Michael Frohman, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and colleagues, have discovered a new role for mitochondria during RNA processing.
In the early stages of human embryogenesis, a transcription factor called Twist1 plays a key regulatory role in how the embryo assumes form and function. Much later in life, however, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, say Twist1 can re-emerge, taking a darker and more deadly turn.
Researchers from across multiple disciplines at NYU Langone Medical Center created a new protein molecule derived from the growth factor progranulin may provide the basis for new therapies in inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study published in the March 10, 2011 issue of Science.
Whitehead Institute scientists have created a method that site-specifically modifies proteins to exert control over their properties when administered therapeutically. The technique should be useful to increase potency, slow metabolism, and improve thermal stability of therapeutically useful proteins.
Pacemaker cells in the sinoatrial node control heart rate, but what controls the ticking of these pacemaker cells? New research by Angelo Torrente and his colleagues of the M.E. Mangoni group’s, reveals, for the first time, a critical functional interaction between Cav1.3 calcium ion (Ca2+) channels and ryanodine-receptor (RyR) mediated Ca2+ signaling.
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Texas at Dallas are reporting today at the 55th Annual Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD how they are using a novel 3D cell imaging method for studying the complex spatial-temporal dynamics of protein transport, providing a solution to this fundamental problem in cell biology.
A new research study dramatically increases knowledge of how taste cells detect sugars, a key step in developing strategies to limit overconsumption. Scientists from the Monell Center and collaborators have discovered that taste cells have several additional sugar detectors other than the previously known sweet receptor.
A new study from the Sbarro Health Research Organization Center for Biotechnology reveals new molecular insights into the understanding and treatment of Burkitt`s lymphoma, one of the most aggressive tumors affecting humans.
New findings from researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto may shed light on the mechanisms that regulate the organization of receptors on the cell surface, a critical aspect of cell signaling not well understood at this time.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a notorious neurodegenerative condition characterized by the progressive deterioration of brain and spinal cord neurons, resulting in the gradual but catastrophic loss of muscle control and ultimately, death. In a paper, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, a team of scientists at the UCSD School of Medicine and colleagues describe the profound and pervasive role of a key protein in ALS pathology called TDP-43.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered that a natural product isolated from a traditional Chinese medicinal plant commonly known as thunder god vine, or lei gong teng, and used for hundreds of years to treat many conditions including rheumatoid arthritis works by blocking gene control machinery in the cell. The report, published as a cover story of the March issue of Nature Chemical Biology, suggests that the natural product could be a starting point for developing new anticancer drugs.
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that PARIS — the protein — facilitates the most common form of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which affects about 1 million older Americans. The findings of their study, published March 4 in Cell, could lead to important new targets for treatment.
Researchers from NIST and Weill Cornell Mecial College have designed artificial 'protocells' that can lure, entrap and inactivate a class of deadly human viruses--think decoys with teeth.
Work led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists identified how cells flip a switch between cell survival and cell death that involves a protein called FLIP.
Immunological research at the University of Haifa, Israel, has made a new breakthrough, revealing a critical component in the "decision-making" process of white blood cells that play a role in healing from bacterial inflammation.
The effectiveness of the cancer therapy known as adoptive T cell transfer is limited by the cells’ finite lifespan. Researchers have now addressed this limitation by accurately predicting cell age & quality. Infusing only young functional cells into a patient should improve the therapeutic outcome.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a signaling pathway in the brain that’s sufficient to induce cellular leptin resistance, a problem that decreases the body’s ability to “hear” that it is full and should stop eating.
Many people suffer from a devastating condition known as critical limb ischemia (CLI) that can lead to muscle wasting and even amputation. The disease is linked to the blockage of blood flow to the skeletal muscle and current treatment options include rehabilitative exercise and surgical bypass of blood vessels. New preclinical research suggests there may be a way to restore blood supply in skeletal muscle without traditional intervention.
Compound useful for studying birth defects may also have anti-tumor properties, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Jeffrey D. Esko, PhD, professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, describe the build-up of a novel secondary metabolite in Sanfilippo disease, a discovery that could improve understanding of the pathology of Sanfilippo disease and refine diagnostic techniques.
Like a bounty hunter returning escapees to custody, a cancer-fighting gene converts organ cells that change into highly mobile stem cells back to their original, stationary state, researchers report online at Nature Cell Biology.
A new study uncovers mechanisms that control Rb2/p130 gene expression in lung cancer and reveals why the gene is expressed differently in small and non-small lung cancer cells.
In a promising science-fiction-meets-real-world juxtaposition, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that the mammalian newborn heart can heal itself completely.
A research team led by Edward Yu of Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory is identifying the structure of pumps that allow bacteria to resist toxins. Their discoveries are published in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Nature.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a signaling mechanism in the bacterial ribosome that detects proteins that activate genes for antibiotic resistance.
A theoretical technique developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is bringing supercomputer simulations and experimental results closer together by identifying common “fingerprints.”
