Biochemistry News and Research

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Scientists review damage-control in metabolism

In this week's issue of the prestigious journal Nature Chemical Biology, scientists Carole Linster (University of Luxembourg), Emile Van Schaftingen (Louvain University), and Andrew D. Hanson (University of Florida, Gainesville) review an important, but so far neglected, part of metabolism, namely metabolite damage-control.

31 Jan 2013

Interrupting key interaction between p68 and calcium-calmodulin inhibits cancer metastasis

Disrupting a key interaction between two types of proteins in cells inhibits the spread of cancerous cells, providing researchers with a new pathway toward developing cancer-fighting drugs, according to new findings by Georgia State University scientists.

31 Jan 2013

Klotho protein plays important role in the health of myelin

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) led by Carmela Abraham, PhD, professor of biochemistry, along with Cidi Chen, PhD, and other collaborators, report that the protein Klotho plays an important role in the health of myelin, the insulating material allowing for the rapid communication between nerve cells.

31 Jan 2013

New clue to why some people fight infections better than others

As influenza spreads through the northern hemisphere winter, Dr Linda Wakim and her colleagues in the Laboratory of Professor Jose Villadangos from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, believe they have a new clue to why some people fight infections better than others.

30 Jan 2013

SOD1 enzyme protects cells by regulating cell energy and metabolism

Just like a comic book super hero, you could say that the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD1) has a secret identity. Since its discovery in 1969, scientists believed SOD1's only role was to protect living cells against damage from free radicals. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have discovered that SOD1 protects cells by regulating cell energy and metabolism. The results of their research were published January 17, 2013, in the journal Cell.

30 Jan 2013

Researchers identify mechanism by which S. aureus colonises nasal passages

A collaboration between researchers at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology and the Department of Microbiology at Trinity College Dublin has identified a mechanism by which the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) colonises our nasal passages.

29 Jan 2013

Scientists discover four processes by which gastric cancer is formed

Scientists at A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) headed a study that discovered four processes by which gastric cancer is formed. This is extremely important since gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide, claiming almost 750,000 lives annually, 60% of which are Asians.

29 Jan 2013

Red coloration might represent some physiological benefit: Research

Red coloration-historically seen as costly in vertebrates-might represent some physiological benefit after all, according to research published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

29 Jan 2013

Researchers unveil first maturation-based ‘disease in a dish’ model for ARVD/C

Most patients with an inherited heart condition known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) don't know they have a problem until they're in their early 20s. The lack of symptoms at younger ages makes it very difficult for researchers to study how ARVD/C evolves or to develop treatments. A new stem cell-based technology created by 2012 Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D., helps solve this problem.

29 Jan 2013

Cancer risk independent of folic acid supplementation

Folic acid supplementation does not increase or decrease the risk for cancer, suggests research published in The Lancet.

28 Jan 2013

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children: an interview with Donna Gillies

Children with PTSD suffer significant distress or negative impacts on their daily lives. Estimates of the prevalence of PTSD in children and adolescents experiencing trauma are generally very high, at 30% to 40%.

28 Jan 2013

Temple scientists to solve long-standing mystery in sepsis

Scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at the Temple University School of Medicine are inching closer to solving a long-standing mystery in sepsis, a complex and often life-threatening condition that affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. every year.

28 Jan 2013

Enterococcal cytolysin synthetase helps form distinctly different, 3-D protein ring structures

While working out the structure of a cell-killing protein produced by some strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, researchers stumbled on a bit of unusual biochemistry. They found that a single enzyme helps form distinctly different, three-dimensional ring structures in the protein, one of which had never been observed before.

23 Jan 2013

Study details exactly how Her2 gene promotes progression and spread of breast cancer cells

Research led by Dr. Suresh Alahari, the Fred Brazda Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and its Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, details exactly how the Her2 cancer gene promotes the progression and spread of breast cancer cells.

23 Jan 2013

SLU team discovers molecular pathway that contributes to triple-negative breast cancer

In research published in the Jan. 17 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology, a team led by Susana Gonzalo, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University, has discovered a molecular pathway that contributes to triple-negative breast cancer, an often deadly and treatment resistant form of cancer that tends to strike younger women.

23 Jan 2013

Brown biology professor named Pew's Scholar of the Month

Biologist Erica Larschan, Ph.D., was named by The Pew Charitable Trusts as the "Scholar of the Month," for her innovative findings on chromosomal activity in fruit flies.

22 Jan 2013

New DNA chip could improve diagnosis and therapeutics of ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood neuropsychiatric disorder. Yet there is currently no tool that will confirm the diagnosis of ADHD. In her thesis entitled "Development of a genotyping system to be applied in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and its Pharmacogenetics".

22 Jan 2013

Itch-specific nerve cells: an interview with Associate Professor Xinzhong Dong

Itch was actually defined by a German physician more than 350 years ago. His name was Samuel Hafenreffer. He defined itch as an unpleasant sensation that makes people want to scratch. You probably think this is a very simple definition but itch is really a very complex sensory modality.

21 Jan 2013

Possible connection between mitochondrial CYP2D6 and Parkinson's

With a new insight into a model of Parkinson's disease, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have identified a novel target for mitigating some of the disease's toll on the brain.

19 Jan 2013

Calcium receptor – potential drug target for sleeping sickness

While its common name may make it sound almost whimsical, sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is in reality a potentially fatal parasitic infection that has ravaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa for decades, and it continues to infect thousands of people every year.

19 Jan 2013