Archive for December 2005
Role of p53 inhibitor in tumor suppression and aging
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 31, 2005
The p53 tumor suppressor plays a critical role in cancer formation, and many anticancer strategies aim to activate p53 in order to curb tumor formation. Mdm2 is a key inhibitor of p53 and therefore an attractive target to modulate p53 activity in cells. However, conflicting evidence exists regarding whether or not p53-mediated tumor suppression comes [...]
Brain Activity Could Affect Alzheimer’s Disease Risk
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 30, 2005
The activity of connections among brain cells significantly affects levels of the toxic protein beta-amyloid (Aß) that is a major cause of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), researchers have found. Aß is produced by the cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) within brain cells.
Findings suggest that the kind of mental activity people practice or drugs they might [...]
Modified Atomic Force Microscopy Proves Critical to Uncovering Cell-growth Secret
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 29, 2005
Researchers using a customized atomic force microscope (AFM) have discovered new evidence for how the fibrous scaffolding within our cells, which is made of the protein actin, responds to obstacles in its environment.
The discovery demonstrates a technique for tracking a cell’s growth history, and if it proves valid outside of the laboratory, researchers may one [...]
Study suggests way to re-energize immune response to chronic viral infection
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 29, 2005
Like boxers wearied by a 15-round bout, the immune system’s CD8 T cells eventually become “exhausted” in their battle against persistent viral infection, and less effective in fighting the disease.
In a study to be published Dec. 28 on the journal Nature’s website, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Emory University have traced the problem to [...]
Scientists lift malaria’s cloak of invisibility
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 29, 2005
The world’s deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, sneaks past the human immune system with the help of a wardrobe of invisibility cloaks. If a person’s immune cells learn to recognize one of the parasite’s many camouflage proteins, the surviving invaders can swap disguises and slip away again to cause more damage. Malaria kills an estimated [...]
Researchers discover how a high-fat diet causes type 2 diabetes
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 29, 2005
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have discovered a molecular link between a high-fat, Western-style diet, and the onset of type 2 diabetes. In studies in mice, the scientists showed that a high-fat diet disrupts insulin production, resulting in the classic signs of type 2 diabetes.
In an article published in the December 29, 2005, issue of [...]
Decoding The Genome of a Fungus May Help Combat Disease And Lead To New Drugs
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 28, 2005
An international consortium of researchers led by the University of Manchester has cracked the gene code behind a key family of fungi, which includes both the leading cause of death in leukaemia and bone marrow transplant patients and an essential ingredient of soy sauce.
The ‘genome sequences’ or genetic maps for the fungi Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus [...]
Fish increase their lifespan by evolving a longer reproductive period
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 28, 2005
A UC Riverside-led research team has found that as some populations of an organism evolve a longer lifespan, they do so by increasing only that segment of the lifespan that contributes to “fitness” – the relative ability of an individual to contribute offspring to the next generation. Study results appear Dec. 27 in the online [...]
Sickle cell disease corrected in human models using stem cell-based gene therapy
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 28, 2005
In a study to be published in the January 2006 issue of Nature Biotechnology, researchers led by a team of scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have devised a novel strategy that uses stem cell-based gene therapy and RNA interference to genetically reverse sickle cell disease (SCD) in human cells. This research is the first [...]
Researcher finds neuron growth in adult brain
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 27, 2005
Despite the prevailing belief that adult brain cells don’t grow, a researcher at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory reports in the Dec. 27 issue of Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology that structural remodeling of neurons does in fact occur in mature brains.
This finding means that it may one day be possible to [...]
Ancient Jawless Vertebrates Use Novel Immune System
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 25, 2005
Researchers recently discovered that the sea lamprey, a modern representative of ancient jawless vertebrates, fights invading pathogens by generating up to 100 trillion unique receptors. These receptors, referred to as VLRs, are proteins and function like antibodies and T-cell receptors, sentinels of the immune system in all jawed vertebrates, including humans.
Scientists Discover a Gene That Regulates Lifespan
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 25, 2005
Genes that control the timing of organ formation during development also control timing of aging and death, and provide evidence of a biological timing mechanism for aging, Yale researchers report in the journal Science.
“Although there is a large variation in lifespan from species to species, there are genetic aspects to the processes of development and [...]
