Biochemistry News and Research

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Epigenetic research uncovers new targets for modification enzymes

Enzymes regulating genetic expression can be just as important as the genome itself, increasing evidence shows.

27 Apr 2008

Discovery of important markers of high risk of type 2 diabetes

Doctors are aware of a range of risk factors, mostly related to the patients' family history, overweight, and lifestyle, that contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

26 Apr 2008

Scientists determine molecular structures of bacterial AlkB protein and its corresponding human protein, ABH2

A team of University of Chicago scientists has shown how two proteins locate and repair damaged genetic material inside cells.

23 Apr 2008

TOR signaling and dietary restriction

University of Washington scientists have uncovered details about the mechanisms through which dietary restriction slows the aging process.

17 Apr 2008

Discovery of critical detail of cellular defense against genetic mistakes

Researchers are closing in on a completed diagram of how human cells protect themselves against constant genetic mistakes that contribute to most diseases, according to a study to be published in the April 18 edition of the journal Cell.

17 Apr 2008

Stopping unwanted cell death: novel avenue for drug development

Research published in Nature Chemical Biology reveals that three specific inhibitors of a cell death pathway, termed necroptosis, all target and inhibit RIP1 kinase, a protein that can direct cells into necrosis.

13 Apr 2008

The good and bad side of anti-cancer compounds

Compounds known as "HDAC inhibitors" exhibit cancer-killing activities in cultured cells.

11 Apr 2008

Mosquito mating mechanism could lead to new attack on dengue and yellow fever

Cornell researchers have identified a mating mechanism that possibly could be adapted to prevent female mosquitoes from spreading the viruses that cause dengue fever, second only to malaria as the most virulent mosquito-borne disease in the tropical world.

11 Apr 2008

Manipulating the immune system like a parasite

One day it may be possible to mimic the tactics used by parasites to trick the body into accepting transplanted tissues or organs.

10 Apr 2008

Solving the Z ring's mysteries may lead to new antibiotics

A team led by Johns Hopkins researchers has solved important puzzles concerning how certain proteins guide the reproduction of bacteria, discoveries that could lead to a new type of antibiotics.

9 Apr 2008

Diabetes drug may hold potential as treatment for epilepsy, using same mechanism as ketogenic diet

Two years ago, University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists reported they had suppressed epileptic seizures in rats by giving them a glycolytic-inhibitor, inhibiting the brain's ability to turn sugar into excess energy and blocking the expression of seizure-related genes.

9 Apr 2008

Effective treatment of smell loss with theophylline

Despite the fact that millions of Americans are believed to have lost their sense of smell (hyposmia), no effective method exists to treat many of these people.

8 Apr 2008

Scientists visualize the machinery of mRNA splicing

Recent research at Yale provided a glimpse of the ancient mechanism that helped diversify our genomes; it illuminated a relationship between gene processing in humans and the most primitive organisms by creating the first crystal structure of a crucial self-splicing region of RNA.

7 Apr 2008

Periodontitis and human papillomavirus combined increase risk for tongue cancer

Persons with periodontitis who also are infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) are at increased risk of developing tongue cancer, new research conducted at the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine has shown.

7 Apr 2008

1/3 of risk for dementia attributable to small vessel disease, autopsy study shows

Alzheimer's disease may be what most people fear as they grow older, but autopsy data from a long-range study of 3,400 men and women in the Seattle region found that the brains of a third of those who had become demented before death showed evidence of small vessel damage: the type of small, cumulative injury that can come from hypertension or diabetes.

7 Apr 2008

New web portal, the PSI Structural Genomics Knowledgebase to advance protein studies

The Protein Structure Initiative (PSI), an effort supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched an online resource that will enable scientists from across biomedical disciplines to easily access a wealth of information about proteins and to speed discovery about these molecules.

4 Apr 2008

Mitosis gets harder thanks to new gene discovery

A biological process taught to every pupil studying science at high school has just become a little more complicated thanks to a new discovery published today.

4 Apr 2008

Genetic mutations tied to immune comeback during therapy for HIV-1

Researchers with the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program (IDCRP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) here and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have published a patient outcome study in the March 30 online edition of Nature Medicine that may signal a need for a change of thought in the management of HIV.

3 Apr 2008

Light-powered nanomachine kills cancer cells

Researchers from the Nano Machine Center at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have developed a novel type of nanomachine that can capture and store anticancer drugs inside tiny pores and release them into cancer cells in response to light.

2 Apr 2008

Scientists discover how polyketides form their ringlike shape

Many top-selling drugs used to treat cancer and lower cholesterol are made from organic compounds called polyketides, which are found in nature but historically difficult for chemists to alter and reproduce in large quantities.

2 Apr 2008