Laboratory News and Research

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Stress and Alzheimer's disease

Subjecting mice to repeated emotional stress, the kind we experience in everyday life, may contribute to the accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

17 Jun 2007

Researchers shed light on shrinking of chromosomes

A human cell contains an enormous 1.8 metres of DNA partitioned into 46 chromosomes.

15 Jun 2007

Newly found antibodies may be body's natural defense against Alzheimer's

In an important advance in the battle against Alzheimer's disease, physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have identified naturally occurring antibodies in human blood that may help to defend against this form of dementia as well as other neurodegenerative diseases.

14 Jun 2007

Early results from Alzheimer's neuroimaging studies could speed research

Disease researchers may be able to reduce the time and expense associated with clinical trials, according to early results from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a public-private research partnership organized by the National Institutes of Health.

14 Jun 2007

What makes people susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis?

Peter K. Gregersen, MD, stares at x-rays of hands, searching out the telltale signs of inflamed joints and wrists from his research subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. With these clinical features at his side, he turns to the basic building blocks of life , the human genome , to figure out what makes these people susceptible to the disabling inflammatory condition.

14 Jun 2007

Gamma-secretase acts as a tumor suppressor

Researchers at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have provided the first evidence that gamma-secretase, an enzyme key to the progression of Alzheimer's, acts as a tumor suppressor by altering the pathway of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a potential treatment target for cancer.

14 Jun 2007

Tiny electronic hearing devices

More than three decades ago, scientists pursued the then-radical idea of implanting tiny electronic hearing devices in the inner ear to help profoundly deaf people.

14 Jun 2007

Deja vu feeling all in the brain

Scientists in the United States say they have discovered a part of the brain responsible for the feeling of deja vu.

11 Jun 2007

miRNAs shown to be a critical force behind the anti-proliferation potential of p53

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) researchers led by Lin He, Xingyue He, and Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator (HHMI) Greg Hannon have identified a family of micro RNAs (miRNAs) that enable a critical tumor suppressor network, called the p53 pathway, to fight cancer growth.

8 Jun 2007

New regulator of fat metabolism identified

Over the past several years, animal studies have shown that high-fat, low-carbohydrate “ketogenic” diets cause demonstrable changes in metabolism and subsequent weight loss.

8 Jun 2007

Funding to upgrade stem cell research facilities at UC San Diego

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Human Stem Cell Core Facility, which supports multiple research projects using stem cells to advance the understanding and ultimately the treatment of disease and injury, will receive a $2.8 million Shared Research Laboratory Grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

8 Jun 2007

Researchers develop criteria to detect bone mass deficiencies in children with chronic diseases

Pediatricians now have a practical tool to help determine whether children with chronic diseases like Crohn's, juvenile arthritis and anorexia nervosa or those undergoing cancer treatment are at increased risk for bone mass deficiencies, fracture or osteoporosis as they get older, according to a new study whose lead author is a researcher at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

8 Jun 2007

Gene found that increases risk for Alzheimer's disease

A study comparing more genetic markers in the DNA of people with and without Alzheimer's disease than ever before has enabled researchers to identify a common gene that appears to increase a person's risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.

8 Jun 2007

Embryonic stem cells can be created without eggs

Embryonic stem cells are unique because they can develop into virtually any kind of tissue type, an attribute called pluripotency.

8 Jun 2007

New bacterium discovered, Bartonella rochalimae

A close cousin of the bacterium that debilitated thousands of World War I soldiers has been isolated at UCSF from a patient who had been on an international vacation.

8 Jun 2007

Lack of sun, low vitamin D and the elderly

It's not yet clear why overweight elderly adults have low levels of vitamin D in their blood.

8 Jun 2007

In mice, drug protects against diabetes and atherosclerosis

Blocking a single protein with an experimental drug prevented and treated both type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis in laboratory mice that had been fed unhealthy diets and were genetically predisposed to these common killers, according to an article published online in Nature.

8 Jun 2007