G Protein News and Research

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Halting the development of certain pancreatic, ovarian, colon and lung cancers may be possible with new therapy

By investigating a single molecule that influences cell growth, a research group in the Purdue Cancer Center, including Brian S. Henriksen, has gained new insight into the chain of events that make some cancer cells divide uncontrollably, insight that may eventually lead to a way to break that chain, stopping cancer in its tracks. The molecule, known as Icmt, has a critical role in the development of Ras, an ordinarily beneficial protein that tells a cell to divide. The research group has determined how to inhibit Icmt's influence on Ras, without which the protein cannot develop effectively into an instigator of cell growth.

28 Mar 2004

A simple dietary supplement may also help to prevent strokes

A simple dietary supplement may not only give relief to some of the more than 400,000 New Zealanders that suffer from the pain of migraine headaches, but may also help to prevent strokes.

28 Mar 2004

Discovery of molecule that is part of the machinery that mediates the sense of hearing

A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, at the University of California in San Diego, and at the Oregon Hearing Research Center and Vollum Institute at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered a key molecule that is part of the machinery that mediates the sense of hearing.

28 Mar 2004

A simple blood test could determine whether older women with diabetes would benefit from, or be harmed by, vitamin doses designed to protect their ailing hearts

A simple blood test could determine whether older women with diabetes would benefit from, or be harmed by, vitamin doses designed to protect their ailing hearts, according to researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

26 Mar 2004

p53 protein peptide stops cancer in its tracks

Researchers have dreamed of thwarting cancer by using proteins that halt cell growth and kill the tumor. In theory, the approach should work. In practice, however, scientists have not had an easy time of getting tumor suppressor proteins into cells where they can block growth effectively.

26 Mar 2004

Supercomputer used to determine structures and functions of proteins

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory are proposing to use a supercomputer originally developed to simulate elementary particles in high-energy physics to help determine the structures and functions of proteins, including, for example, the 30,000 or so proteins encoded by the human genome. Structural information will help scientists better understand proteins’ role in disease and health, and may lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic agents.

26 Mar 2004

Growth factor protein succeeds in growing new coronary arteries

Three patients of the UC Heart & Vascular Center have grown new coronary artery branches to increase blood flow to the heart after receiving a new growth factor protein (FGF1) in November 2003. All three patients showed improved blood flow to the heart twelve weeks following the injection.

26 Mar 2004

Joint Research Collaboration to Predict 3-D Protein Structures and Support Drug Discovery

IBM today announced that the University at Buffalo (UB) Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, The State University of New York, will use IBM technologies and research expertise to study the structure and behavior of human proteins. The outcome of this research could lead to more targeted drugs to treat diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

25 Mar 2004

Researchers turn off individual human genes to study their function

Researchers have produced vast libraries of short segments of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that can be used to turn off individual human and mouse genes to study their function. The libraries will be made widely available to laboratories studying human biology and disease. The researchers are optimistic that the libraries will become a powerful research tool for gene analysis and discovery.

25 Mar 2004

Discovery of new gene sheds light on human brain development

With the identification of the gene responsible for a newly recognized type of mental retardation, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have also discovered what appears to be the key target in the evolution of the frontal lobes of the brain's cerebral cortex. The findings offer a key insight into the complex puzzle of human brain development - and the evolution of human behavior.

25 Mar 2004

A debate over the origins of what is sometimes called "junk" DNA has been settled

A debate over the origins of what is sometimes called "junk" DNA has been settled by research involving scientists at the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology (CARB) and a collaborator, who developed rigorous proof that these mysterious sections were added to DNA "late" in the evolution of life on earth, after the formation of modern-sized genes, which contain instructions for making proteins.

25 Mar 2004

Breakthrough studies that could lead to a new means of combating malaria

EMBL scientists have identified four mosquito proteins that affect the ability of the malaria parasite (Plasmodium) to survive and develop in the malaria-carrier mosquito (Anopheles). This breakthrough could be used to block the transmission of malaria from mosquitoes to humans.

25 Mar 2004

Scientists have taken a significant leap forward in understanding the complex ways that molecules work together in cells.

Although scientists already know a lot about single molecules, they know very little about how they are assembled into larger molecular complexes or "machines" and how these machines work together to create a complete, functioning cell. The problem is like trying to assemble a puzzle with billions of pieces– with only the shapes of some pieces to go on.

25 Mar 2004

Carbon Dioxide may be used in medical implants

Carbon dioxide, an environmentally friendly solvent for dyeing and dry cleaning, may become a valuable new tool for making medical implants, according to a study at Ohio State University.

23 Mar 2004

EU gives 32 million Euro for vaccines to stop tuberculosis

The European Commission today launched the largest-ever collaborative tuberculosis (TB) initiative for World TB-day, March 24. Fifty-two research teams from academia and industry from 15 European and African countries are joining forces with the European Commission to help eradicate TB. Globally, TB kills 2 million people a year, with one-third of the world's population currently infected with the bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). While most cases and deaths occur in developing countries, resistant Mtb strains are mainly found among the poorest people in developed countries, as incomplete treatment increases drug resistance. The European Union is confronting the re-emerging threat of TB by investing €32 million in two overlapping research projects. This cash will be used in an accelerated effort to develop new, effective vaccines to fight TB.

23 Mar 2004

Design of artificial prion may aid fight against mad cow disease

The culprit behind mad cow disease, a.k.a. bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is the most infamous mammalian form of prions. Prions are misfolded proteins that are capable of growing, replicating, and being passed on to daughter cells, that is, they are by themselves heritable. Beyond their disease manifestation, prions also occur naturally in some organisms (such as yeast) and may play important roles in their growth and development. Now, Osherovich and colleagues have identified the amino acid sequences that allow prions to aggregate and replicate, and thereby pass through generations of cells - and prove this by designing an artificial yeast prion that does not exist in nature.

23 Mar 2004

Research suggests protein released from lungs could initiate labour

A protein released from the lungs of a developing mouse fetus initiates a cascade of chemical events leading to the mother's initiation of labor, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.

22 Mar 2004

Risk of kidney stones increases higher if overweight

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found that the more overweight a person is the more at risk he or she is for forming uric acid kidney stones.

22 Mar 2004

Researchers discover new form of the Rett syndrome protein

Adrian Bird and Skirmantas Kriaucionis of the University of Edinburgh have discovered a novel form of the protein MeCP2. This alternate form, coined MeCP2 alpha, differs from the original only in the first 19 amino acids. Interestingly, Adrian Bird, Director of the Welcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology at Edinburgh University, found that MeCP2 alpha, is ten times more prevalent not only in the brain but also in other tissues. These findings are currently reported online in Nucleic Acids Research. Similar findings were reported yesterday in Nature Genetics online by Berge Minassian, a neurologist and scientist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

22 Mar 2004

New research may help treatment of Norrie disease and familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR)

Researchers have discovered that genetic mutations underlying two inherited eye disorders arise in different components of a single intracellular signaling pathway that is responsible for development of blood vessels in the eye.

22 Mar 2004