Molecule News and Research

RSS

Taurine: Key to the visual toxicity of an anti-epileptic drug for children?

Vigabatrin (Sabril), first intention molecule for the treatment of epilepsy in children, in many cases produces secondary effects that lead to an irreversible loss of vision.

18 Feb 2009

Researchers cast doubt on role of free radicals in aging

For more than 40 years, the prevailing explanation of why we get old has been tied to what is called oxidative stress.

18 Feb 2009

Enzyme activates stress response and hypertrophy of the heart

An enzyme makes the mouse heart prone to chronic cardiac insufficiency – if it is suppressed, the heart remains strong despite increased stress.

18 Feb 2009

Newly discovered mutation can hold the key to treat a large number of different cancers

Scientists have discovered a mutation responsible for cancer progression, a finding with potential implications for the development of treatment against not one, but a series of cancer types since this mutation can be linked to an abnormality recently discovered to exist in all malignancies.

18 Feb 2009

New insight into ways organ systems outside the brain may affect Alzheimer's

In Alzheimer's disease the brain accumulates a molecule called A-beta that can be quite toxic to brain cells.

17 Feb 2009

Dendritic cells as a new player in arteries and heart valves

In 1973, Ralph M. Steinman launched a new scientific discipline when he published his discovery of the dendritic cell, an odd-shaped player in the immune system.

16 Feb 2009

Radioimmunotherapy shows promise for HIV infection and viral cancers

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have piggybacked antibodies onto radioactive payloads to deliver doses of radiation that selectively target and destroy microbial and HIV-infected cells.

16 Feb 2009

Artificial cells, simple model for complex structure

A simple, chemical materials model may lead to a better understanding of the structure and organization of the cell according to a Penn State researcher.

16 Feb 2009

Novel gene silencing platform

A team of researchers led by Rutgers' Samuel Gunderson has developed a novel gene silencing platform with very significant improvements over existing RNAi approaches.

16 Feb 2009

Statistical analysis could yield new drug target for multiple sclerosis

An elaborate statistical analysis of genes from more than 7,000 individuals has identified an amino acid that appears to be a major risk factor for multiple sclerosis, a devastating autoimmune disorder that afflicts 2.5 million people worldwide.

15 Feb 2009

Cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation of memories

If you ever argued with your mother when she told you to get some sleep after studying for an exam instead of pulling an all-nighter, you owe her an apology, because it turns out she's right.

15 Feb 2009

Molecular machine turns packaged messenger RNA into a linear transcript

For RNA, the gateway to a productive life outside the nucleus is the nuclear pore complex, an amalgamation of 30 kinds of proteins that regulates all traffic passing through the nuclear membrane.

11 Feb 2009

Discovery of new mechanism that tumours use to stimulate growth of blood vessels that feed them

The development of cancerous tumours is highly dependent on the nutrients the tumours receive through the blood.

11 Feb 2009

Compound can distinguish between benign tissue and localized and metastatic prostate cancer

Researchers have determined that a molecule produced by the bodys metabolism could be used to differentiate between benign prostate tissue vs. localized and metastatic prostate cancer.

11 Feb 2009

Long-sought protein structure may help reveal how ‘gene switch’ works

The bacterium behind one of mankind's deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) move closer to answering the decades-old question of what controls the switching on and off of genes that carry out all of life's functions.

10 Feb 2009

New drug short-circuits cancer growth

A new drug that blocks cancer's main source of growth has been created in the lab and proven effective in mice, scientists are reporting.

10 Feb 2009

Pathologically elevated blood fat levels in obesity: Researchers discover molecular causes

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have discovered a mechanism in liver metabolism that is responsible for pathologically elevated blood fat levels found in severe metabolic disorders.

9 Feb 2009

Discovery of potential treatment for Rett syndrome

A molecule that promotes brain development could serve as a possible treatment for Rett syndrome, the most common form of autism in girls, according to researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

9 Feb 2009

Long-sought protein structure may help reveal how 'gene switch' works

8 Feb 2009

Novel gene silencing platform

A team of researchers led by Rutgers' Samuel Gunderson has developed a novel gene silencing platform with very significant improvements over existing RNAi approaches.

8 Feb 2009