Analytical Instruments
Magnetoelectric sensors designed for medical measurement
April 26, 2012 6:33 am | News | CommentsUntil the development of a new nanomaterial-based sensor in Germany, the brain’s magnetic field was measurable only under technical laboratory conditions. This prevented the technology’s use in medical applications. The new sensors, however, operate at normal conditions. Neither cooling nor external magnetic bias fields are required.
New X-ray bionanoprobe enables study of cryogenically preserved samples
April 25, 2012 4:23 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Northwestern University's Department of Radiation Oncology and Argonne National Laboratory recently deployed a new non-destructive X-ray microscopy solution from Xradia to image cryogenically preserved cells and advance studies of intra-cellular biology.
Scientists head to Mount Everest for research
April 22, 2012 1:58 pm | by Binaj Gurubacharya, Associated Press | News | CommentsMount Everest has attracted climbers and adventurers for nearly 100 years. Now, a team of U.S. scientists have set up a laboratory at the base of the world’s highest mountain to study the effects of high altitude on humans. A team from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota says it plans to monitor nine climbers attempting to scale Everest to learn more about the physiology of humans at high altitudes in order to help patients with heart conditions and other ailments.
History is key factor in plant disease
April 22, 2012 1:52 pm | by Ann Brody Guy | News | CommentsAccording to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the virulence of plant-borne diseases depends on not just the particular strain of a pathogen, but on where the pathogen has been before landing in its host. The study demonstrates that the pattern of gene regulation, not just gene make-up, plays a big role in the aggressiveness of a microbe.
New brain-machine interface moves a paralyzed hand
April 19, 2012 6:29 pm | News | CommentsA new Northwestern University brain-machine technology delivers messages from the brain directly to the muscles—bypassing the spinal cord—to enable voluntary and complex movement of a paralyzed hand. The device could eventually be tested on, and perhaps aid, paralyzed patients.
Computer-designed molecules point to new therapy for cystic fibrosis
April 19, 2012 6:24 pm | News | CommentsBy developing software that uses 3D models of proteins involved in cystic fibrosis, a team of scientists at Duke University has identified several new molecules that may ease the symptoms of the disease.
Study: Nanoparticles may increase damage to plant DNA
April 19, 2012 6:14 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Massachusetts Amherst have provided the first evidence that engineered nanoparticles are able to accumulate within plants and damage their DNA. They have shown that nanoparticles of cupric oxide, a common compound, can enter plant root cells and generate mutagenic DNA base lesions.
Kidney stone mystery solved
April 19, 2012 5:41 am | News | CommentsStriking an estimated 1 million Americans each year, kidney stones produce an excruciating pain that is among the worst known to man (or woman). Some are more prone to developing the condition than others, but until recent research on kidneys in mice the cause of the stones remained a mystery. The culprit is in the genes.
Study dusts sugar coating off little-known regulation in cells
April 17, 2012 7:47 am | by Mary Beckman | News | CommentsIn a recent study, a Pacific National Northwest Laboratory team led by 2010 Scientist of the Year Richard D. Smith at least doubled the number of proteins found to be subject to a type of regulation based on a sugar known as O -GlcNAc. The finding is potentially crucial to an understanding of the type of regulatory system that allows protein tangling associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Study amplifies understanding of hearing in baleen whales
April 17, 2012 7:38 am | News | CommentsIn the first successful study of intact baleen whale head anatomy using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, biologists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have now learned that baleen whales have specialized fats leading to their auditory system. It’s a sophisticated hearing adaptation previously associated only with toothed whales.
Ultrasensitive biosensor holds potential for instant diagnostics
April 17, 2012 5:20 am | News | CommentsA new quantum mechanical-based biosensor designed by a team at University of California, Santa Barbara offers potential for detecting biomolecules at ultra-low concentrations. The research team’s technology beats the fundamental limits of a conventional field-effect transistor (FET) designing a Tunnel-FET sensor that is faster and four orders of magnitude more sensitive.
Licorice root found to contain anti-diabetic substance
April 17, 2012 4:58 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany have discovered promising anti-diabetic substance in the amorfrutin class of natural substances, which are found in licorice and Amorpha fruticosa bush found in North America. The binding of these molecules, the scientists say, reduces the plasma concentration of certain fatty acids and glucose associated with diabetes or fatty liver conditions.
Why do plants grow toward the light?
