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Researchers discover how arginine starvation specifically kills cancer cells

Researchers at UC Davis, City of Hope, Taipai Medical University and National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan have discovered how a drug that deprives the cells of a key amino acid specifically kills cancer cells.

12 Aug 2014

Researchers create synthetic molecule that can cause cancer cells to self-destruct

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and five other institutions have created a molecule that can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by ferrying sodium and chloride ions into the cancer cells.

12 Aug 2014

Isoform: New protein offers novel therapeutic approach for patients with DMD

Scientists have discovered a new form of dystrophin, a protein critical to normal muscle function, and identified the genetic mechanism responsible for its production.

11 Aug 2014

New Cardio-Oncology Program to keep hearts beating strong throughout breast cancer treatments

Hearts are at risk when fighting against breast cancer - due to toxic side effects of common treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

7 Aug 2014

Discovery lays groundwork for new class of antibiotics for Staphylococcus aureus infections

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered an enzyme that regulates production of the toxins that contribute to potentially life-threatening Staphylococcus aureus infections. The study recently appeared in the scientific journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

7 Aug 2014

Repurposed drug used to treat ovarian cancer gives positive results

A repurposed drug originally used to treat ovarian cancer saw positive results for patients with advanced peritoneal cancers during a phase I clinical trial at The University of Kansas Cancer Center.

5 Aug 2014

Researchers at NIH-FEI Living Lab for Structural Biology achieve breakthrough biological results

FEI is pleased to announce that researchers at the NIH-FEI Living Lab for Structural Biology have achieved breakthrough biological results, using FEI’s Titan Krios™ transmission electron microscope (TEM), to elucidate the structural mechanism by which glutamate receptors participate in the transmission of signals between neurons in the brain. Their work is described in Nature, “Structural Mechanism of Glutamate Receptor Activation and Desensitization,” by Meyerson, et al., (DOI: 10.1038/nature13603), http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13603.html .

From Thermo Fisher Scientific – Electron Microscopy Solutions 4 Aug 2014

Researchers uncover 3D structure of neuroreceptor

Neurons are the cells of our brain, spinal cord, and overall nervous system. They form complex networks to communicate with each other through electrical signals that are carried by chemicals.

4 Aug 2014

Rice, Baylor scientists analyze how influenza-related proteins help infect cells

A flu virus acts like a Trojan horse as it attacks and infects host cells. Scientists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have acquired a clearer view of the well-hidden mechanism involved.

1 Aug 2014

Researchers discover new function of body's most important tumor-suppressing protein

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have discovered a new function of the body's most important tumor-suppressing protein. Called p53, this protein has been called "the guardian of the genome."

30 Jul 2014

CCC study provides hope that SapC-DOPS could be used for metastatic brain cancer treatment

Over half of patients being seen in the clinic for a diagnosed brain tumor have metastatic cancer, which has no treatment and detrimental outcomes in most cases.

25 Jul 2014

Dynamic nuclear polarization: an interview with Professor Robert Griffin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

DNP, or dynamic nuclear polarization, is an NMR technique which transfers polarization from the electron spins onto the nuclear spins, using constant microwave irradiation to enable the transfer.

From Bruker BioSpin Group 24 Jul 2014

Student develops three-stage filter system to clean drinking water

Roughly 780 million people around the world have no access to clean drinking water. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 3.4 million people die from water-related diseases every year. ETH student Jeremy Nussbaumer set himself the goal of making a contribution to solving this problem.

24 Jul 2014

Tiny gold particles can make cell membranes deliver drugs directly to target cells

A special class of tiny gold particles can easily slip through cell membranes, making them good candidates to deliver drugs directly to target cells.

22 Jul 2014

Elevated ASM activity linked to Alzheimer's disease

Unclogging the body's protein disposal system may improve memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to a study from scientists at Kyungpook National University in Korea published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

22 Jul 2014

Impaired inhibition of medium spiny neurons linked to depression-like behavior in juvenile WKY rats

Accumulating evidence suggests that the nucleus accumbens, which is involved in mechanisms of reward and addiction, plays a role in the pathogenesis of depression and in the action of antidepressants.

18 Jul 2014

Salk scientists identify gene that fights metastasis of common lung cancer

Scientists at the Salk Institute have identified a gene responsible for stopping the movement of cancer from the lungs to other parts of the body, indicating a new way to fight one of the world's deadliest cancers.

18 Jul 2014

Scientists reveal secrets of cell membrane proteins

Rice University scientists have succeeded in analyzing transmembrane protein folding in the same way they study the proteins' free-floating, globular cousins.

17 Jul 2014

Scientists may be able to entomb malaria parasite in prison

Scientists may be able to entomb the malaria parasite in a prison of its own making, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report July 16 in Nature.

17 Jul 2014

Scientists build artificial cells programmed to eat their undesirable neighbors

A team of researchers has devised a Pac-Man-style power pellet that gets normally mild-mannered cells to gobble up their undesirable neighbors. The development may point the way to therapies that enlist patients’ own cells to better fend off infection and even cancer, the researchers say. A description of the work will be published July 15 in the journal Science Signaling.

16 Jul 2014