Stephen Elledge, the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics and of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, has been named a 2017 recipient of the Breakthrough Prize, which recognizes paradigm-shifting discoveries in the life sciences, physics and mathematics. Elledge is being honored for his wide-ranging contributions across multiple fields in biology.
Case Western Reserve University researchers have developed a portable sensor that can assess the clotting ability of a person’s blood 95 times faster than current methods—using only a single drop of blood.
ASCB names 10 "Novel & Newsworthy" Honor abstracts out of 1263 being presented in San Francisco, Dec. 3-7
Analysis of a phase 3 trial shows that older patients with high-risk or secondary AML, who received initial treatment with CPX-351, had improved survival following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant, when compared with patients who received standard 7+3 cytarabine and daunorubicin as initial therapy.
Cornell researchers have developed a chemical tool to control inflammation that is activated by ultraviolet (UV) light.
Just like workers in a factory, enzymes can create a final product more efficiently if they are stuck together in one place and pass the raw material from enzyme to enzyme, assembly line-style. That’s according to scientists at Cornell’s Baker Institute for Animal Health, the first team to recreate a 10-step biological pathway with all the enzymes tethered to nanoparticles.
Matthew Webber, University of Notre Dame professor, tested a novel route for non-covalent protein modification and results reveal a new way to improve the stability of common protein drugs and extend shelf-life.
Networks evolve in different ways depending how often "second neighbor," or friends of friends, connections occur.
In colder weather, people have long been warming up around campfires and woodstoves. Lately, this idea of burning wood or other biomass for heat has surged in popularity as an alternative to using fossil fuels. Now, in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, scientists report a step toward a "greener" way to generate heat with biomass. Rather than burning it, which releases pollutants, they let fungi break it down to release heat.
UBC researchers develop new method to test for antioxidants in chocolate
The portfolio of patents focuses on the PKG (protein kinase G) pathway, which plays a pivotal role in several neurological conditions by controlling cortical spreading depolarization. Research at FAU has found that neurological diseases, including hemiplegic migraine – a severe type of migraine that can affect patients up to 15 times a month and can paralyze half the body – as well as neural trauma (traumatic brain injury and spinal shock), stroke, and epileptic conditions can be targeted through the PKG signaling pathway.
Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered a way to make pinpoint changes to an enzyme-driven “assembly line” that will enable scientists to improve or change the properties of existing antibiotics as well as create designer compounds.
Researchers at Indiana University's Biocomplexity Institute have developed a virtual model of the human liver to better understand how the organ metabolizes acetaminophen, a common non-prescription painkiller and fever-reducer used in over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol. The software could be used to help reduce the risk of liver failure and overdose death in this and other drugs.
A new bioinformatics platform called Empowering the Development of Genomics Expertise (EDGE) will help democratize the genomics revolution by allowing users with limited bioinformatics expertise to quickly analyze and interpret genomic sequence data.
A new University of Washington study of one of our closest invertebrate relatives, the acorn worm, reveals that regenerating body parts might one day be possible.
UW-Madison Professor James Steele’s new company, Lactic Solutions, is using genetic engineering to, instead of killing lactic acid bacteria with antibiotics, splicing in genes for ethanol production so these organisms produce ethanol, not lactic acid.
A combination of experiments, including X-ray studies at Berkeley Lab, revealed new details about pesky deposits that can stop chemical reactions vital to fuel production and other processes.
A team of biomedical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have identified a cause of fluid swelling of the brain, or cellular edema, that occurs during a concussion.
Mark R. Chance, PhD, vice dean for research at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Bioplastic may offer gardeners a more sustainable alternative to petroleum-based pots and flats, according to Iowa State University research. Although more expensive to manufacture than conventional plastics, bioplastics someday may grow beyond a niche market, said ISU experts.
Five scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.
Cells synthesize millions of proteins every minute. Three pioneering protein quality control researchers will explain at ASCB 2016 how studying protein folding and misfolding is opening unexpected pathways for treating cancer and neurodegenerative diseases
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.
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