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Discovery of better treatment for bacterial pneumonia

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have demonstrated a more effective treatment for bacterial pneumonia following influenza.

9 Jan 2009

Biologist finds plant polymerases IV and V are really variants of polymerase II

It's a little like finding out that Superman is actually Clark Kent. A team of biologists at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that two vital cellular components, nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V (Pol IV and V), found only in plants, are actually specialized forms of RNA Polymerase II, an essential enzyme of all eukaryotic organisms, including humans.

6 Jan 2009

Brain deletion of FK506-binding protein enhances repetitive behaviors in mice

A new study reveals a link between dysregulation of a common signaling pathway and repetitive behaviors similar to those associated with multiple neurological and neurodegenerative disorders including, autism spectrum disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Huntington's disease.

10 Dec 2008

Scientists uncover new RNA processing mechanism and a new class of small RNAs

A very small fraction of our genetic material - about 2% - performs the crucial task scientists once thought was the sole purpose of the genome: to serve as a blueprint for the production of proteins, the molecules that make cells work and sustain life.

26 Nov 2008

Neuroscientists discover a critical early step of memory formation

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine report in the July issue of Neuron how nerve cells in the brain ensure that Arc, a protein critical for memory formation, is made instantly after nerve stimulation. Paradoxically, its manufacture involves two other proteins - including one linked to mental retardation - that typically prevent proteins from being made.

14 Sep 2008

Receptor activation protects retina from diabetes destruction

A drug known for it pain-relieving power and believed to stimulate memory appears to prevent this retinal damage that leads to vision loss, researchers say.

9 Sep 2008

Evolution in the ribosome

A new study of the ribosome, the cell's protein-building machinery, sheds light on the oldest branches of the evolutionary tree of life and suggests that differences in ribosomal structure between the three main branches of that tree are "molecular fossils" of the early evolution of protein synthesis.

18 Aug 2008

Cell mechanism discovery may lead to new treatments for cystic fibrosis, other inherited diseases

Researchers in Japan and Canada have discovered a key component of the quality control mechanism that operates inside human cells - sometimes too well. The breakthrough has significant implications for the development of new treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF) and some other hereditary diseases, the researchers say. Their results were published July 25 in the journal Science.

29 Jul 2008

Researchers discover that learning suffers if brain transcript isn't transported far out to end of neurons

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have solved a mystery that lies at the heart of human learning, and they say the solution may help explain some forms of mental retardation as well as provide clues to overall brain functioning.

10 Jul 2008

Scientists fortify the cassava plant - a day's nutrition in a single meal

Scientists have determined how to fortify the cassava plant, a staple root crop in many developing countries, with enough vitamins, minerals and protein to provide the poor and malnourished with a day's worth of nutrition in a single meal.

30 Jun 2008

RNA toxicity contributes to neurodegenerative disease

Expanding on prior research performed at the University of Pennsylvania, Penn biologists have determined that faulty RNA, the blueprint that creates mutated, toxic proteins, contributes to a family of neurodegenerative disorders in humans.

27 May 2008

RNA toxicity contributes to neurodegenerative disease

21 May 2008

Suicide victims who were abused have genetic brain difference

Canadian researchers have found that childhood abuse victims who later commit suicide have marked genetic differences in their brains.

7 May 2008

Beta arrestins found to generate new proteins

Duke University Medical Center researchers have recently discovered that a crucial communications pathway in cells not only stops cells from making proteins, it also makes them go. The team was able to define the way in which proteins called beta arrestins (for their role in stopping signals) also turn on pathways that ultimately lead to the production of new proteins in virtually all tissues in the body.

24 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

Common molecule tRNA involved in building protein can trigger cancer

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered that a common molecule previously known to play a fundamental role in building protein, can also trigger cancer.

7 Apr 2008

Ibuprofen and acetaminophen shown to increase muscle mass and muscle strength

Taking daily recommended dosages of ibuprofen and acetaminophen caused a substantially greater increase over placebo in the amount of quadriceps muscle mass and muscle strength gained during three months of regular weight lifting, in a study by physiologists at the Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University.

7 Apr 2008

Keeping in good shape in old age is harder for women

Women aged 65-plus find it harder than men of the same age to preserve muscle - which probably impacts on their ability to stay as strong and fit, according to new research.

28 Mar 2008

First detailed look at the molecular pathways underlying sleep apnea

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have provided, for the first time, a detailed look at the molecular pathways underlying sleep apnea, which affects more than twelve million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health.

20 Mar 2008

Structure reveals how cells 'sugar-coat' proteins - process essential to many proteins' functions can lead to disease when gone awry

Biologists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, and the University of Wurzburg, Germany, have deciphered the structure of a large protein complex responsible for adding sugar molecules to newly formed proteins - a process essential to many proteins' functions.

11 Mar 2008