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Medical student receives award for finding out drugs to treat peripheral vascular disease

Working at a Saint Louis University laboratory, second-year medical student Weston Gordon performed several studies investigating two novel drug therapies that may be useful in the treatment of peripheral vascular disease in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

4 Mar 2014

Researchers create new probe that freezes cells to "see" at greater detail without damaging

It's an odd twist. For scientists to determine if a cell is functioning properly, they must destroy it. This is what happens in X-ray fluorescence microscopy when biological specimens are exposed to ionizing radiation, which provides images with a level of detail that conventional microscopes just can't match.

26 Feb 2014

Researchers produce extremely accurate and detailed images of "toxic injections"

Bacteria have developed many different ways of smuggling their toxic cargo into cells. Tripartite Tc toxin complexes, which are used by bacteria like the plague pathogen Yersinia pestis and the insect pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens, are particularly unusual.

25 Feb 2014

New receptors act as biological postal code for treating cancer

Scientists have discovered that a polymer can provide a key to get into tumors: Prof. Prasad Shastri, Director of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry and core member of the cluster of excellence BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies at the University of Freiburg, and graduate students Julia Voigt and Jon Christensen have developed a new paradigm to home nanoparticles, containers that measure a few 100 nanometers in size, to endothelial cells.

11 Feb 2014

Engineers place tiny synthetic motors inside live human cells

For the first time, a team of chemists and engineers at Penn State University have placed tiny synthetic motors inside live human cells, propelled them with ultrasonic waves and steered them magnetically. It's not exactly "Fantastic Voyage," but it's close. The nanomotors, which are rocket-shaped metal particles, move around inside the cells, spinning and battering against the cell membrane.

11 Feb 2014

Researchers identify key step to prevent liver failure resulting from painkiller overdose

University of Adelaide researchers have identified a key step for the future prevention of liver failure resulting from taking too much of the everyday painkiller paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen).

5 Feb 2014

Researchers identify protein critical to hematopoietic stem cell function, blood formation

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a protein critical to hematopoietic stem cell function and blood formation. The finding has potential as a new target for treating leukemia because cancer stem cells rely upon the same protein to regulate and sustain their growth.

3 Feb 2014

Researchers design semi-synthetic proteins to analyse body's vital signal processes

Proteins play a fundamental role in almost all biological processes. They consist of chains constructed of up to 20 different amino acids, and their composition, structure and function are controlled by the genetic code.

29 Jan 2014

Biologists identify protein targets for next-generation of anti-HIV drugs

People infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can stave off the symptoms of AIDS thanks to drug cocktails that mainly target three enzymes produced by the virus, but resistant strains pop up periodically that threaten to thwart these drug combos.

29 Jan 2014

Researchers discover protein required for growth of hair-like structures on cell surfaces

A team of researchers from Penn State University and the University of California has discovered a protein that is required for the growth of tiny, but critical, hair-like structures called cilia on cell surfaces.

28 Jan 2014

CWRU researchers receive NIAID grant to conduct HIV research and clinical trials

AIDS researchers from Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center have received a seven-year funding award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

23 Jan 2014

Chinese and American researchers introduce new approach to gene therapy

Resistance of tumor cells toward multiple cytostatic drugs is a serious problem in cancer treatment. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a team of Chinese and American researchers has now introduced a new approach to gene therapy that could counter this problem: The gene that codes for resistance is “silenced” through the use of an ingenious nanocomplex.

22 Jan 2014

Scientists identify channel that acts as 'brake', limiting spontaneous pain

Scientists have identified a channel present in many pain detecting sensory neurons that acts as a 'brake', limiting spontaneous pain. It is hoped that the new research, published today [22 January] in the Journal of Neuroscience, will ultimately contribute to new pain relief treatments.

22 Jan 2014

Scientists develop new class of molecules that provide new way to attack bacteria resistant to antibiotics

As concerns about bacterial resistance to antibiotics grow, researchers are racing to find new kinds of drugs to replace ones that are no longer effective. One promising new class of molecules called acyldepsipeptides - ADEPs - kills bacteria in a way that no marketed antibacterial drug does - by altering the pathway through which cells rid themselves of harmful proteins.

20 Jan 2014

Research identifies new way for slow release drugs

Reservoirs of pharmaceuticals could be manufactured to bind specifically to infected tissue such as cancer cells for slow, concentrated delivery of drug treatments, according to new research published in ACS Macro Letters.

15 Jan 2014

Researchers discover two genetic mutations associated with Familial Alzheimer's Disease

New research, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researcher Chunyu Wang, has solved one mystery in the development of Familial Alzheimer's Disease (FAD), a genetic variant of the disease that affects a small fraction of the Alzheimer's population. In a paper published online January 6 in the journal Nature Communications, Wang and his team follow the trail of two genetic mutations - V44M and V44A - known to cause FAD, and show how the mutations lead to biochemical changes long linked to the disease.

13 Jan 2014

Cancer cells less likely to develop resistance when multiple drugs delivered simultaneously

Researchers have developed a technique for creating nanoparticles that carry two different cancer-killing drugs into the body and deliver those drugs to separate parts of the cancer cell where they will be most effective. The technique was developed by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

7 Jan 2014

UPV/EHU-University study shows that weekend alcohol consumption may affect DNA

A preliminary study led by a UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country researcher in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Nayarit, in Mexico, indicates that weekend alcohol consumption may affect DNA.

30 Dec 2013

Protein responsible for excretion of copper in body cells utilizes unique transport mechanism

We are fundamentally dependent on the presence of copper in the cells of the body. Copper is actually part of the body's energy conversion and protective mechanisms against oxygen radicals, as well as part of the immune system, and it also has great importance for the formation of e.g. hormones and neurotransmitters.

28 Dec 2013

Researchers discover molecular "switch" in receptor that controls cell behavior

If scientists can control cellular functions such as movement and development, they can cripple cells and pathogens that are causing disease in the body.

17 Dec 2013