April 16, 2012 12:07 pm | News | CommentsThe simple answer is auxin, a plant hormone. But the transport of auxin through the plant is a complex and little-understood process. Recent research in Europe has identified an important new link in this process, finding that auxin is stored in specific sites.
Fine-scale analysis illuminates human brain’s composition
April 16, 2012 3:57 am | News | CommentsA study of the expression of approximately 1,000 genes in the brains of individual humans and mice has shed light on the human brain’s structure and its high degree of similarity among humans. Only 5% of the nearly 1,000 genes surveyed in three particular regions show differences in expression between humans, and even compared mice there is great consistency.
Botanists discover chloroplasts’ direct route to the cell nucleus
April 13, 2012 9:05 am | News | CommentsChloroplasts were once living beings in their own right, before being swallowed up by larger cells and used as solar power generators. Until recent research that fast-forwarded the lengthy evolutionary process, the mechanism for this change were not understand. According this new work, chloroplast genes take a direct route to the cell nucleus, where the gene function can be correctly read despite the structural differences in the DNA.
Water, water everywhere—but is it essential to life?
April 13, 2012 9:01 am | News | CommentsNew research using a spectroscopic technique called circular dichroism has analyzed an oxygen-carrying protein myoglobin that can refold in an environment that is almost completely devoid of water molecules. The findings are challenging one of the key beliefs in chemistry: that proteins are dependent on water to survive and function.
Researchers find a way to detect “hypervirulent” Salmonella strains
April 13, 2012 4:56 am | News | CommentsAn international team of scientists conducting a global search for hypervirulent strains of Salmonella , the most common cause of infection, hospitalization, and death due to foodborne illness in the U.S., have developed a way to force the normally stealthy bacteria to reveal its biological weaponry before infection.
Athletic frogs have faster-changing genomes
April 12, 2012 12:20 pm | News | CommentsIn the past, biologists trying to explain why some species have faster-changing genomes than others have focused on features such as body size, generation time, fecundity, and lifespan. The problem with previous tests is that they based their measurements of metabolism on animals at rest, rather than during normal physical activity. A recent study of frogs have found the correlation between fitness and genomes.
Medical device power—without the cord
April 11, 2012 11:18 am | News | CommentsTechnological advances have produced implantable, electronic solutions for dosing and therapeutic functions in humans. However, these medical devices use probes, actuators, and electronic controls that need power. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies have recently succeeded in wirelessly transmitting power from a portable transmitter module to a receiver, offering the possibility of wirelessly-powered medical devices.
Green light: New method directly IDs antigens
April 10, 2012 2:14 pm | News | CommentsUsing genetic engineering techniques, researchers in Germany have generated cells that emit green fluorescent light when stimulated by the binding of a cognate antigen. Previously antigens, which induce destructive immune responses, could not be identified directly without some prior knowledge of their structure.
Researchers find identical DNA codes in different plant species
April 10, 2012 9:46 am | News | CommentsAfter running on 48 computer processors for four weeks and completing 32 billion searches, a computer program designed to compare multiple genomes has revealed identical long strings of genetic code shared by different plant species. Previous efforts had revealed identical codes in animals, but this is the first to uncover the phenomenon in plants.
Neutron scattering unlocks milk protein
April 4, 2012 6:05 pm | by Agatha Bardoel | News | CommentsSmall-angle neutron scattering instrument at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can be used for a surprising variety of biological studies. Recently, researchers in The Netherlands successfully analyzed and characterized the internal protein structure and composite particles of a cow named Martha.
Study: Our ancestors used fire a million years ago
April 3, 2012 1:29 pm | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsOver the years, experts have claimed human use of fire from as long as 1.5 million years ago, but until recent excavation and analysis work at the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa the claims have only been conjecture. Researchers say that while the new evidence is not “rock solid”, the fires that once burned deep inside the cave offer pretty strong evidence.
Gene mapping for everyone? Study says not so fast
April 2, 2012 3:46 pm | by Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press | News | CommentsToday, scientists map entire genomes mostly for research, but as genome mapping gets faster and cheaper, scientists and consumers have wondered about possible broader use: Would finding all the glitches hidden in your DNA predict which diseases you'll face decades later? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, say experts.
Ancient cotton unveils secrets of domesticated crop evolution
April 2, 2012 10:24 am | News | CommentsUsing high-throughput gene sequencing techniques, scientists studying 1,600-year-old cotton from the banks of the Nile have found what they believe is the first evidence that punctuated evolution has occurred in a major crop group within the relatively short history of plant domestication.
