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Rutgers cell biologist to receive Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

Fewer than 100 researchers nationwide are chosen each year to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and this year Dr. Nihal Altan-Bonnet is one of the 96 to receive this honor.

25 Jul 2012

Novel genomic sequencing method can help conduct in-depth analysis of single cells

Only by viewing a Georges Seurat painting at close range can you appreciate the hidden complexities of pointillism - small, distinct dots of color applied to form an image from a distance. Similarly, biologists and geneticists have long sought to analyze profiles of genes at the single cell level but technology limitations have only allowed a view from afar.

23 Jul 2012

Chewing gum may relieve the pain of braces

Young adolescents and teens with fixed orthodontic appliances who chew gum report significantly less pain and impact of their braces than their peers who do not chew gum, report researchers from Sheffield in the UK.

23 Jul 2012

Researchers turn inanimate silicone and living cardiac muscle cells into a jellyfish

Using recent advances in marine biomechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering, a team of researchers at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have turned inanimate silicone and living cardiac muscle cells into a freely swimming "jellyfish."

23 Jul 2012

New class of chemically produced antimicrobial agents could become future infection treatment alternative

The World Health Organization (WHO) has named antimicrobial resistance one of the most important threats to human health. We therefore need to find new compounds that can be used as future alternatives to conventional antibiotics.

20 Jul 2012

Bryologs more potent than prostratin in treating HIV

Thanks to antiretrovirals, an AIDS diagnosis hasn't been a death sentence for nearly two decades. But highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, is also not a cure.

19 Jul 2012

Researchers verify role of alpha-synuclein aggregates in vivo

Using a two-photon microscope capable of peering deep within living tissue, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found new evidence that alpha-synuclein protein build-up inside neurons causes them to not only become "leaky," but also to misfire due to calcium fluxes.

19 Jul 2012

USDTL releases new BloodSpot Collection Kit

United States Drug Testing Laboratories (USDTL), a reference laboratory specializing in alcohol and drugs of abuse testing, released a new BloodSpot Collection Kit for testing PEth a direct biomarker for beverage alcohol consumption.

18 Jul 2012

Cadherin-catenin-actin structure exerts force inside and between cells in living tissues

If you place certain types of living cells on a microscope slide, the cells will inch across the glass, find their neighbors, and assemble themselves into a simple, if primitive tissue. A new study at Stanford University may help explain this phenomenon, and then some, about the mechanical structure and behavior of complex living organisms.

17 Jul 2012

Five recent Science and Nature papers shed light on elusive 'GPCRs'

Readers of the top-ranked scientific journals Science and Nature might have noticed a recent wave of articles, most recently in the July 13, 2012 issue of Science, with deep importance for biology and medicine.

14 Jul 2012

Researchers identify potassium channel as an autoantibody target in MS

For the first time, scientists in Germany's multiple sclerosis competence network have been able to identify an antibody that bonds with the potassium channel KIR4.1.

14 Jul 2012

Potassium channel KIR4.1 clue to multiple sclerosis

The potassium channel KIR4.1 is a potential immune target in certain patients with multiple sclerosis, report researchers in TheNew England Journal of Medicine.

12 Jul 2012

OncoSec establishes UCSF as second enrolling site for OMS-I110 Phase II Merkel cell carcinoma trial

OncoSec Medical Inc., a company developing the advanced-stage OncoSec Medical System (OMS) ElectroOncology therapies to treat solid tumors, announces it has established the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as the second enrolling site for its Phase II Merkel cell carcinoma clinical trial (OMS-I110).

11 Jul 2012

Scientists develop novel anticancer drug designed to travel through the bloodstream

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, working with Danish researchers, have developed a novel anticancer drug designed to travel -- undetected by normal cells -- through the bloodstream until activated by specific cancer proteins.

10 Jul 2012

Oligomers may be responsible for onset of Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most dreaded and debilitating illnesses one can develop. Currently, the disease afflicts 6.5 million Americans and the Alzheimer's Association projects it to increase to between 11 and 16 million, or 1 in 85 people, by 2050.

10 Jul 2012

Overproduction of hepcidin appears to impair maternal-fetal iron transfer

A growing number of studies imply that children born to obese mothers face health problems stemming from the womb.

10 Jul 2012

Novel gene therapy approach may treat dysferlinopathies

The challenge of treating patients with genetic disorders in which a single mutated gene is simply too large to be replaced using traditional gene therapy techniques may soon be a thing of the past. A Nationwide Children's Hospital study describes a new gene therapy approach capable of delivering full-length versions of large genes and improving skeletal muscle function. The strategy may hold new hope for treating dysferlinopathies and other muscular dystrophies.

9 Jul 2012

Protein AMPK protects sensory cells in the inner ear from permanent damage

If you're concerned about losing your hearing because of noise exposure (earbud deafness syndrome), a new discovery published online in the FASEB Journal offers some hope. That's because scientists from Germany and Canada show that the protein, AMPK, which protects cells during a lack of energy, also activates a channel protein in the cell membrane that allows potassium to leave the cell.

7 Jul 2012

Cystic fibrosis patient receives generous 'gift of life'

Meara Schmidt, 28, almost died a few weeks ago. Lying in her hospital bed at UCLA, the seriously ill cystic fibrosis patient felt herself slipping away and her life flashing by. But then the image of her husband appeared, and she knew she was not ready to go.

7 Jul 2012

Researchers reveal how WBCs move to infection or inflammation in the body

Researchers in the biological sciences department in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary have revealed how white blood cells move to infection or inflammation in the body; findings which could help lead to developing drug therapies for immune system disorders.

4 Jul 2012