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BPS Annual Meeting to be held Feb. 25 - 29 in San Diego

The latest news and discoveries in medicine, physics, environmental science, and interdisciplinary fields will be featured at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (BPS), held Feb. 25 - Feb. 29, 2012, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. With more than 4,000 poster presentations, 200 exhibits, 20 symposia, and 6,000 research scientists in attendance each year, the BPS Annual Meeting is the largest meeting of biophysicists in the world.

7 Feb 2012

Nanosize titanates may inhibit growth of oral cancer and bacterial cell lines

Sometimes bigger isn't better. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory have successfully shown that they can replace useful little particles of monosodium titanate (MST) with even tinier nano-sized particles, making them even more useful for a variety of applications.

1 Feb 2012

Helios Berlin Buch acquires Mobetron for Intra-Operative Electron Radiation Therapy

IntraOp Medical Corporation today announced that Helios Berlin Buch became the fourth German hospital and the nineteenth European hospital to purchase a Mobetron for Intra-Operative Electron Radiation Therapy (IOERT).

30 Jan 2012

Researchers describe malarial enzymes responsible for Vitamin B6 biosynthesis with atomic 3D structures

New research by scientists at the University of Southampton could lead to the design of more effective drugs to combat malaria.

30 Jan 2012

New sensor can detect glucose levels in human saliva

For the 26 million Americans with diabetes, drawing blood is the most prevalent way to check glucose levels. It is invasive and at least minimally painful. Researchers at Brown University are working on a new sensor that can check blood sugar levels by measuring glucose concentrations in saliva instead.

24 Jan 2012

Scientists reveal structure of cellular protein degradation machinery

Defective proteins that are not disposed of by the body can cause diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry recently succeeded in revealing the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery (26S proteasome) by combining different methods of structural biology.

24 Jan 2012

Cryo-electron microscopy can visualize structures within viruses

Since the discovery of the microscope, scientists have tried to visualize smaller and smaller structures to provide insights into the inner workings of human cells, bacteria and viruses. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, have developed a new way to see structures within viruses that were not clearly seen before.

13 Jan 2012

Researchers crack structure and function of malarial protein

A biology lab at Washington University has just cracked the structure and function of a protein that plays a key role in the life of a parasite that killed 655,000 people in 2010.

7 Jan 2012

Researchers use qHTS approach to examine clinical drugs on thyroid cancer cells

Drugs already approved for clinical use across a variety of therapeutic categories can be screened to identify effective agents for thyroid cancer according to a recent study accepted for publication in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

6 Jan 2012

LANL's top 10 science stories of 2011

Los Alamos National Laboratory's top 10 science stories of 2011 illustrate the broad variety of scientific excellence that's the hallmark of the Laboratory. This year's stories include alternative energy research, world record magnetic fields, disease tracking, the study of Mars, climate change, fuel cells, solar wind, and magnetic reconnection.

26 Dec 2011

Graphitic carbon plays key role as lubricating layer on metal-on-metal hip implants

A team of engineers and physicians have made a surprising discovery that offers a target for designing new materials for hip implants that are less susceptible to the joint's normal wear and tear.

23 Dec 2011

Study reveals previously unseen details of SBP8a anthrax bacteriophage

A new study has shown previously unseen details of an anthrax bacteriophage - a virus that infects anthrax bacteria - revealing for the first time how it infects its host, and providing an initial blueprint for how the phage might someday be modified into a tool for the detection and destruction of anthrax and other potential bioterror agents.

6 Dec 2011

New technique to accomplish 'accelerated serendipity' using robotics

Scientists can now take that "a-ha" moment to go with a method Princeton University researchers developed - and successfully tested - to speed up the chances of an unexpected yet groundbreaking chemical discovery.

29 Nov 2011

Ribosomes spontaneously change their form during protein production

Ribosomes, the construction sites for proteins, are far more complex than previously assumed. During the production of proteins they constantly and spontaneously change their form. This performance of eukaryotic ribosomes has now been demonstrated for the first time by scientists at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik in Berlin, and Cornell University in New York, with the aid of special electron microscopic and biophysical methods.

24 Nov 2011

Carefully selected young, healthy neurons can repair brain circuitry

Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was widely believed.

24 Nov 2011

Study reveals specific functional deficit in inner ear mechanotransduction channels

National Institutes of Health-funded researchers have identified two proteins that may be the key components of the long-sought after mechanotransduction channel in the inner ear-the place where the mechanical stimulation of sound waves is transformed into electrical signals that the brain recognizes as sound.

22 Nov 2011

Researchers use baker's yeast to gain insight into chromosome separation process

Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research used, ironically enough, the single-celled organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae -- commonly known as baker's yeast -- to gain new insight into the process by which chromosomes are physically segregated during cell division.

18 Nov 2011

Human pluripotent stem cells rely heavily on glycolysis to drive their metabolic activities

Human pluripotent stem cells, which can develop into any cell type in the body, rely heavily on glycolysis, or sugar fermentation, to drive their metabolic activities.

16 Nov 2011

Berkeley Lab, Bruker partner to develop and distribute new structural biology methods

Bruker Corporation and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) today announced a collaboration to develop and distribute new structural biology methods and tools to integrate Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

11 Nov 2011

ESPINA software tool allows to study brain structure in greater depth

Researchers at the UPM and CSIC, within the Cajal Blue Brain project, develop ESPINA, a new freeware software tool that allows to study the brain structure in greater depth.

10 Nov 2011