the SPC was forced to cancel the Eddington mission and rescope the BepiColombo mission.

Eddington had two aims, both remarkable and very pertinent to front-line astronomical interests. The first aim was to look for Earth-like planets outside our solar s

Other genes, environmental factors also likely to contribute to prevalent skin disorder

After a decade of searching, researchers have identified three genes linked to psoriasis, a potentially debilitating and disfiguring skin condition characterized by burning or itching patches of raised red skin.

The project’s leader, Anne Bowcock, Ph.D., professor of genetics, of medicine and of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, says the results cou

Unparalleled investigation leads to looters’ haven and arrests

An unprecedented collaboration of archeologists, Maya villagers and Guatemalan authorities has resulted in the recovery of a magnificent Maya altar stone that was carved in 796 AD and sheds new light on the collapse of the classic Maya civilization. In addition to the altar’s archeological importance, its recovery illustrates the value of working with indigenous peoples to restore ancient ruins. Archaeologist Arthur D

A newly discovered mechanism by which an infectious fungus evades the immune system could lead to novel methods to fight the fungus and other disease-causing microbes, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center.

Disruption of a key enzyme in the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans — a common cause of infection of the central nervous system in patients such as organ transplant recipients who lack a functioning immune system — led to a significan

Using sophisticated computer algorithms running on standard desktop computers, researchers have designed and constructed a novel functional protein that is not found in nature. The achievement should enable researchers to explore larger questions about how proteins evolved and why nature “chose” certain protein folds over others.

The ability to specify and design artificial proteins also opens the way for researchers to engineer artificial protein enzymes for use as medicines or industrial c

ESA’s Mars Express probe is scheduled to arrive at Mars at Christmas : the Beagle 2 lander is expected to touch down on the surface of the Red Planet during the night of 24 to 25 December.

Launched on 2 June 2003 from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on board a Russian Soyuz operated by Starsem, the European probe – built for ESA by a European team of industrial companies led by Astrium – carries seven scientific instruments that will perform a series of remote sensing experiments designed to shed

Researchers tracking the ebb and flow of cognitive function in the human brain have discovered surprising differences in the ability of younger and older adults to shut down a brain network normally active during periods of passive daydreaming. The differences, which are especially pronounced in people with dementia, may provide a clear and powerful new method for diagnosing individuals in the very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

“In young adults, there are parts of the brain that