Amino Acid News and Research

RSS

Amino Acid is one of several molecules that join together to form proteins. There are 20 common amino acids found in proteins.

Four critical components of cells' protein-building machine don't do what scientists had long assumed

In the hunt for these details, scientists have focused on four RNA building blocks, or nucleotides, deep within the machine that are identical in every species, from bacteria to humans. Because they sit where the protein chain is actually built, these "universally conserved" nucleotides in the ribosome were thought to help that process.

28 May 2004

Finding overturns long held ideas about how cells build proteins

Writing in the May 28 issue of Cell, Johns Hopkins researchers report that four critical components of cells' protein-building machine don't do what scientists had long assumed.

27 May 2004

Study indicates the number of people in the UK who could be incubating vCJD

The Journal of Pathology recently published a paper entitled Prevalence of lymphoreticular prion protein accumulation in UK tissue samples. The study looked at 12,674 stored appendix and tonsil samples, and found that 3 of them showed evidence of the prion protein associated with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).

25 May 2004

Possible new second-generation multiple sclerosis therapy

Scientists from Genencor International, Inc., have demonstrated in an in vivo model that a new variant of recombinant interferon-beta reduces the immunological response to the protein.

25 May 2004

Moderate exercise in conjunction with common dietary supplements significantly reduce the risk of atherosclerosis

Moderate exercise in conjunction with common dietary supplements significantly reduce the risk of atherosclerosis because, combined, they boost the body’s production of nitric oxide, which protects against a variety of cardio-vascular disorders, a new UCLA study led by 1998 Nobel Laureate in medicine Louis J. Ignarro shows.

24 May 2004

A genetic variant (MTHFR C677T) puts half the population at increased risk of neural tube defects

Researchers in Ireland and the United States identified the genetic make-up (genotype) of 395 individuals born with neural tube defects (spina bifida or encephalocele) and 848 controls.

20 May 2004

Scientists have sped up a common jumping gene found in the human genome

Johns Hopkins scientists have transformed a common "jumping gene" found in the human genome into one that moves hundreds of times more often than normal in mouse and human cells.

20 May 2004

Risk of artery plaques increased by use of HIV drugs

An Italian study has provided evidence that HIV drugs called protease inhibitors may increase the risk of artery "plaques."

15 May 2004

Scientists closer to a potential vaccine or treatment for botulism

By deciphering the near atomic-level structure of the catalytic domain of botulinum toxin type E — one of seven neurotoxins that cause botulism, a disease that paralyzes victims by blocking nerve cells’ ability to communicate — scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory are one step closer to a potential vaccine or treatment.

10 May 2004

No evidence of CJD associated with the Garden State Racetrack

The Department of Health and Senior Services released a report today on an investigation of a suspected cluster of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) associated with the Garden State Racetrack.

8 May 2004

Organic superglues, disease treatments and better food flavourings

Organic superglues, disease treatments and better food flavourings: these are some of the projects where synthetic organic chemist Carol Taylor employs her skills.

5 May 2004

Developing smart drugs

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Researchers, sensing an opening in the cancer battle, are mounting a quick thrust to flush out suspected molecular cancer triggers in tumor cells.

30 Apr 2004

New technique of identifying genes may help researchers developing drugs

A quick new technique able to identify genes that evolve rapidly as well as those that change slowly already has pinpointed new targets for researchers developing drugs against tuberculosis and malaria, and it could do the same for other infectious diseases, according to a paper in this week's Nature.

29 Apr 2004

Scientists have unraveled the behavior of one key component of bacteria

The researchers studied a mechanism of action they call the "magic spot" – an important regulator of gene expression. They describe their results in the current issue of the journal Cell.

29 Apr 2004

Researchers make millions upon millions of drug-like peptides quickly and efficiently

Two Johns Hopkins scientists have figured out a simple way to make millions upon millions of drug-like peptides quickly and efficiently, overcoming a major hurdle to creating and screening huge "libraries" of these super-short proteins for use in drug development.

23 Apr 2004

A promising new therapy for rheumatoid arthritis

A promising new therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine re-educates the body's immune system to prevent an attack against healthy joint tissue.

21 Apr 2004

Black women with high blood pressure during pregnancy have higher homocysteine levels

Black women with pregnancy-induced high blood pressure have more homocysteine (an amino acid linked with atherosclerosis) and less folic acid in their blood than white women.

19 Apr 2004

Protein identification gets a speed boost

But the labor intensity of the procedure is now a thing of the past for researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. The Proteomics Shared Resource, an unassuming but state-of-the-art lab on the fifth floor of OHSU's Medical Research Building, can process more than three times as many protein samples in half a day, and much of it can be done by one person.

14 Apr 2004

A new technique for engineering protein crystals is helping scientists figure out the three-dimensional structures of some important biological molecules

A new technique for engineering protein crystals is helping scientists figure out the three-dimensional structures of some important biological molecules, including a key plague protein whose structure has eluded researchers until now. The technique, developed with support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), promises to help pharmaceutical companies develop more effective drugs to treat various diseases by tailor-making molecules to "fit" a protein's shape.

6 Apr 2004

Compounds that may stop replication of T-cell leukemia virus

Researchers are analyzing several compounds that may inhibit the enzyme that is essential for the reproduction of the Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 (HTLV-I), which has infected 15 to 20 million people worldwide. The virus causes the fatal adult T-cell leukemia in up to 10 percent of those infected.

1 Apr 2004