Quantum Dots Nanosensor Detects DNA
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 25, 2005
Using tiny semiconductor crystals, biological probes and a laser, Johns Hopkins University engineers have developed a new method of finding specific sequences of DNA by making them light up beneath a microscope. The researchers, who say the technique will have important uses in medical research, demonstrated its potential in their lab by detecting a sample [...]
Building a Better Chemical Trap
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 25, 2005
You might expect that a stronger cage is always better. But the power of a new chemical cage announced this week lies in its weakness: It’s about 100 times more efficient at releasing its prisoner than its widely used counterparts. The flimsy molecular pen may help map the brain’s chemical circuitry and decipher the signals [...]
Printing Organs on Demand
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Need a skin graft? A new trachea? A heart patch? Turn on your printer, and let it spit one out. A group of researchers hope printers’ whirs and buzzes will soon be saving lives.
Researchers at three universities have developed bio-ink and bio-paper that could make so-called organ printing a reality. So far, they’ve made tubes [...]
‘Mighty mice’ now mightier with new muscle-building agent
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
The Johns Hopkins scientists who first created “mighty mice” have developed, with pharmaceutical company Wyeth and the biotechnology firm MetaMorphix, an agent that’s more effective at increasing muscle mass in mice than a related potential treatment for muscular dystrophy now in clinical trials.
The new agent is a version of a cellular docking point for the [...]
Researchers hone in on differentiation of heart stem cells
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
A team of scientists from the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) has identified a key factor in heart development that could help advance gene therapy for treating cardiac disorders.
The findings could help cardiac stem cell researchers one day develop strategies for gene and cell- mediated cardiac therapies.
How E. coli bacterium generates simplicity from complexity
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
- In: Biochemistry| Genes| Genome| Microbes
- 2 Comments
The ubiquitous and usually harmless E. coli bacterium, which has one-seventh the number of genes as a human, has more than 1,000 of them involved in metabolism and metabolic regulation. Activation of random combinations of these genes would theoretically be capable of generating a huge variety of internal states; however, researchers at UCSD will report [...]
Researchers discover potential mechanism for tumor growth
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have identified an inherent feature of stem and progenitor cells that may promote initiation and progression of cancerous tumors.
In a study published in the December issue of Cancer Cell, the team showed that stem and progenitor cells are susceptible to a specific error during cell division that can result [...]
Creating first synthetic life form
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Work on the world’s first human-made species is well under way at a research complex in Rockville, Md., and scientists in Canada have been quietly conducting experiments to help bring such a creature to life.
Robert Holt, head of sequencing for the Genome Science Centre at the University of British Columbia, is leading efforts at his [...]
Virtual reality could help diagnose heart conditions
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Virtual reality that allows doctors to visualise the heart in three dimensions could help in the diagnosis of heart conditions. A pilot study published today in the open access journal Cardiovascular Ultrasound reveals that doctors can diagnose heart conditions quickly and easily from virtual three-dimensional animated images or ’holograms’ of the heart. Three-dimensional (3D) holograms [...]
Fantastic Voyage Into The Heart Delivers A Protector Against Heart Failure
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Reminiscent of the 1966 sci-fi thriller Fantastic Voyage, where a surgical team is miniaturized and injected into a dying man, researchers from Harvard Medical School have used injectable self-assembling peptide nanofibers loaded with the pro-survival factor PDGF-BB to protect rat cardiomyocytes from injury and subsequent heart failure.
Scientists Discover Two Key Players In Cancer Prevention And How They Work
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Mayo Clinic researchers have challenged the conventional teaching about a common cancer trait and in doing so, discovered how cells are naturally “cancer proofed.”
The researchers investigated aneuploidy (AN-u-ploy-dee), the state in which a cell has an abnormal number of chromosomes that creates cellular instability, giving rise to tumors. They discovered two key proteins that help [...]
Cell-based Nano Machine Breaks Record
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Researchers have known for some time that a long, fibrous coil grown by a single-cell protozoan is, gram for gram, more powerful than a car engine. Now, researchers at Whitehead Institute have found that this coil is far stronger than previously thought. In addition, the researchers have discovered clues into the mechanism behind this microscopic [...]
