Archive for the 'Biology' Category
Evidence Of ‘Memory’ In Cells And Molecules
ScienceDaily (Nov. 3, 2007) — New research provides evidence that some molecular interactions on cell surfaces may have a “memory” that affects their future interactions. The report could lead to a re-examination of results from certain single-molecule research.
No commentsGenetically Engineered ‘Mighty Mouse’ Can Run 6 Kilometers Without Stopping
ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2007) — Case Western Reserve University researchers have bred a line of “mighty mice” (PEPCK-Cmus mice) that have the capability of running five to six kilometers at a speed of 20 meters per minute on a treadmill for up to six hours before stopping.
No commentsRevolutionary Laser Technique Destroys Viruses And Bacteria Without Damaging Human Cells
ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2007) — Physicists in Arizona State University have designed a revolutionary laser technique which can destroy viruses and bacteria such as AIDS without damaging human cells and may also help reduce the spread of hospital infections such as MRSA.
No commentsSystem To Build Transplant Tissue Created
Science Daily — One day soon, laboratories may grow synthetically engineered tissues such as muscle or cartilage needed for transplants. In a major step forward, Cornell engineers describe in the journal Nature Materials a microvascular system they have developed that can nourish growing tissues.
The researchers have engineered tiny channels within a water-based gel that mimic a vascular system at the cellular scale and can supply oxygen, essential nutrients and growth factors to feed individual cells. The so-called gel scaffold can hold tens of millions of living cells per milliliter in a 3-D arrangement, such as in the shape of a knee meniscus, to create a template for tissue to form.
No commentsGenomic Profiling Of Lung Tumors Helps Doctors Choose Most Effective Treatment
Science Daily — Determining the genetic profile of a particular lung tumor can help clinicians make the crucial decision about which chemotherapy treatment to try first.
A new study led by researchers from the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) found distinct differences in the susceptibility different tumors have to widely used chemotherapy drugs.
“We were able to predict which tumors would be most likely to respond to standard first-line therapy and which would respond better to what has traditionally been a second-line therapy, based on gene expression profiling,” said David Hsu, M.D., Ph.D. an oncologist at Duke and lead author on the publication. “This represents a big step in the move toward individualized medicine. This could also make a huge difference in the treatment of patients with late-stage lung cancer, as most of these patients gain the most benefit from their initial treatment strategy.”
No commentsMicroRNA Convicted Of Triggering Metastasis
Science Daily — The jury is in: microRNAs can cause tumors to metastasize. These tiny molecules fine-tune protein production and play a powerful role in biological processes ranging from development to aging. Now scientists have proved that they can prompt otherwise sedentary cancer cells to move and invade other tissues.
Labs have been probing the relationship between aberrant microRNA levels and cancer for several years. They’ve shown that some microRNAs cause normal cells to divide rapidly and form tumors, but they’ve never demonstrated that microRNAs subsequently cause cancer cells to metastasize.
Now, working in the lab of Whitehead Member Robert Weinberg, postdoctoral fellow Li Ma has coaxed cancer cells to break away from a tumor and colonize distant tissues in mice by simply increasing the level of one microRNA. Her results appear online in Nature on September 26.
No commentsScientists unlock secrets of protein folding
A team led by biophysicist Jeremy Smith of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory has taken a significant step toward unraveling the mystery of how proteins fold into unique, three-dimensional shapes.
Using ORNL’s Cray XT4 Jaguar supercomputer as well as computer systems in Italy and Germany, the team revealed a driving force behind protein folding involving the way its constituents interact with water. The team’s results are being published in this week’s edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Â
No commentsResearchers genetically engineer micro-organisms into tiny factories
Microorganisms may soon be efficiently and inexpensively producing novel pharmaceutical compounds, such as flavonoids, that fight aging, cancer or obesity, as well as high-value chemicals, as the result of research being conducted by University at Buffalo researchers.
In work that could transform radically the ways in which many of these compounds are produced commercially, the UB researchers are genetically engineering microorganisms, such as E. coli, into tiny, cellular factories. Several patents related to this work have been filed by UB. The team also is in discussions with companies in the U.S. and abroad.Â
No commentsPrehistoric aesthetics explains snail biogeography puzzle
The answer to a mystery that long has puzzled biologists may lie in prehistoric Polynesians’ penchant for pretty white shells, a research team headed by University of Michigan mollusk expert Diarmaid Ó Foighil has found.
The team’s findings, published online Sept. 12 in the British biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, have implications for conservation efforts aimed at rescuing nearly-extinct Tahitian tree snails.Â
No commentsExtra Gene Copies Were Enough To Make Early Humans’ Mouths Water
Science Daily — To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That’s one interpretation of a discovery, published online September 9 in Nature Genetics, which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene.
Humans have many more copies of this gene than any of their ape relatives, the study found, and they use the copies to flood their mouths with amylase, an enzyme that digests starch. The finding bolsters the idea that starch was a crucial addition to the diet of early humans, and that natural selection favored individuals who could make more starch-digesting protein.
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