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Berkeley Lab scientists reveal how protein-making machine bends without breaking

It sounds like hype from a late-night infomercial: It can twist and bend without breaking! And wait, there's more: It could someday help you fend off disease!

20 May 2011

Hendra virus vaccine to be released soon

According to CSIRO’s early success with testing, the Hendra virus vaccine for horses could be available as early as next year. Hendra virus affects horses and is contracted through contact with flying foxes.

16 May 2011

New method helps scientists to determine specific protein molecular structure

The structures of many protein molecules remain unsolved even after experts apply an extensive array of approaches. An international collaboration has led to a new, high-performance method that rapidly determined the structure of protein molecules in several cases where previous methods had failed.

2 May 2011

Pharmasset reports net loss of $19.9 million for quarter ended March 31, 2011

Pharmasset, Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing novel drugs to treat viral infections, today reported financial results and operational highlights for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

25 Apr 2011

Researchers package drug-loaded 'nanodisks' into vault nanoparticles for therapeutic drug delivery

There's no question, drugs work in treating disease. But can they work better, and safer?

22 Apr 2011

Stealth Peptides launches mitochondrion targeting compound Bendavia at Experimental Biology 2011

Stealth Peptides Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative mitochondrial therapies, introduced its lead clinical candidate, Bendavia™, a novel compound that targets the mitochondrion, during multiple scientific sessions of the Experimental Biology 2011 meeting.

20 Apr 2011

Study suggests causal link between HSV1 and Alzheimer's disease

Laboratories at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Brown University, and House Ear Institute (HEI) have developed a new technique to observe herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) infections growing inside cells. HSV1, the cause of the common cold sore, persists in a latent form inside nerve cells.

5 Apr 2011

Stealth announces Bendavia Phase I clinical study results against ischemia reperfusion injury

Stealth Peptides Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies, announced today the results of a healthy volunteers Phase I clinical study of Bendavia™, a novel compound that targets the mitochondrion to treat ischemia reperfusion injury.

4 Apr 2011

New ‘nanotech’ weapon against drug-resistant superbugs

Scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) and IBM Research – Almaden have developed the first biodegradable polymer nanoparticles to combat drug-resistant superbugs, such as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These nanoparticles can selectively kill the bacteria without destroying healthy red blood cells, and being biodegradable, have great potential to treat infectious diseases in the body. This was reported today in the leading scientific journal, Nature Chemistry [(2011) DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1012].

3 Apr 2011

Scientists celebrate successful start up of pioneering EMMA accelerator

A brand new technology that promises a range of applications from treating cancer to powering safer nuclear reactors has reached another world first in its development. This milestone was confirmed yesterday, 31 March 2011, at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire.

2 Apr 2011

California Institute chemistry professor receives ACS award for 'ultrafast-motion' imaging

Ahmed H. Zewail, Ph.D., 1999 Chemistry Nobel Laureate and Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry & Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology, today will receive the 2011 Priestley Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

29 Mar 2011

Nano-bricks may improve plastic food packaging strength and performance

Scientists are reporting on a new material containing an ingredient used to make bricks that shows promise as a transparent coating for improving the strength and performance of plastic food packaging.

28 Mar 2011

Tick-borne disease identified as emerging threat

Five years ago, large numbers of farmers in central China began falling victim to an mysterious disease marked by high fever, gastrointestinal disorder and an appalling mortality rate - as high as 30 percent in initial reports. Investigators from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention hurried to the scene of the outbreak. On the basis of DNA evidence, they quickly concluded that it had been caused by human granulocytic anaplasmosis, a bacteria transmitted by tick bites.

24 Mar 2011

Researchers create nanosurfaces to seal leg prosthetics against bacteria entry

In recent years, researchers have worked to develop more flexible, functional prosthetics for soldiers returning home from battlefields in Afghanistan or Iraq with missing arms or legs. But even new prosthetics have trouble keeping bacteria from entering the body through the space where the device has been implanted.

23 Mar 2011

Research outlines how cilia disease gene products regulate early cilium formation

An international collaboration jointly led by University College Dublin, University of Alabama and Simon Fraser University, British Columbia has outlined in the Journal of Cell Biology how cilia disease gene products regulate important aspects of early cilium formation and the integrity of the ciliary transport gate.

21 Mar 2011

Study finds synapses between retinal ganglion cells and starburst amacrine cells distributed asymmetrically

The sensory cells in the retina of the mammalian eye convert light stimuli into electrical signals and transmit them via downstream interneurons to the retinal ganglion cells which, in turn, forward them to the brain. The interneurons are connected to each other in such a way that the individual ganglion cells receive visual information from a circular area of the visual field known as the receptive field.

10 Mar 2011

Scientist develops cryo-electron microscopy to clarify salmonellae structure

Bacteria like salmonellae infect their host cells by needle-shaped extensions which they create in large numbers during an attack. A group of Vienna-based scientists headed by Thomas Marlovits employed recently developed methods of cryo-electron microscopy and have been able to clarify the structure of this infection apparatus on the near-atomic scale.

4 Mar 2011

Neuropathologist receives AAN Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer's disease research

The American Academy of Neurology has awarded the 2011 Potamkin Prize to Dennis Dickson, M.D., a neuropathologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida and the Robert E. Jacoby Professor for Alzheimer's Disease Research.

3 Mar 2011

New discovery in glioma-associated metabolic changes

Metabolon, Inc., the leader in metabolomics, biomarker discovery and analysis, announces the publication of "Profiling the effects of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 mutations on the cellular metabolome", in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.