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Nanoscale mechanism to externally control the function and action of a protein

"We can switch a protein on and off, and while we have controlled a specific protein, we believe our approach will work with virtually any protein," said Giovanni Zocchi, assistant professor of physics at UCLA, member of the California NanoSystems Institute and leader of the research effort. "This research has the potential to start a new approach to protein engineering."

16 Feb 2005

Schizophrenia may arise from a single genetic defect

Researchers have long puzzled over the apparently multiple causes of complex developmental disorders such as schizophrenia. Individuals seem to be predisposed to the disease by a tragic, mysterious combination of genetics, prenatal trauma, viral infection, and early experience.

16 Feb 2005

New findings challenge one of the established views of how nerve cells communicate with one another

Every time we move, feel emotions, think or remember, the nerve cells, or neurons, in our body transmit messages to one another via chemical signals called neurotransmitters. Within neurons are tiny organelles called synaptic vesicles that sequester neurotransmitters and release them when needed into the synapse, or space between nerve cells, where the chemical signal is transmitted to other neurons.

16 Feb 2005

Angiogenesis inhibitor molecules defend against the development and spread of cancer

Research led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) helps explain how a group of angiogenesis inhibitor molecules serve as an important defense mechanism against the development and spread of cancer, offering key insights into why cancerous tumors grow at different rates among different individuals.

15 Feb 2005

Claims about the experimental protein-based assay are not biologically plausible

In a new study, researchers present a "cautionary tale" about what may go wrong when using the fledgling science of proteomics to devise a diagnostic test for cancer.

15 Feb 2005

Discovery may have implications for the treatment of hemophilia A and B

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have made a discovery that may have implications for the treatment of liver-based genetic defects such as hemophilia A and B in humans.

15 Feb 2005

Genetically engineered potatoes offer new hope in the fight against the Hepatitis B

Genetically engineered potatoes offer new hope in the fight against the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), an acute sometimes fatal form of viral hepatitis caused by a DNA virus that persists in the blood serum and is transmitted by sexual contact or by transfusion or by ingestion of contaminated blood or other bodily fluids.

14 Feb 2005

Mushrooms help lower cholesterol and keep hearts healthy

An analysis of previously uncharted chemical contents, mostly carbohydrates, in U.S.-consumed mushrooms shows that these fruity edible bodies of fungi could be tailored into dietary plans to help fill various nutritional needs.

14 Feb 2005

Calcium added to many soy beverages settles to the bottom of the container

A new study published today in Nutrition Today finds naturally calcium-rich milk is the most reliable source of this bone-building nutrient, superior to calcium-fortified soy and rice beverages and many orange juice brands.

14 Feb 2005

New compound AMN107 may help treat some imatinib resistant cancer cases

As scientists uncover the precise molecular mechanisms that underlie effective cancer treatments, they gain invaluable insight into why predominantly successful treatments fail for some patients.

14 Feb 2005

Key insight into the process of normal synapse development may lead to improved treatment of conditions such as drug addiction and epilepsy

Communication in the brain travels from one nerve cell to another through critical connections called synapses. These neuron-to-neuron junctions form early in brain development, and their construction was thought to be guided by the nerve cells themselves.

13 Feb 2005

New way of transporting medicines into the brain

Dutch researcher Corine Visser investigated a new way of transporting medicines into the brain. Her approach made use of an iron transport system located on the blood-brain barrier. The smaller the medicine, the more easily it penetrates the brain.

13 Feb 2005

Why estrogenic hormones produce unintended results in women

New research is shedding light on why estrogenic hormones produce unintended results in women, giving hope to the idea that new drugs might reach their targets and work more effectively. Ultimately it could mean that postmenopausal women would know that hormone-replacement therapy would have only its intended result.

13 Feb 2005

Two-step approach to transform HIV into a cancer-seeking machine

Camouflaging an impotent AIDS virus in new clothes enables it to hunt down metastasized melanoma cells in living mice, reports a UCLA AIDS Institute study in the Feb. 13 online edition of Nature Medicine.

13 Feb 2005

New primate-specific gene family that spans about 10% of human chromosome 2

A team of scientists led by Peer Bork, Ph.D., Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, report today in the journal Genome Research that they have identified a new primate-specific gene family that spans about 10% of human chromosome 2.

13 Feb 2005

Scientists show knocking out key signals will cause diabetes

Using a revolutionary technique to turn off chemical signals inside the cell, scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered that the different metabolic abnormalities present in type 2 diabetes can be caused by knocking out two key signals in liver cells.

11 Feb 2005

Artemisinin could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed

Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese remedy that uses cancer cells' rapacious appetite for iron to make them a target.

9 Feb 2005