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Research shows how prion-like proteins critical for maintaining long-term memories

Research from Eric Kandel's lab at Columbia University Medical Center has uncovered further evidence of a system in the brain that persistently maintains memories for long periods of time. And paradoxically, it works in the same way as mechanisms that cause mad cow disease, kuru, and other degenerative brain diseases.

3 Jul 2015

Researchers map physical properties of live breast cancer cells using advanced AFM technology

Researchers who developed a high-speed form of atomic force microscopy have shown how to image the physical properties of live breast cancer cells, for the first time revealing details about how deactivation of a key protein may lead to metastasis.

30 Jun 2015

Researchers discover initiation process of dendritic spines

Researchers from the University of Helsinki, ETH Zürich, Aix-Marseille and the German Mouse Clinic teamed up to investigate the initiation process of dendritic spines. They discovered that protein called MIM bends the plasma membrane to aid the formation of dendritic spines from the surface of the neuronal dendrite.

5 Jun 2015

UB researchers identify mechanisms behind some autistic behaviors, suggest potential targets

Scientists at the University at Buffalo have identified the mechanisms behind a genetic mutation that produces certain autistic behaviors in mice, as well as therapeutic strategies to restore normal behaviors.

28 May 2015

Vanderbilt biologists explore how electrochemical connections form at molecular and cellular level

Every time you make a memory, somewhere in your brain a tiny filament reaches out from one neuron and forms an electrochemical connection to a neighboring neuron.

27 Apr 2015

Mexican researcher close to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease, which took world fame after being diagnosed in various personalities such as actor Michael J. Fox, the heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and the painter Salvador Dalí, could be very close to a cure, thanks to a Mexican researcher which managed to eliminate its neurological effects with an immunosuppressant.

25 Mar 2015

Metabolic derangement may facilitate cell proliferation in PAH

An enzyme that facilitates modification of proteins via a glucose metabolism pathway may promote cell proliferation in the lung tissue of patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, say researchers.

13 Mar 2015

Researchers develop new method for preventing destructive activity of osteoclasts

Most existing treatments for pathological bone loss inhibit osteoclasts (bone-destroying cells) to limit bone degradation. However, by doing this, they also prevent bone formation since it is stimulated by the presence of these very same osteoclast cells. Researchers from the CNRS, Inserm and the Université de Montpellier and Université Jean Monnet - Saint-étienne have developed a new approach for preventing the destructive activity of osteoclasts without affecting their viability.

12 Feb 2015

Study reveals how low levels of profilin 1 protein in breast tumours invade other tissues

A new study led by José Javier Bravo-Cordero, Spanish researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, details how cells with low levels of the profilin 1 protein in breast tumours increase their capacity to metastasise and invade other tissues.

9 Feb 2015

UChicago researchers awarded NIH grants to develop novel medications for sleep apnea, asthma

Two research teams based at the University of Chicago have received prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health to develop novel medications to treat sleep apnea and asthma.

21 Jan 2015

Bruker Launches BioScope Resolve™ at the Sixth AFM BioMed Conference

Bruker unveiled the BioScope Resolve™, a biological atomic force microscope (bioAFM), at the sixth AFM BioMed Conference. The BioScope Resolve™ features excellent resolution imaging and comprehensive cell mechanics capabilities, and can be used with an inverted optical microscope (IOM).

From Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology 17 Dec 2014

TSRI scientists awarded $2.3 million grant to find ways to erase traumatic memories

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have been awarded $2.3 million from the Department of Health and Human Services of the National Institutes of Health to better understand how memories are stored in the hopes of eventually being able to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by erasing traumatic memories without altering other, more benign ones.

16 Dec 2014

Rice University researchers model dynamic instability of microtubules

New computer models that show how microtubules age are the first to match experimental results and help explain the dynamic processes behind an essential component of every living cell, according to Rice University scientists.

25 Nov 2014

Advanced Cell Diagnostics names Aquila-Histoplex as the first accredited RNAscope® Certified Service Provider in Europe

Aquila-Histoplex, a contract research organisation specialised in histological and multiplex staining technologies, was today announced as the first accredited RNAscope® Certified Service Provider in Europe by Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc. (ACD), a technology and market leader in the field of molecular pathology and developer of cell and tissue-based analysis tools.

From Advanced Cell Diagnostics 4 Nov 2014

Vascular receptor autoantibodies implicated in SSc-PAH

medwireNews: Autoantibodies to endothelin receptor type A and angiotensin receptor type-1 predict the development of, and mortality from, systemic sclerosis-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension, research suggests.

22 Oct 2014

UMass Amherst cell biologists propose new detailed cytokinesis model

Along with copying and splitting DNA during division, cells must have a way to break safely into two viable daughter cells, a process called cytokinesis. But the molecular basis of how plant cells accomplish this without mistakes has been unclear for many years.

26 Sep 2014

Tissue-level model of human airway musculature could pave way for patient-specific asthma treatments

The majority of drugs used to treat asthma today are the same ones that were used 50 years ago. New drugs are urgently needed to treat this chronic respiratory disease, which causes nearly 25 million people in the United States alone to wheeze, cough, and find it difficult at best to take a deep breath.

24 Sep 2014

Immature blood vessels linked to poor sunitinib response

Patients with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma with relatively mature blood vessels respond better to sunitinib and have fewer metastatic sites than those with immature vessels, a study has found.

22 Sep 2014

Artificial cells to devour undesirables: an interview with Dr. Takanari Inoue

If junk is not removed, pathological conditions can develop. For example, in one condition, the neutrophil count significantly decreases. Neutrophils remove pathogens and people with a reduced neutrophil count are more prone to infection, especially to rare bacteria that wouldn’t cause infection under normal conditions.

3 Sep 2014

Researchers find roving detection system for treating cancer, Parkinson's disease and ALS

Duke University researchers have found a "roving detection system" on the surface of cells that may point to new ways of treating diseases like cancer, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

26 Aug 2014