For insects, as for humans, mating can involve complicated interactions between males and females, with each partner engaging in rituals or behaviors that influence the other. Those behaviors often end once the mating is complete. But male and female insects continue to influence each other on molecular, cellular and physiological levels – even after the partners go their separate way. (AAAS Presentation, Feb. 21.)
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered that the skeleton acts as a regulator of fertility in male mice through a hormone released by bone, known as osteocalcin. Until now, interactions between bone and the reproductive system have focused only on the influence of gonads on the build-up of bone mass.
Researchers who were investigating how stress affects gastrointestinal function may have found a chemical compound that induces hair growth by blocking a stress-related hormone associated with hair loss — entirely by accident
Researchers from Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center have genetic evidence suggesting the antioxidant drugs currently used to treat lung disease, malaria and even the common cold can also help prevent and treat cancers because they fight against mitochondrial oxidative stress—a culprit in driving tumor growth.
Scientists have discovered a molecular assistant called Spy that helps bacteria excel at producing proteins for medical and industrial purposes.
In a report published Nov. 29 in the Journal of Cell Biology, the researchers described experiments using fruit fly embryos to identify an invasive projection propelled by the rapid elongation of actin filaments as the main player in the cellular power struggle.
The University at Buffalo is a key partner in a $7.3 million collaboration to explore the origins of all flowers by sequencing the genome of Amborella, a unique species that one researcher has nicknamed the “platypus of flowering plants.”
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found a better way to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—adult cells reprogrammed with the properties of embryonic stem cells—from a small blood sample. This new method, described last week in Cell Research, avoids creating DNA changes that could lead to tumor formation.
In cancer and other pathological diseases, researchers are discovering that packaging is important: specifically, how DNA – about two meters long when unwound and stretched – coils up and compacts neatly inside the nucleus of a cell.
Scratching deep beneath the surface, a team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and three South Korean institutions have identified two distinct neuronal signaling pathways activated by a topical cream used to treat a variety of skin diseases. One pathway produces the therapeutic benefit; the other induces severe itching as a side effect.
The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another significantly strengthens the argument that a different metaphor, such as a mosaic, may be more appropriate to describe the process of evolution than the traditional tree of life.
A pair of studies published Feb. 3 in Nature, detail a new method developed to determine structures of biomolecules based on diffraction from protein nanocrystals. The international team of nearly 90 researchers included 10 from Arizona State University, whose contributions included a protein beam injector and nanocrystals.
Reprogramming adult cells to recapture their youthful “can-do-it-all” attitude appears to leave an indelible mark, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. When the team, led by Joseph Ecker, PhD., a professor in the Genomic Analysis Laboratory, scoured the epigenomes of so-called induced pluripotent stem cells base by base, they found a consistent pattern of reprogramming errors.
Scientists have found that specific changes in cell membrane voltage and ion flow are key in determining if an organism regenerates a head or a tail. It was known that bioelectric signals can trigger the regeneration process, but no one had shown that these signals determine which part regenerates. This technique uses pharmacology to change voltage and does not rely on gene therapy.
In analyzing the molecular sensor for the plant growth hormone brassinolide, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies discovered that although plants took an evolutionary path different from their animal cousins, they arrived at similar solutions to a common problem: How to reliably receive and process incoming signals.
Breakthrough discovery offers hope for new therapies for range of diseases.
DNA, that marvelous, twisty molecule of life, has an alter ego, research at the University of Michigan and the University of California, Irvine reveals.
University of Michigan researchers have uncovered molecular signals that regulate catch-up growth---the growth spurt that occurs when normal conditions are restored after a fetus, young animal or child has been ill, under stress or deprived of enough food or oxygen to grow properly.
In a new study, scientists at the University of Maryland and the Institut Pasteur show that bacteria evolve new abilities, such as antibiotic resistance, predominantly by acquiring genes from other bacteria. The researchers new insights into the evolution of bacteria partly contradict the widely accepted theory that new biological functions in bacteria and other microbes arise primarily through the process of gene duplication within the same organism.
Study suggests that HIV pushes a specific subset of the CD4+ “helper” T-cell toward more rapid aging by as much as 20 to 30 years over a three-year period. These findings could partially explain why older HIV-positive people progress to AIDS more rapidly than younger ones, and why younger ones develop illnesses more common to older people.
Researchers are finding ways to tell the difference between healthy cells and abnormal cells, such as cancer cells, based on the way the cells look and move.
Glioblastoma, the most common and lethal form of brain cancer and the disease that killed Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, resists nearly all treatment efforts, even when attacked simultaneously on several fronts. One explanation can be found in the tumor cells' unexpected flexibility, discovered researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
To understand the emerging science of epigenetics—a field that describes how genes may be regulated without altering the underlying DNA itself—scientists are deciphering the many ways in which enzymes act on the proteins surrounding DNA within cells.
Researchers from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have discovered a novel peptide that can act as a potent inducer of cancer cell death, which may have significant implications for therapeutic agents used to treat cancer. Their study indicates that the amphipathic tail-anchoring peptide, or ATAP, may provide more successful outcomes in cancer treatment than the BH3 peptide-based therapy currently used. The study was released online December 28, 2010, as a Paper of the Week in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
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