Biology
Working backward: Computer-aided design of zeolite templates
June 17, 2013 12:08 pm | News | Comments
Taking a page from computer-aided drug designers, Rice Univ. researchers have developed a computational method that chemists can use to tailor the properties of zeolites, one of the world’s most-used industrial minerals. The method allows chemists to work backward by first considering the type of zeolite they want to make and then creating the organic template needed to produce it.
Research paints new picture of “dinobird” feathers
June 14, 2013 10:49 am | News | Comments
Scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California have performed...
Research identifies scent of melanoma
June 13, 2013 6:00 pm | News | Comments
Melanoma is a tumor that is responsible for approximately 75% of skin cancer deaths....
Cheetah's acceleration power key to their success
June 13, 2013 10:35 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | Comments
Researchers have recently determined that cheetahs can run twice as fast as Olympian...
DNA constructs antenna for solar energy
June 19, 2013 8:11 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Chalmers Univ. of Technology have found an effective solution for collecting sunlight for artificial photosynthesis. By combining self-assembling DNA molecules with simple dye molecules, the researchers have created a system that resembles nature's own antenna system.
Researchers design variant of main painkiller receptor
June 18, 2013 1:04 pm | News | CommentsOpioids are still the most effective class of painkillers, but they come with unwanted side effects. Designing new drugs of this type involves testing them on their corresponding receptors, but access to meaningful quantities of these receptors that work in experimental conditions has been a limiting factor. Now, researchers have developed a variant of the mu opioid receptor that has several advantages when it comes to experimentation.
A way to detect new viruses
June 17, 2013 2:14 pm | News | CommentsIn recently published research, St. Louis Univ. researchers describe a technology that can detect new, previously unknown viruses. The technique offers the potential to screen patients for viruses even when doctors have not identified a particular virus as the likely source of an infection. In the new approach, scientists use blood serum as a biological source to categorize and discover viruses.
Is artificial sweetener a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
June 17, 2013 11:42 am | News | CommentsMannitol, a sugar alcohol produced by fungi, bacteria and algae, is a common component of sugar-free gum and candy. The sweetener is also used in the medical field. Now a team from Tel Aviv Univ. have found that mannitol also prevents clumps of a protein from forming in the brain—a process that is characteristic of Parkinson's disease.
Lilly to take over development of diabetes drug
June 17, 2013 9:16 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsEli Lilly and Co. will pay Canadian drug developer Transition Therapeutics Inc. $7 million and take over the development of a potential diabetes treatment heading into mid-stage clinical testing. Transition said Monday it also could receive up to $240 million in additional payments, plus royalties if the treatment is eventually approved and sold.
Testing method promising for spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis
June 14, 2013 7:49 am | News | CommentsA medical test previously developed to measure a toxin found in tobacco smokers has been adapted to measure the same toxin in people suffering from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, offering a potential tool to reduce symptoms. The toxin, called acrolein, is produced in the body after nerve cells are injured, triggering a cascade of biochemical events thought to worsen the injury's severity.
U.S. court says human genes cannot be patented
June 13, 2013 11:53 am | by JESSE J. HOLLAND - Associated Press Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsThe U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries. The high court's unanimous judgment reverses three decades of patent awards by government officials.
Imaging technique captures ever-changing world of metabolites
June 13, 2013 7:38 am | News | CommentsWhat would you do with a camera that can take a picture of something and tell you how new it is? If you’re a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist, you use it to gain a better understanding of the ever-changing world of metabolites. A team of researchers has developed a mass spectrometry imaging technique that not only maps the whereabouts of individual metabolites in a biological sample, but how new the metabolites are too.
Genetic switches play big role in human evolution
June 12, 2013 8:45 am | by Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell Univ. | News | CommentsA Cornell Univ. study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 to 6 million years ago was profoundly influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning genes on and off. The study provides evidence for a 40-year-old hypothesis that regulation of genes must play an important role in evolution since there is little difference between humans and chimps in the proteins produced by genes.
Micro-RNA plays role in wood formation
June 11, 2013 8:10 am | News | CommentsFor more than a decade, scientists have suspected that hairpin-shaped chains of micro-RNA regulate wood formation inside plant cells. Now, scientists at North Carolina State Univ. have found the first example and mapped out key relationships that control the process. The research describes how one strand of micro-RNA reduced by more than 20% the formation of lignin, which gives wood its strength.
A potential target to thwart antibiotic resistance
June 11, 2013 7:41 am | News | CommentsBacteria in the gut that are under attack by antibiotics have allies no one had anticipated, a team of Harvard Univ. Wyss Institute scientists has found. Gut viruses that usually commandeer the bacteria, it turns out, enable them to survive the antibiotic onslaught, most likely by handing them genes that help them withstand the drug.
Sanofi says FDA approves 4-strain flu vaccine
June 10, 2013 2:04 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsFrench drugmaker Sanofi said Monday the Food and Drug Administration approved a new version of its flu vaccine Fluzone that is designed to prevent four types of the virus. Sanofi said Fluzone Quadrivalent is designed to protect against two types of influenza A and two types of influenza B. Fluzone is the only flu shot recommended in the U.S. for infants and very young children.
