Biochemistry News and Research

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Telomerase finding has major implications for cancer

UCLA biochemists have determined the three-dimensional structure of a major domain of telomerase, the enzyme that helps maintain telomeres - small pieces of DNA on the ends of chromosomes that act as protective caps - allowing DNA ends to be copied completely when cells are replicated.

9 Mar 2005

NASA scientists find clues about kidney disease

NASA scientists and academic colleagues are studying tiny hairs inside microorganisms to find clues about kidney disease.

8 Mar 2005

Discovery gives clinicians new targets for making existing therapies more effective and developing drugs to inhibit the growth of cancers

A team of researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto have discovered how a key enzyme involved in repairing DNA is put together and how it works--a development that opens up new therapies for making cancer cells more vulnerable to attack.

3 Mar 2005

Study first to document increase risk of herpes infection due to oral sex, particularly in young women

The first clinical study to document risk of acquiring herpes simplex virus type 1 infection based on sexual activity has linked oral sex and vaginal intercourse with a demonstrably higher rate of infection, particularly in young women, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh report in the February issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, the journal of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association.

28 Feb 2005

Scientists find protein that could unlock the secret to more effective treatment of TB

In a study published on 1st March 2005 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, a combined team discovered the structure of a protein known as resuscitation promoting factor (Rpf). Five versions of the Rpf protein exist in TB bacteria. The paper’s unveiling of the molecular structure of Rpf could be crucial to the treatment of TB in the future.

28 Feb 2005

Balance between potassium and sodium is very important for proper body function

Important, interrelated factors leading to hypertension include obesity, stress, and the genetic vulnerability of American consumers, in addition to their sodium intake. The balance between potassium and sodium is very important for proper body function, and more attention should be given to ways for improving potassium intake.

27 Feb 2005

Importance of Fbw7 as an emerging tumor suppressor

The DNA tumor virus simian virus 40 produces the Large T antigen which inactivates two of the cell's most important cancer-preventing proteins, p53 and pRb.

27 Feb 2005

Scientists identify immune-system mutation

A team of Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists led by immunologist Dietmar J. Kappes, Ph.D., has identified the genetic mutation that keeps a mouse strain from developing white blood cells, or lymphocytes, called helper T cells. The report by Kappes and his colleagues appears in the Feb. 24 issue of Nature.

27 Feb 2005

Diagnosis of prions in patients should utilize novel strategy, conformation-dependent immunoassay

A technique for detecting prions in tissue, developed in recent years by UCSF scientists, is significantly more sensitive than the diagnostic procedures currently used to detect the lethal particles in samples of brain tissue from patients, according to a study performed by a UCSF team.

22 Feb 2005

Crystallized molecular machine reveals possible new paths for treating diseases

The crystallized form of a molecular machine that can cut and paste genetic material is revealing possible new paths for treating diseases such as some forms of cancer and opportunistic infections that plague HIV patients.

21 Feb 2005

Ingestion of afterbirth appears to promote maternal behavior in mammals

A behavioral neuroscientist at the University at Buffalo holds that the ingestion of afterbirth by a mother, a feature of pregnancy in nearly all non-human mammals, not only relieves postpartum pain, but optimizes the onset of maternal behavior by mediating the activity of specific opioid activity circuits in the brain.

13 Feb 2005

Special imaging study shows failing hearts are energy starved

Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) for the first time to examine energy production biochemistry in a beating human heart, Johns Hopkins researchers have found substantial energy deficits in failing hearts.

7 Feb 2005

Viagra protects cardiomyocytes against cell death

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have shown that a widely used drug for treating erectile dysfunction, Viagra, reduces the death of heart cells under heart attack-like conditions in a laboratory model.

31 Jan 2005

Association between fitness and survival suggests a link between impaired oxygen metabolism and disease

Research published in the current issue of Science magazine reinforces the belief that aerobic capacity is an important determinant in the continuum between health and disease.

26 Jan 2005

Local environment directly influences adult stem cell reservoirs

Using the common fruit fly, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that an intricate set of signals released by stem cells' surroundings governs their maintenance.

26 Jan 2005

Lack of the enzyme acetyl CoA carboxylase 2 turns fat cells into fat burners

Lack of the enzyme, acetyl CoA carboxylase 2 or ACC2, appears to turn the adipose or fat cells of mice into fat burners, explaining in part why the animals can eat more and weigh less than their normal counterparts, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers.

25 Jan 2005