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Mouse study shows leukemia halts accumulation of toxic proteins linked to Parkinson's disease

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have used tiny doses of a leukemia drug to halt accumulation of toxic proteins linked to Parkinson's disease in the brains of mice. This finding provides the basis to plan a clinical trial in humans to study the effects.

10 May 2013

Research on miRNAs offers new therapeutic potential to fight diseases

RNA molecules, made from DNA, are best known for their role in protein production. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), however, are short (~22) nucleotide RNA sequences found in plants and animals that do not encode proteins but act in gene regulation and, in the process, impact almost all biological processes - from development to physiology to stress response.

26 Apr 2013

Living cells and cell fragments move in response to electric fields, scientists find

Like tiny crawling compass needles, whole living cells and cell fragments orient and move in response to electric fields - but in opposite directions, scientists at the University of California, Davis, have found. Their results, published April 8 in the journal Current Biology, could ultimately lead to new ways to heal wounds and deliver stem cell therapies.

30 Mar 2013

Researchers discover protein that play role in spread of pancreatic cancer

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered that a protein found in the cells surrounding pancreatic cancers play a role in the spread of the disease to other parts of the body.

26 Mar 2013

German Research Foundation sets up eight new Research Units

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is establishing eight new Research Units. This was decided by the DFG Senate during its 2013 March meeting in Bonn.

20 Mar 2013

Lack of very long chain fatty acids does not cause blindness in children with Stargardt type 3

Vision scientists long have thought that lack of very long chain fatty acids in photoreceptor cells caused blindness in children with Stargardt type 3 retinal degeneration, an incurable eye disease. But researchers at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center have shown in a new study that lack of these fatty acids does not cause blindness, meaning that the search for the mechanism that robs sight from children with the disease must start anew.

12 Mar 2013

UMDNJ biochemist to research into mechanisms that control gene expression in mitochondria

Dmitry Temiakov, PhD, a biochemist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine, has received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund research into the molecular mechanisms that control gene expression in mitochondria, the organelles that are the "power plants" of cellular activity.

1 Mar 2013

'Innovations in Imaging' symposium at AAAS to explore leading edge of microscopy

When difficult biological questions are tackled by creative experts in physics, what can result? Images of great beauty, accessible for anyone to appreciate, that also offer rich information on fundamental life processes, and rewarding new paths for analysis and insight.

18 Feb 2013

Combining synthetic and natural toxins could disarm cancer, drug-resistant bacteria

Cancer researchers from Rice University suggest that a new man-made drug that's already proven effective at killing cancer and drug-resistant bacteria could best deliver its knockout blow when used in combination with drugs made from naturally occurring toxins.

13 Feb 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

Researchers identify molecular mechanism that regulates autophagy

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a molecular mechanism regulating autophagy, a fundamental stress response used by cells to help ensure their survival in adverse conditions.

19 Jan 2013

Aggressive breast cancer’s metastasis molecular switch identified

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered the molecular switch that allows aggressive triple negative breast cancer cells to grow the amoeba-like protrusions they need to crawl away from a primary tumor and metastasize throughout the body. Their findings, published in Cancer Cell, suggest a novel approach for developing agents to treat cancer once it has spread.

15 Jan 2013

Seven scientists named 2013 recipients of Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation announced that seven scientists with novel approaches to fighting cancer have been named 2013 recipients of the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award.

8 Jan 2013

Protein in human blood platelets points to a new weapon against malaria

One of the world's most devastating diseases is malaria, responsible for at least a million deaths annually, despite global efforts to combat it. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, working with collaborators from Drexel University, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Johns Hopkins University, have identified a protein in human blood platelets that points to a powerful new weapon against the disease. Their work was published in this months' issue of Cell Host and Microbe.

28 Dec 2012

New technique may prevent inheritance of mitochondrial diseases in children

A joint team of scientists from The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) has developed a technique that may prevent the inheritance of mitochondrial diseases in children.

21 Dec 2012

Scientists develop MitoFish for in vivo studies of mitochondria transport in nerve cells

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to investigate mechanisms at work in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, which also could prove useful in the search for effective drugs. For new insights, they turned to the zebrafish, which is transparent in the early stages of its life. The researchers developed a transgenic variety, the "MitoFish," that enables them to see - within individual neurons of living animals - how brain diseases disturb the transport of mitochondria, the power plants of the cell.

6 Dec 2012

Scientists determine how two proteins help create organelles

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have determined how two proteins help create organelles, or specialized subunits within a cell, that play a vital role in maintaining cell health. This discovery opens the door for research on substances that could interfere with the formation of these organelles and lead to new therapies for cancer.

2 Dec 2012

Research reveals surprisingly complex protein-coding capacity of human cytomegalovirus

New findings reveal the surprisingly complex protein-coding capacity of the human cytomegalovirus, or HCMV, and provide the first steps toward understanding how the virus manipulates human cells during infection. The genome of the HCMV was first sequenced over 20 years ago, but researchers have now investigated the proteome-the complete set of expressed proteins-of this common pathogen as well.

23 Nov 2012

Electrophysiology: an interview with Dr Kaylene Young

Bioelectricity is an essential part of our make-up. All cells in our body communicate by electrical activity. If an electrical charge is applied to one of our muscles it will interpret that electrical activity as a signal telling it to contract.

21 Nov 2012

Study on effect of glucose on cancer growth in mice

An animal study conducted by researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center raises questions about the consequences of diet - specifically glucose, the plant-based sugar that fuels cell life - on increased activity of an oncogene that drives tumor growth.

15 Nov 2012