Making new cartilage from stem cells
June 10, 2013 11:20 am | by Evan Lerner, Univ. of Pennsylvania | News | CommentsCartilage injuries have ended many athletes’ career, and the general wear-and-tear of the joint-cushioning tissue is something that almost everyone will endure as they age. Unfortunately, repairing cartilage remains difficult. Bioengineers are interested in finding innovative ways to grow new cartilage from a patient’s own stem cells. A new study from the Univ. of Pennsylvania brings such a treatment one step closer to reality.
Weapons testing data determines brain makes new neurons into adulthood
June 10, 2013 8:36 am | News | CommentsUsing data derived from nuclear weapons testing of the 1950s and '60s, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have found that a small portion of the human brain involved in memory makes new neurons well into adulthood. The research may have profound impacts on human behavior and mental health.
$18 million to study deadly secrets of viruses
June 7, 2013 4:01 pm | News | CommentsIn an effort to sort out why some viruses such as influenza, Ebola and West Nile are so lethal, a team of U.S. researchers plans a comprehensive effort to model how humans respond to these viral pathogens. The study will be led by a Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison professor. Teams from Washington Univ. in St. Louis and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, also will play key roles in the study.
Compulsive no more
June 6, 2013 3:00 pm | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsBy activating a brain circuit that controls compulsive behavior, Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientists have shown that they can block a compulsive behavior in mice—a result that could help researchers develop new treatments for diseases such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette’s syndrome.
From Legos to Medical Devices
June 6, 2013 11:38 am | by Lindsay Hock | Articles | CommentsIn seventh grade, now 25-year-old Nikolai Begg, 2013 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner, was assigned a general project for English class where he had to pick a topic and write a report. That year, in life science class he took a great interest in this field, choosing to write his report on surgical robots. Able to interview surgeons using surgical robots and engineers designing them, Begg discovered an incredible field.
Zebrafish help identify mutant gene in rare muscle disease
June 4, 2013 1:17 pm | News | CommentsZebrafish with very weak muscles helped scientists decode the elusive genetic mutation responsible for Native American myopathy, a rare, hereditary muscle disease that afflicts Native Americans in North Carolina. Scientists originally identified the gene in mutant zebrafish that exhibited severe muscle weakness. The responsible gene encodes for a muscle protein called Stac3.
NUS uses JPK Instruments’ optical tweezers
June 4, 2013 8:37 am | News | CommentsJPK Instruments reports on the Yan Jie single-molecule biophysics research group at the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) of the National Univ. of Singapore (NUS) and their use of optical tweezers. The MBI of the NUS was created through joint funding by the National Research Foundation and the Ministry of Education with the goal of creating a new research center in mechanobiology to benefit both the discipline and Singapore.
Biochemists develop new technology to transfer DNA into cells
June 3, 2013 1:34 pm | News | CommentsOn any given day, Jason Atkins and Mohit Patel can be found toiling away inside a chemical biology laboratory at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. And they love every minute of it. The researchers recently developed new technology to transfer DNA into cells. The development is an inexpensive and non-toxic method to help DNA cross the cell membrane so that cells can be modified.
Molecular switch for cheaper biofuel
June 3, 2013 8:25 am | News | CommentsBiofuel is often obtained from starchy plants—but this places fuel production in competition with food production. At the Vienna Univ. of Technology, genetically modified mold fungi are created, which have the ability to break down long cellulose and xylan chains into smaller sugar molecules. This could make the production of biofuel a lot cheaper.
Astronauts face radiation threat on long Mars trip
May 31, 2013 10:38 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsAs plans for deep space exploration ramp up, radiation is a big concern. Earth's magnetic field helps to deflect much of that harmful radiation, but astronauts traveling to and from Mars would be bombarded with as much radiation as they'd get from a full-body CT scan about once a week for a year, researchers reported Thursday. That dose would, in some cases, exceed NASA's standards and is enough to raise an astronaut's cancer risk by 3%.
Biologists take snapshot of fleeting protein process
May 31, 2013 7:44 am | News | CommentsStructural biologists from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have captured the first 3-D crystalline snapshot of a critical but fleeting process that takes place thousands of times per second in each human cell. The research could prove useful in the study of cancer and other diseases.
Scientists find possible solution to ancient enigma
May 29, 2013 1:09 pm | News | CommentsStromatolites (“layered rocks”) are structures made of calcium carbonate and shaped by the actions of photosynthetic cyanobacteria and other microbes that trapped and bound grains of coastal sediment into fine layers. According to recent research, the widespread and mysterious disappearance of stromatolites may have been driven by single-celled organisms called foraminifera.
Pigeons peck for computerized treat
May 29, 2013 1:08 pm | News | CommentsGo to about any public square, and you see pigeons pecking at the ground, always in search of crumbs dropped by a passerby. While the pigeons’ scavenging may seem random, new research by psychologists at the University of Iowa suggest the birds are capable of making highly intelligent choices, sometimes with problem-solving skills to match.
