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ASU researchers uncover crucial step in telomerase enzyme catalytic cycle

Can we stay young forever, or even recapture lost youth? Research from the laboratory of Professor Julian Chen in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University recently uncovered a crucial step in the telomerase enzyme catalytic cycle.

27 Feb 2018

New treatment shows promise to fight against serious inflammatory disease

Still's disease is a serious orphan disease manifested by high fevers, skin and joint involvement, including paralysis, as well as damage to other organs such as the liver or spleen. It is caused by a deregulation of the immune system triggering an acute inflammatory response.

27 Feb 2018

University of Guelph researcher discovers cause of nerve cell death in Parkinson's disease

A University of Guelph researcher has discovered one of the factors behind nerve cell death in Parkinson's disease, unlocking the potential for treatment to slow the progression of this fatal neurodegenerative disorder.

27 Feb 2018

Study uncovers special receptor that protects against asthma, allergies

A special receptor on cells that line the sinuses, throat and lungs evolved to protect mammals from developing a range of allergies and asthma, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

27 Feb 2018

Researchers discover key inner control mechanism of cell's 'smart glue'

Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered that a protein critical to a process called liquid-liquid phase separation within the cell undergoes internal changes in conformation that are key to its function.

26 Feb 2018

Scientists reveal new insights into mechanism of gene regulation by 'magic spot'

Using an innovative crystallization technique for studying three-dimensional structures of gene transcription machinery, an international team of researchers, led by scientists at Penn State, has revealed new insights into the long debated action of the "magic spot"--a molecule that controls gene expression in Eschericahia coli and many other bacteria when the bacteria are stressed.

24 Feb 2018

Study unravels novel cellular and molecular pathway that regulates innate, adaptive immunity

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital have discovered a new cellular and molecular pathway that regulates CD4+ T cell response--a finding that may lead to new ways to treat diseases that result from alterations in these cells.

24 Feb 2018

Desymmetrization paves way for new bioactive compounds

Many chemical molecules can exist in nature together with their mirror counterparts; like hands, two compounds can be made up of the same atoms in the same overall structure but in opposite orientations, i.e. left-handed and right-handed.

23 Feb 2018

New study identifies possible target for treatment of dangerous allergic reactions

Prospects for inhibiting the most dangerous symptoms of allergic reactions may be brighter with the publication of a new study that identifies a possible target for drug therapies.

23 Feb 2018

Researchers describe important step toward gene therapy for patients with Sandhoff disease

Babies with the rare, deadly genetic disorder Sandhoff disease begin to miss developmental milestones just months after birth. Lacking muscle tone, they never learn to sit up, develop heads too large to lift and eventually suffer uncontrollable seizures. There is no cure.

22 Feb 2018

Carbon monoxide enhances efficacy of antibiotic against stomach infection

Carbon monoxide can improve the effectiveness of antibiotics, making bacteria more sensitive to antibiotic medication, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

22 Feb 2018

Researchers discover new interaction mechanism of unstructured proteins

Proteins are among the most important biomolecules and are the key mediators of molecular communication between and within cells. For two proteins to be able to bind, specific regions of their three-dimensional structure have to exactly match one another - like a key that fits into a lock.

22 Feb 2018

Zika virus could be alternative for treatment of aggressive brain cancer

Zika virus, feared for causing microcephaly in babies whose mothers were infected during pregnancy by attacking the cells that will give rise to the fetus's cerebral cortex, could be an alternative for treatment of glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive kind of malignant brain tumor in adults.

21 Feb 2018

Study finds novel therapeutic strategy that preserves neuromuscular synapses in ALS mouse model

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, causes lethal respiratory paralysis within several years of diagnosis. There are no effective treatments to slow or halt this devastating disease.

21 Feb 2018

Brain's quality control process holds clues to obesity's roots

Deep in the middle of our heads lies a tiny nub of nerve cells that play a key role in how hungry we feel, how much we eat, and how much weight we gain. Around the clock, they produce a "grandfather" form of several hormones that help us regulate these crucial functions.

20 Feb 2018

Stanford researchers explore how enzyme changes and becomes antibiotic-resistant

Enzymes are proteins that speed up or catalyze a reaction in living organisms. Bacteria can produce enzymes that make them resistant to antibiotics.

19 Feb 2018

'Click chemistry' approach may improve disease-fighting properties of drugs

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a quick and easy way to simultaneously modify dozens of drugs or molecules to improve their disease-fighting properties.

19 Feb 2018

Scientists develop water-soluble warped nanographene for bioimaging

An international team of scientists has developed a water-soluble "warped nanographene", a flexible molecule that is biocompatible and shows promise for fluorescent cell imaging.

19 Feb 2018

Scientists develop fluorescent probe to identify cancer stem cells

Cells with stem-cell characteristics appear to be especially important in the formation and metastasis of tumors. Scientists have now developed a universal fluorescent probe for these “cancer stem cells”. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, this dye also selectively kills off the cells.

19 Feb 2018

Resolving Interfacial Protein Dynamics by STReM

STReM stands for Super Time-Resolved Microscopy, and as STORM, PALM, and other methods are designed to improve spatial resolution of optical microscopy, we desire to improve the time resolution. STReM makes use of point spread function engineering to encode fast events into each camera frame.

From Pittcon 16 Feb 2018