New View Of Cancer: ‘Epigenetic’ Changes Come Before Mutations
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
- In: Cancer| DNA| Stem cells
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Researchers suggest that the traditional view of cancer as a group of diseases with markedly different biological properties arising from a series of alterations within a cell’s nuclear DNA may have to give way to a more complicated view. In the January issue of Nature Reviews Genetics, available online Dec. 21,scientists suggest that cancers instead [...]
Researchers Demonstrate A New Way To Switch Therapeutic Genes ‘On’ And ‘Off’
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
A gene therapy research team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has developed a new method of signaling therapeutic genes to turn “off” or “on,” a mechanism that could enable scientists to fine-tune genetic- and stem cell-based therapies so that they are safer, more controllable and more effective.
Although other similar signaling systems have been developed, the Cedars-Sinai [...]
New Neurons Take Baby Steps In The Adult Brain
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
In experiments with mice, scientists from Johns Hopkins’ Institute for Cell Engineering have discovered the steps required to integrate new neurons into the brain’s existing operations.
For more than a century, scientists thought the adult brain could only lose nerve cells, not gain them, but in fact, new neurons do form during adulthood in all mammals, [...]
A Little Telomerase Isn’t Enough: Study Links Length Of Chromosome Ends To A Rare Disease Of Stem Cells
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
Chromosome ends, or telomeres, are repetitive stretches of DNA that protect chromosomes in much the same way as plastic tips on shoelaces prevent the fabric from fraying. Each time a cell divides, its chromosome ends get a little shorter, and eventually the cell can no longer divide because its critical genetic information is exposed. In [...]
New Study Expands Understanding Of The Role Of RNA Editing In Gene Control
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 24, 2005
For many years, scientists thought gene activity was relatively straightforward: Genes were transcribed into messenger RNA, which was processed and translated into the proteins of the body. Certainly, there were many factors governing the transcription process, but gene control happened at the level of the DNA
In the past few years, however, evidence for a more [...]
Food Additive Inhibits Longevity Enzyme In Yeast, Increases Cell Toxicity
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
- In: Aging| Cancer| DNA| Longevity
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A common additive found in food and cosmetics has been found to inhibit the activity of sirtuins, enzymes associated with lifespan control in yeast and other organisms, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
The study, to be published Friday, Dec. 16, in the online journal Public Library of [...]
Cancer Support Cells May Evolve, Fuel Tumor Growth, Study Shows
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have demonstrated in a living organism that cancers may cause surrounding supportive cells to evolve and ultimately promote cancer growth.
The new research offers what is believed to be the first evidence that mutations within cancer cells can signal surrounding tissue cells to alter their molecular composition in [...]
Scientists Resurrect Woolly Mammoth DNA
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
Scientists have finally managed to take an extensive look at the genetic makeup of one of the most famous beasts of the last ice age. This week, an international team of researchers reports using a new technology to sequence a staggering 13 million basepairs of both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from a 27,000-year-old frozen Siberian [...]
DNA ‘Wires’ for Future Medical Devices Developed
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
Uncoiled strands of DNA, organized in precise patterns, one day might become the backbone of biologically based electronics and medical devices, according to L. James Lee, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University. His team of scientists has made the first step in creating the nanowires of the future by uncoiling and [...]
New Drug Points Up Problems in Developing Cancer Cures
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
FDA approved Nexavar, a drug that officials described as “a major advance” in treating kidney cancer.
The manufacturer of Nexavar, Bayer, used X-rays to determine that the drug doubled the time, to 167 days from 84, before tumors grew substantially in number or size, a finding called “progression-free survival.”
Research clarifies how brain replenishes memory-making molecules
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
New research on living neurons has clarified how the brain refreshes the supply of molecules it needs to make new memories.
Science’s Breakthrough of the Year: Watching evolution in action
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
Evolution has been the foundation and guiding theory of biology since Darwin gave the theory its proper scientific debut in 1859. But Darwin probably never dreamed that researchers in 2005 would still be uncovering new details about the nuts and bolts of his theory — how does evolution actually work in the world of influenza [...]
Researchers develop new method for studying ‘mental time travel’
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 23, 2005
- In: Brain| Neural| Neuroscience
- 3 Comments
Neuroscientists at Princeton University have developed a new way of tracking people’s mental state as they think back to previous events — a process that has been described as “mental time travel.”
The findings, detailed in the Dec. 23 issue of Science, will aid efforts to learn more about how people mine the recesses of memory [...]
