Two scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Ten Rutgers have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor conferred on 381 other experts in the U.S. and abroad. The fellows were chosen by their AAAS peers for efforts to advance science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished, according to the AAAS.
New X-ray methods at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the highest resolution room-temperature images of protein complex photosystem II, which allows scientists to closely watch how water is split during photosynthesis at the temperature at which it occurs naturally.
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have conducted a detailed study of the albedo (reflectivity) effects of converting land to grow biofuel crops. Based on changes in albedo alone, their findings reveal that greenhouse gas emissions in land use change scenarios represent a net warming effect for ethanol made from miscanthus grass and switchgrass, but a net cooling effect for ethanol made from corn.
The popularity of forensics and crime scene investigation fueled by a glut of television programs has familiarized many of us with the basics of forensic medicine. However, not much is, in fact, understood about blood back spatter. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois and Iowa State University is exploring the science behind blood back spatter using fluid dynamics to develop a theoretical model for predicting and interpreting blood spatter from gunshot wounds, and it could significantly impact the field of forensic science. The work will be presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics held in Portland, Oregon, Nov. 20-22, 2016.
• Researchers have developed a key component needed to create a bioartificial kidney. • The advance will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
University of Delaware researchers have found that rice plants can withstand attacks from arsenic in water and soil and a fungal disease called rice blast. They have discovered that a combination of beneficial soil microbes can be applied to the infected plants to boost their natural defenses.
By recoding bacterial genomes such as E. coli, it is possible to create organisms that can potentially synthesize products not commonly found in nature.
New research at the University of Arkansas shows that arginine – one of 20 common amino acids – does not change its positive charge when inserted into the lipid environment of the cell membrane.
An international team of scientists led by the University of Michigan has discovered a new type of photoreceptor—only the third to be found in animals—that is about 50 times more efficient at capturing light than the rhodopsin in the human eye.
Muscular dystrophies, congenital heart muscle defects, and other muscle disorders often arise for reasons that scientists don’t fully understand. Now researchers from the UNC School of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine have discovered that alternative splicing could play an important role in these disorders.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a biomaterial that has potential to protect patients at high risk for bleeding in surgery.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report the most detailed 3-D structure to date of the brain receptor that binds and responds to the chemical at the root of marijuana’s high.
In new findings that could have an impact the development of therapies for a number of currently untreatable brain disorders such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found for the first time that a specific signaling circuit in the brain is deeply involved in motor activity.
Automated teller machine keypads in New York City hold microbes from human skin, household surfaces, or traces of food, a study by researchers at New York University has found. The work shows that ATMs can provide a repository to offer a picture of a city’s DNA.
Organisms are in a constant battle against viruses, or transposable elements, which invade their genomes. Among their most effective weapons are silencing pathways that use small RNAs to selectively target invading nucleic acids for their destruction. The molecular understanding of these defense systems has revolutionized modern molecular biology, as they are the basis for powerful genome editing and gene silencing methods such as CRISPR/Cas9 or RNA interference. Scientists from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Austria (IMBA) have now unravelled the precise mechanisms by which germline cells produce a class of small RNAs, called piRNAs, that control transposon silencing in animals.
In September, the Food and Drug Administration approved Exondys, a controversial treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy based on tenuous data from just 12 patients. The cover story in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, explores what the decision could mean for future drugs for Duchenne and other rare diseases.
Living cells respond to biochemical signals by moving toward those at higher concentration, a process carefully mapped out by biologists over the past several decades. But cells also move in response to mechanical forces, such as bumping up against other objects -- although the details of that action have been poorly understood.
NSF grant will support five-year project to create cohesive, research-based curricula in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology.
A novel 'origami' rapid diagnostic test for malaria has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
An engineer at Washington University in St. Louis discovered a model in which the mechanics of the cells’ environment can predict their movement, a finding that ultimately could mean confining cell transition in tumors and potentially making cancer “a substantially less deadly disease,” said the lead researcher.
A big challenge in cognitive or rehabilitation neurosciences is the ability to design a functional hybrid system that can connect and exchange information between biological systems, like neurons in the brain, and human-made electronic devices. A large effort of researchers in Italy brought together scientists across disciplines to analyze the biocompatibility of the substrate used to connect these biological and human-made components, and investigate the functionality of the adhering cells, creating a living biohybrid system.
Order and disorder might seem dichotomous conditions of a functioning system, yet both states can, in fact, exist simultaneously and durably within a system of oscillators, in what’s called a chimera state. Taking its name from a composite creature in Greek mythology, this exotic state still holds a lot of mystery, but its fundamental nature offers potential in understanding governing dynamics across many scientific fields. Researchers discuss this work in the journal Chaos this week.
By sampling the molecules on cell phones, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences were able to construct lifestyle sketches for each phone’s owner, including diet, preferred hygiene products, health status and locations visited. This proof-of-concept study could have a number of applications, including criminal profiling, airport screening, medication adherence monitoring, clinical trial participant stratification and environmental exposure studies.
