Protein News and Research

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Proteins are complex molecules that are made up of amino acids. They can be found in every cell in the body, and carry out vital processes that keep human beings alive. Mutations in proteins can lead to a multitude of diseases, the most common being cancer.

Study of glial cells in the roundworm C. elegans may provide insight into a variety of human brain diseases

The key to understanding our brains may lie within a one-millimeter long worm, new research from Rockefeller University indicates. Reporting in the June issue of Developmental Cell, Shai Shaham, Ph.D., and graduate student Elliot Perens use the roundworm, C. elegans, to investigate the mysterious glial cell, which makes up 90 percent of the human brain and, when it malfunctions, can contribute to diseases like Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

9 Jun 2005

Exposing SMA-affected cells to aminoglycoside drugs can increase SMN

MDA grantee Christian Lorson at the University of Missouri was on a team that found that exposing cells carrying a mutation that causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) to drugs in the aminoglycoside family helps them produce more of the needed SMN protein, a lack of which leads to SMA.

9 Jun 2005

Research opens up new directions for studying prion diseases in humans

The mysterious, highly infectious prions, which cause the severe destruction of the brain that characterizes "mad cow disease" and several human brain degenerative disorders, can be rendered harmless in the laboratory by a slight alternation of the three-dimensional conformation or shape of the prion protein's structure.

9 Jun 2005

Fundamental insights in how amyloid fibers form

Amyloid fibers are best known as the plaque that gunks up neurons in people with neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer's and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease--the human analog of mad cow disease.

9 Jun 2005

Discovery of molecular mechanism that seems to play an important role in Alzheimer's disease

An international team of chemists and molecular biologists has discovered a fundamental molecular mechanism that seems to play an important role in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, mad cow disease and two-dozen other degenerative and fatal diseases.

8 Jun 2005

New understanding of microRNAs

Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, has long been thought to be important only to translate a gene's DNA into the proteins that are cells' workhorses. But new evidence shows that tiny bits of RNA not used to make proteins actually play central roles in normal biology and in the development of cancers.

8 Jun 2005

Prototype drug shows promise in slowing replication of the virus responsible for SARS

A prototype drug created by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago shows promise in slowing replication of the virus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

8 Jun 2005

Novel targets found for the development of drugs to complement, or replace, statins

A team of investigators from the Uppsala Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and Harvard Medical School has uncovered novel targets for the development of drugs that would potentially complement, or replace, statins in treating heart disease.

8 Jun 2005

New device has the potential to significantly reduce sequencing of the human genome

The sequencing of the human genome was only the beginning of a much more complex task – deciphering the secrets of cellular chemistry and the mechanisms of disease. While the genome serves as a blueprint to understanding the body, proteins represent the materials that carry out these plans.

8 Jun 2005

Arena Pharmaceuticals issued new patent

Arena Pharmaceuticals has announced that it was issued U.S. patent number 6,902,902, entitled "Human G Protein-Coupled Receptors and Modulators Thereof for the Treatment of Metabolic-Related Disorders," by the U.S. Patent Office.

8 Jun 2005

Detox diets unsound science and do not work

Scientists say there is no proof that Detox diets work and they do no more to rid the body of toxins than the body's own natural system.

8 Jun 2005

Combining morphine with small doses of methadone could increase the effectiveness of morphine for the treatment of chronic pain

Although morphine is well known as a highly effective analgesic, its clinical utility is severely limited by the development of drug tolerance, the requirement for increasing doses to maintain analgesic effect, and the development of physical dependence.

6 Jun 2005

Diversity of HLA genotypes in humans is shaped to a significant degree by pathogens

The great physical diversity that evolution has forged in human beings is in evidence wherever we look, but the genes exhibiting the greatest diversity at the DNA level happen to function in a wholly invisible process: immunity. Genes encoding the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) proteins are among the most diverse in the human genome, and scientists have proposed a number of hypotheses to explain why.

6 Jun 2005

New dopamine transporter gene findings may be relevant for substance abuse, tobacco smoking, and ADHD

Confirming findings in a previous study, Yale researchers observed an altered availability of the dopamine transporter in healthy persons with a genetic variation linked to substance abuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

6 Jun 2005

New process removes allergy potential from peanut products

Scientists say a special fermentation process may significantly reduce the potential for allergic reaction to peanut products.

6 Jun 2005

West named inaugural George G. Graham Professor in infant and child nutrition

On May 27, 2005, Keith P. West, Jr., DrPH, MPH, RD, was installed as the inaugural George G. Graham Professor in Infant and Child Nutrition at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. West is a professor with the Department of International Health and its Center for Human Nutrition.

6 Jun 2005

New series of human drug targets available to all researchers

The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), an Anglo-Canadian charitable consortium of public and private agencies including Oxford University, announced recently that it has delivered its first 50 human and malaria protein structures into the public domain on budget and two months ahead of schedule.

6 Jun 2005

Study clarifies risk of recurrence for high-risk breast cancer patients

High-risk breast cancer patients do not appear to have a higher risk of relapse than the general breast cancer population during the first two years after diagnosis, unless their cancer has spread to more than 10 axillary lymph nodes, Italian researchers reported at the 2nd ESMO Scientific & Educational Conference (ESEC) in Budapest, Hungary.

6 Jun 2005

Scientists create digital bacteria to advance biomedical research

Scientists at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have constructed a computer simulation that allows them to study the relationship between biochemical fluctuations within a single cell and the cell's behavior as it interacts with other cells and its environment.

5 Jun 2005

Discovery will lead to more effective treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension

A University of Alberta research team has discovered important new information they hope will lead to more effective treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)--a deadly form of high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries caused by uncontrolled cell growth.

5 Jun 2005

Protein News and Research

Further Reading

Study of glial cells in the roundworm C. elegans may provide insight into a variety of human brain diseases

Exposing SMA-affected cells to aminoglycoside drugs can increase SMN

Research opens up new directions for studying prion diseases in humans

Fundamental insights in how amyloid fibers form

Discovery of molecular mechanism that seems to play an important role in Alzheimer's disease

New understanding of microRNAs

Prototype drug shows promise in slowing replication of the virus responsible for SARS

Novel targets found for the development of drugs to complement, or replace, statins

New device has the potential to significantly reduce sequencing of the human genome

Arena Pharmaceuticals issued new patent

Detox diets unsound science and do not work

Combining morphine with small doses of methadone could increase the effectiveness of morphine for the treatment of chronic pain

Diversity of HLA genotypes in humans is shaped to a significant degree by pathogens

New dopamine transporter gene findings may be relevant for substance abuse, tobacco smoking, and ADHD

New process removes allergy potential from peanut products

West named inaugural George G. Graham Professor in infant and child nutrition

New series of human drug targets available to all researchers

Study clarifies risk of recurrence for high-risk breast cancer patients

Scientists create digital bacteria to advance biomedical research

Discovery will lead to more effective treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension

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