Virus cures mice of human brain cancer
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
A cancer-fighting virus has eliminated malignant brain tumors and prolonged survival in mice with a single injection.
Reporting in the journal Cancer Research, Canadian scientists from Calgary and London, Ontario have shown for the first time that myxoma virus, a poxvirus, kills human brain tumors in mice.
Living camera uses bacteria to capture images
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
A dense bed of light-sensitive bacteria has been developed as a unique kind of photographic film. Although it takes 4 hours to take a picture and only works in red light, it also delivers extremely high resolution.
The “living camera” uses light to switch on genes in a genetically modified bacterium that then cause an image-recording [...]
Lower levels of Cancer-suppressing Protein Increase Life Span
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
Fruit flies can live significantly longer, and remain healthy, when activity of the fly version of the tumor-suppressing protein p53 is reduced in nerve cells. Published in Current Biology, the results shed important new light on the role this “protector of the genome” plays in aging and point to p53 as a viable target for [...]
Researchers find pathways linking caloric restriction to aging process
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
- In: Aging| Genes| Longevity
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Researchers at the University of Washington have found a genetic pathway linking nutrient response and the aging process, they report in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal Science. Scientists have long known that dramatically reducing food intake boosts the lifespan of model organisms such as mice, but the new results point to a possible [...]
New technique multiplies life span in simple organisms
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
A counterintuitive experiment has resulted in one of the longest recorded life-span extensions in any organism and opened a new door for anti-aging research in humans.
Scientists have known for several years that an extra copy of the SIR2 gene can promote longevity in yeast, worms and fruit flies. That finding was covered widely and incorporated [...]
Converting Carbon Nanotubes into RNA-Degrading Nano-Enzymes
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
The researchers and scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign have achieved a major breakthrough in utilizing nanotechnology. The team of researchers has been successful in combining a DNA-based enzyme with a carbon nanotube; they have successfully combined the DNA based enzyme and have converting Carbon Nanotubes into RNA-Degrading Nano-Enzymes. Thus [...]
Human bone marrow stem cells may have more therapeutic potentials
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
A breakthrough in stem cell research could eventually lead to cures for debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. According to the latest issue of the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, researchers now firmly believe that one day stem cells, by transmuting into healthy tissue cells to replace rotten ones, could become a remedy [...]
How I choose my blogs?
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
I like to provide some idea on how I choose the stories posted in this blog.
First, I try to find discoveries that are real breakthroughs and not just incremental increases in knowledge, typically published in high profile, high impact science journals.
Second, I limit my blogs to several key technological areas, which I believe will have [...]
Scientists directly view immune cells interacting to avert autoimmunity
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
Using a new form of microscopy to penetrate living lymph nodes, UCSF scientists have for the first time viewed immune cells at work, helping clarify how T cells control autoimmunity.
The technique, known as two-photon laser-scanning microscopy, was able to focus deep within the lymph node of a diabetic mouse, allowing the researchers to show that [...]
Yale Scientists Decipher ‘Wiring Pattern’ Of Cell Signaling Networks
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 20, 2005
A team of scientists at Yale University has completed the first comprehensive map of the proteins and kinase signaling network that controls how cells of higher organisms operate, according to a report this week in the journal Nature.
The study is a breakthrough in understanding mechanisms of how proteins operate in different cell types under the [...]
Collection of new nanoparticles seek out different cancer cells
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 19, 2005
Dr. Ralph Weissleder at Harvard Medical School and his colleagues are developing nanoparticles that can emit either magnetic or optical signals. The hope is to coat these nanoparticles with compounds that help guide their way toward specific cells. Such coated nanoparticles could then single out tumor cells to help physicians detect where they are in [...]
Regeneration Gene Possibly Found
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 19, 2005
- In: Aging| Genes| Longevity| RNAi| Stem cells
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Researchers at the University of Utah have discovered that when a gene called smedwi-2 is silenced in the adult stem cells of planarians, the quarter-inch long worm is unable to carry out a biological process that has mystified scientists for centuries: regeneration.
Elimination of smedwi-2 not only leads to an inability to mount a regenerative response [...]
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Slowly, Cancer Genes Tender Their Secrets
Posted by: Snowcrash on: December 27, 2005
A nice article in New York Times by Gina Kolata discussing the recent advances in understanding cancer genes and potential cures.
Read the story here