Enzyme News and Research

RSS

Potential target to treat deadly bloodstream infections

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a possible target to treat bloodstream bacterial infections.

28 Feb 2008

Using microorganisms to remove trichloroethene from water

In 2002, Bruce Rittmann, PhD, director of the Biodesign Institute's Center for Environmental Biotechnology, received a patent for an innovative way to use nature to lend society a hand.

28 Feb 2008

Discovery of potential drug targets for sepsis

"We have identified a key connection of signaling pathways in the cascade of events leading to sepsis. This defines a crucial point where the immune system spirals out of control to cause severe sepsis and where there is an opportunity for therapeutic intervention," says Scripps Research Professor Wolfram Ruf, who led the research with his postdoctoral fellow Frank Niessen.

28 Feb 2008

Diltiazem reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School have found that diltiazem, a drug used in the treatment of high blood pressure, reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model.

28 Feb 2008

New drug trial to target hereditary cancers

Cancer Research UK scientists at Newcastle University are starting the first UK trial of a new drug which targets the 'Achilles' heel' in hereditary forms of both breast and ovarian cancer.

28 Feb 2008

New drug trial to target hereditary cancers

Cancer Research UK scientists at Newcastle University are starting the first UK trial of a new drug which targets the 'Achilles' heel' in hereditary forms of both breast and ovarian cancer.

28 Feb 2008

New understanding of structure and behavior of collagen

The structure and behavior of one of the most common proteins in our bodies has been resolved at a level of detail never before seen, thanks to new research performed at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.

27 Feb 2008

New insight into the fundamentals of Parkinson's disease

A single change in a protein may play a role in whether someone develops Parkinson's disease, say University of Florida Genetics Institute researchers writing in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Feb 2008

Tenofovir gel safe for daily use over an extended period

A vaginal microbicide that incorporates an antiretroviral (ARV) drug normally used to treat people with HIV is safe for sexually active HIV-negative women to use every day over an extended period, suggest results of a clinical trial of tenofovir topical gel.

27 Feb 2008

Enzyme Cdk1 may lead to new cancer therapies

With a four-year, $707,000 grant from the American Cancer Society, Yanchang Wang, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the Florida State University College of Medicine, hopes to learn how a particular enzyme could possibly help put the brakes on the runaway cell division process that occurs in many forms of cancer.

27 Feb 2008

New clues to bacterial antibiotic resistance

A team of scientists from the University Paris Descartes has solved the structure of two proteins that allow bacteria to gain resistance to multiple types of antibiotics, according to a report in EMBO reports this month.

26 Feb 2008

Powerful new cell research tool

The view into the inner world of living cells just got a little brighter and more colorful.

26 Feb 2008

Novel link between excessive nutrient levels and insulin resistance

For quite some time now, scientists suspected the so-called hexosamine pathway - a small side business of the main sugar processing enterprise inside a cell - to be involved in the development of insulin resistance.

22 Feb 2008

New understanding of how big molecules bind will lead to better drugs, synthetic organic materials

Biological and medical research is on the threshold of a new era based on better understanding of how large organic molecules bind together and recognise each other.

22 Feb 2008

Link between excessive food intake and insulin resistance

22 Feb 2008

Genetic defect causes immune deficiency and balance disorder

A genetic defect that causes a severe immune deficiency in humans may also produce balance disorders, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Iowa, The Jackson Laboratory and East Carolina University.

21 Feb 2008

Biochemists reveal details of mysterious bacterial microcompartments

UCLA biochemists and colleagues have answered an important question about the structure of microcompartments - the mysterious molecular machines that seem to be present in a wide variety of pathogens and other bacteria.

21 Feb 2008

Study identifies another strategy for normalizing tumor blood supply

Manipulating levels of nitric oxide (NO), a gas involved in many biological processes, may improve the disorganized network of blood vessels supplying tumors, potentially improving the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy.

21 Feb 2008