Developmental Biology News and Research

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Researchers disrupt biochemical system involved in cancer, degenerative disease

Screening a chemical library of 200,000 compounds, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified two new classes that can be used to study and possibly manipulate a cellular pathway involved in many types of cancer and degenerative diseases.

2 Feb 2009

Link found between Parkinson's disease genes and manganese poisoning

A connection between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson's disease has been discovered by a research team led by Aaron D. Gitler, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

2 Feb 2009

Advances in metagenomics

In an upcoming issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Yale researchers used newly developed mathematical models to analyze huge amounts of data on physical characteristics such as temperature and salinity in different ocean habitats and metabolic activity in marine micro-organisms.

23 Jan 2009

Researchers find molecular origin of blood stem cells

A research team led by Nancy Speck, PhD, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has identified the location and developmental timeline in which a majority of bone marrow stem cells form in the mouse embryo.

12 Jan 2009

Clioquinol - gastrointestinal drug could become anti-aging treatment

Recent animal studies have shown that clioquinol – an 80-year old drug once used to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders – can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

6 Jan 2009

Peer discussion improves student performance with Clickers - simple audience response devices

Across the University of Colorado at Boulder campus students are sharing answers, checking their responses to questions against those of their neighbors and making adjustments to those answers in hopes of earning a better grade.

5 Jan 2009

Stem cell research will boom under Obama

Embryonic stem cells could provide a new way of testing drugs for dangerous side effects, according to a leading British researcher.

From The University of Manchester 18 Dec 2008

Shared survival mechanism explains why 'good' nerve cells last and 'bad' cancer cells flourish

Cancer cells and nervous system neurons may not look or act alike, but both use strikingly similar ways to survive, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

15 Dec 2008

Mechanism behind cardiac scarring discovered

In the aftermath of a heart attack, the body's own defenses may contribute to future heart failure. Authors of a new study believe they have identified a protein that plays an important role in a process that replaces dead heart muscle with stiffening scar tissue. The researchers are hopeful that the findings will lead to the development of new therapies to prevent this damage.

15 Dec 2008

Light cigarettes may be more toxic than traditional cigarettes

Typically, tobacco companies market harm-reduction cigarettes as being safer than traditional "full-flavored" brands, leading many smokers to conclude that the use of harm-reduction brands lowers their exposure to toxicants.

8 Dec 2008

Scientists show that endothelial cells give rise to blood stem cells

Stem cell researchers at UCLA have proven definitively that blood stem cells are made during mid-gestational embryonic development by endothelial cells, the cells that line the inside of blood vessels.

3 Dec 2008

Scientists find cells reorganize shape to fit situation

Flip open any biology textbook and you're bound to see a complicated diagram of the inner workings of a cell, with its internal scaffolding, the cytoskeleton, and how it maintains a cell's shape.

24 Nov 2008

Pain and itch regulated by different molecular mechanisms

Historically, scientists have regarded itching as a less intense version of the body's response to pain, but researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have determined that pain and itch actually are regulated by different molecular mechanisms.

17 Nov 2008

First comprehensive genetic blueprint of a forming mammalian organ

Part of an international consortium sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a research team led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center reports the creation of a detailed genome-based atlas for understanding healthy and abnormal kidney development and disease.

11 Nov 2008

The interaction between genes and behavior

Our DNA determines a lot about who we are and how we play with others, but recent studies of social animals (birds and bees, among others) show that the interaction between genes and behavior is more of a two-way street than most of us realize.

7 Nov 2008

Gene research sheds light on T-cell production

New research, just published by researchers from the University of Georgia, provides the first evidence that a key gene may be crucial to maintaining the production of the thymus and its disease-fighting T-cells after an animal's birth.

7 Nov 2008

New research sheds light on key trigger of embryonic stem cell differentiation

Clusters of mouse embryonic stem cells called embryoid bodies more closely approximate true embryos in organization and structure than previously thought, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

6 Nov 2008

Rare immune cell may help those with Crohn's and colitis

The tonsils and lymphoid tissues in the intestinal tract that help protect the body from external pathogens are the home base of a rare immune cell newly identified by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

4 Nov 2008

How the Nodal gene family keeps the heart in the right (asymmetric) place

Asymmetry is crucial for the heart proper functioning, and now, scientists from the Institute Gulbenkian of Science in Portugal and Harvard University, have discovered that a family of genes, called Nodal, is crucial determining this asymmetry by controlling the speed and direction of the heart muscle cells during embryonic development.

2 Nov 2008

Research points to new treatment options for infantile hemangioma

A team of researchers led by Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) Dean for Research Bjorn Olsen has discovered a mechanism for the rapid growth seen in infantile hemangioma, the most common childhood tumor.

31 Oct 2008