Fluorescent Protein News and Research

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Chronic exposure to polluted air can lead to inflammation

Chronic inhalation of polluted air appears to activate a protein that triggers the release of white blood cells, setting off events that lead to widespread inflammation, according to new research in an animal model.

16 Apr 2011

Scientists develop new method to detect virus presence in cells

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory Center for Bio-Molecular Science and Engineering have developed a method to detect the presence of viruses in cells and to study their growth.

12 Apr 2011

Novel strategy to build molecular probes may lead to development of new cancer drugs

Chemical engineers at UC Santa Barbara expect that their new process to create molecular probes may eventually result in the development of new drugs to treat cancer and other illnesses.

7 Apr 2011

Study suggests causal link between HSV1 and Alzheimer's disease

Laboratories at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Brown University, and House Ear Institute (HEI) have developed a new technique to observe herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) infections growing inside cells. HSV1, the cause of the common cold sore, persists in a latent form inside nerve cells.

5 Apr 2011

Miltenyi Biotec launches MACSQuant VYB benchtop flow cytometer

Miltenyi Biotec today announces the worldwide release and availability of the MACSQuant VYB, a compact, benchtop flow cytometer featuring violet, yellow, and blue lasers, and detection of 10 optical parameters.

4 Apr 2011

Researchers identify new mechanism underlying MS

Multiple sclerosis is a disabling autoimmune disease in which nerve fibers are attacked by the patient's own immune system. Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich have identified a new mechanism that contributes to nerve fiber damage - and shown that this damage can be reversed.

28 Mar 2011

Discovery: VPS4A enzyme plays a key role in release of HIV particles

Human Immunodeficiency Virus - which causes AIDS - invades human immune cells and causes them to produce new copies of the virus, which can then infect new cells.

11 Mar 2011

TREK1 activity offers a key target for fluoxetine and other antidepressant drugs

Using a unique and relatively simple cell-based fluorescent assay they developed, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley have identified a means by which fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, suppresses the activity of the TREK1 potassium channel.

8 Feb 2011

Study: Fluorescent probe may serve as useful tool in future surgeries to repair injured nerves

Accidental damage to thin or buried nerves during surgery can have severe consequences, from chronic pain to permanent paralysis. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine may have found a remedy: injectable fluorescent peptides that cause hard-to-see peripheral nerves to glow, alerting surgeons to their location even before the nerves are encountered.

6 Feb 2011

Immune protein exacerbates skin cancer due to sun exposure: Study

An unexpected immune protein exacerbates cancer due to sun exposure, report researchers in the January 27th issue of Nature. The study suggests that drugs blocking the protein might halt tumor growth in skin cancer patients.

3 Feb 2011

Vasopressin in the brain maintains size of vasopressin neurons even when body fluid becomes more diluted

The anti-diuretic hormone "vasopressin" is released from the brain, and known to work in the kidney, suppressing the diuresis.

21 Jan 2011

Population of highly active neurons could provide insight into neocortex

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have found that within the brain's neocortex lies a subnetwork of highly active neurons that behave much like people in social networks.

11 Jan 2011

Odyssey Thera granted U.S. Patent for high-throughput screening of proteins

Odyssey Thera, Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted U.S. Patent No. 7,855,167. The invention describes technologies and high-throughput methods for identifying bimolecular interactions in vivo based on protein-fragment complementation assays.

6 Jan 2011

Researchers discover new way to prevent spread of cancer

Scientists now know that some cancer cells spread, or metastasize, throughout the body the old-fashioned way -- by using their feet. But researchers at Duke Cancer Institute have discovered a way to short-circuit their travels by preventing the development of these feet, called invadopodia. This discovery is even more important because preventing the development of these "feet" also eliminates the action of proteins present in the feet that burn through intact tissue and let cancer cells enter new cells.

17 Dec 2010

Cellectis bioresearch licenses fluorescent proteins from Evrogen

Cellectis bioresearch, the specialist in genome customization and subsidiary of Cellectis, today announced that it has signed a non-exclusive agreement with Evrogen (Moscow, Russia) for access to its fluorescent proteins. This license allows Cellectis bioresearch to incorporate these proteins into its own products and will expand the company's offering of genome engineering tools.

7 Dec 2010

New cell-based assay for reliable testing of HIV inhibitors

EASY-HIT is a new cell-based assay system for simple and reliable testing of HIV inhibitors. This system was developed under the leadership of Professor Ruth Brack-Werner at the Institute of Virology.

2 Dec 2010

State-of-the-art imaging system helps locate and count myriad connections between brain nerve cells

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, applying a state-of-the-art imaging system to brain-tissue samples from mice, have been able to quickly and accurately locate and count the myriad connections between nerve cells in unprecedented detail, as well as to capture and catalog those connections' surprising variety.

18 Nov 2010

New stem cell-infused patch improves heart function after myocardial infarction

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have found that applying a stem cell-infused patch together with overexpression of a specific cell instruction molecule promoted cell migration to damaged cardiac tissue following heart attack and resulted in improved function in animal models.

16 Nov 2010

Researchers improvise fruit fly as a model system to study brain development, disorders

VIB researchers attached to the K.U.Leuven have improved the fruit fly as a model for studying the connections between brain cells. The researchers developed a specific marker for a part of the fly's nerve cell which had previously been difficult to distinguish. Their discovery will not only contribute to gaining a better insight into brain development but also makes the fruit fly into a better model system for studying brain development and brain disorders.

15 Nov 2010

Menopausal estrogen replacement therapy speeds growth of ovarian cancer

Estrogen therapy used by menopausal women causes a type of ovarian cancer to grow five times faster, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

21 Oct 2010