Scientists have used the powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to make the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules – one that flips an RNA “switch” that regulates production of proteins, the workhorse molecules of life.
Janelia scientists have developed the first adaptive light-sheet microscope — an instrument that continuously analyzes and adapts to dynamic changes in a specimen and thereby improves spatial resolution.
A program that brings live fish into K-12 classrooms to teach the fundamentals of biology not only helps students learn, but improves their attitudes about science, a study finds.
An international team of scientists has used a wireless "brain-spinal interface" to bypass spinal cord injuries in a pair of rhesus macaques, restoring intentional walking movement to a temporarily paralyzed leg. The researchers, who describe their work in the journal Nature, say this is the first time a neural prosthetic has been used to restore walking movement directly to the legs of nonhuman primates.
The Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership (CCTRP) announced more than $1 million in funding and support for the 2016 cycle. Four Case Western Reserve University projects were selected for full program funding. Projects range from diagnostic and screening technologies to cancer therapeutics. Six pilot grants were also awarded for earlier-stage projects.
Body clock function can break down when light and temperature levels throughout the day are out of sync, finds new UCL research in fruit flies.
Biochemists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have created the first atlas that maps where molecular tools that can switch genes on and off will bind to the human genome. It is a development they say could enable these tools to be targeted to specific parts of an individual’s genome for use in precision medicine, developing therapies and treating disease.
The latest research and features on obesity in the Obesity News Source.
A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a way to coax cells to do natural things under unnatural circumstances, which could be useful for stem cell research, gene therapy and biofuel production.Michael Brent, the Henry Edwin Sever Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has designed an algorithm, called NetSurgeon, that recommends genes to surgically remove from a cell’s genome to force it to perform a normal activity in a different environment or circumstance.
Scientists from Children's Health Research Institute, a program of Lawson Health Research Institute, and Western University have developed a new blood test that identifies with greater than 90 per cent certainty whether or not an adolescent athlete has suffered a concussion.
A Northwestern University study of the collaboration patterns sheds light on how the experiences of STEM female and male faculty vary. Researchers have found that female faculty (in six different disciplines) have as many collaborators, or co-authors, as male faculty and that female faculty tend to return to the same collaborators a little less than males. But they also found that females are underrepresented in large teams in genomics (a subdiscipline of molecular biology), which could indicate a negative cultural milieu.
The 37 projects selected for the 2017 Community Science Program (CSP) of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, “exploit DOE JGI’s experimental and analytical ‘omics’ capabilities and build our portfolio in key focus areas.”
UT researchers have identified a set of bacterial genes that may help them find ways to lessen the severity of the disease malaria. Their findings could also aid the research of fellow scientists working in malaria-stricken regions around the world.
Today’s release of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 14th Report on Carcinogens includes seven newly reviewed substances, bringing the cumulative total to 248 listings.
During the AVS 63rd International Symposium and Exhibition being held November 6-11, 2016, in Nashville, Tennessee, Taher Saif and Brian Williams from the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will explain how they have taken the first steps toward integrating microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) devices with living cells to form “biohybrid machines.”
During the AVS 63rd International Symposium and Exhibition being held November 6-11, 2016 , in Nashville, Tennessee, David Gracias of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore will explain the decade-long effort of his laboratory to develop a “microgripper hand” that can can travel through the circulatory system.
The latest research and features on cybersecurity in the Cybersecurity News Source
NIH-funded scientists have developed a new diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis. The new device provides a cheaper, easier way to detect levels of chloride in sweat, which are elevated in cystic fibrosis patients.
A new technology may help scientists better understand how an individual cell synchronizes its biological clock with other cells.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex condition that requires a lifetime of care and increases a person's cancer risk. But its origins are still a mystery. Now, a team of researchers have created a new culture model of the human intestine where living tissue from a patient biopsy can be preserved and studied for days. They describe their work in this week’s Biomicrofluidics.
Berkeley Lab researchers found that aberrant strands of genetic code have telltale signs that enable gateway proteins to recognize and block them from exiting the nucleus. Their findings shed light on a complex system of cell regulation that acts as a form of quality control for the transport of genetic information. A more complete picture of how genetic information gets expressed in cells is important in disease research.
Scientists from the University of Basel in Switzerland have succeeded in organizing spherical compartments into clusters mimicking the way natural organelles would create complex structures. They managed to connect the synthetic compartments by creating bridges made of DNA between them. This represents an important step towards the realization of so-called molecular factories. The journal Nano Letters has published their results.
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a broadly useful method to unmask new functional features of human proteins.
Through a panel discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Kansas State University leaders highlighted the threat of bio/agroterrorism and the importance of including agriculture in biosecurity and biodefense.
Yeast’s ability to grow, divide, age and metabolize food is similar to human cells and provides researchers with a nearly perfect specimen to study cell processes and genetic variation. Biologist Jennifer Gallagher is taking advantage of the organism’s functions to examine how an individual would respond to stress at a molecular level, and the effects herbicides such as the common household weedkiller RoundUp, have on genes.
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