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Mechanism for the in-vivo transport of siRNA

It all started with flowers: in the nineties of the last century Norwegian researchers discovered that additional copies of a particular gene in petunias inhibited its activity instead of reinforcing it as had been assumed.

18 Sep 2007

Cellular spelunking

The surface of fat cells contains many small pockets called caveolae (because they look like caves in an electron microscope).

18 Sep 2007

Cell death in sparrow brains may provide clues in age-related human diseases

A remarkable change takes place in the brains of tiny songbirds every year, and some day the mechanism controlling that change may help researchers develop treatments for age-related degenerative diseases of the brain such as Parkinson's and dementia.

18 Sep 2007

Effects of modified alternate-day fasting

Researchers report in the October issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that fasting or eating half as much as usual every other day may shrink your fat cells and boost mechanisms that break down fats.

18 Sep 2007

How can a medical center foster a culture of ethics in research?

An article published in the September issue of Academic Medicine, titled "Developing a Research Ethics Consultation Service to Foster Responsive and Responsible Clinical Research," argues for the importance of collaboration between researchers and ethicists and describes the establishment of a new Research Ethics Consultation Service at Weill Cornell Medical College.

17 Sep 2007

The importance of gene regulation for common human disease

A new study published in Nature Genetics on Sunday 16 September 2007 show that common, complex diseases are more likely to be due to genetic variation in regions that control activity of genes, rather than in the regions that specify the protein code.

17 Sep 2007

Digibind offers new hopes for pre-eclampsia cure

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are trying to determine whether a drug already available to heart patients can also be used to delay delivery in expectant mothers with severe preeclampsia.

17 Sep 2007

Link between GERD and obesity in females

A group of scientists recently discovered an association between being overweightand a disease called gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in women.

17 Sep 2007

Powerful new discovery method speeds up gene discovery

Scientists will be able to pinpoint genetic causes of human diseases faster than ever thanks to a powerful new discovery method unveiled by the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) and an international team of researchers.

17 Sep 2007

LL37 peptide provides a new potential target for autoimmune disease

A human peptide that acts as a natural antibiotic against invading microbes can also bind to the body's own DNA and trigger an immune response in the absence of an infection, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in an early online publication in Nature.

17 Sep 2007

TFAP2C gene may be useful target for new breast cancer therapies

University of Iowa researchers have discovered a gene that plays a linchpin role in the ability of breast cancer cells to respond to estrogen.

17 Sep 2007

Immune system police recognize good and bad guys in the body

Immune system police are as good at recognizing bad guys, such as bacteria and viruses, as they are our own tissue, researchers say.

17 Sep 2007

Genetic variant explains why people react differently to smells

Why the same sweaty man smells pleasant to one person and repellant to another comes down to the smeller's genes.

17 Sep 2007

Androstenone determines whether male body odor smells pleasant

New research from Rockefeller University, performed in collaboration with scientists at Duke University in North Carolina, reveals for the first time that this extreme variability in peopl's perception of androstenone is due in large part to genetic variations in a single odorant receptor called OR7D4.

17 Sep 2007

Dendritic cells turn T cells into T regs

Regulatory T cells (also known as T regs) suppress some of the immune system's more inappropriate responses, preventing it from attacking the body's own tissues and stifling its activity once invading microbes have been fought off.

17 Sep 2007

Byproduct of cholesterol metabolism blocks heart health benefits of estrogen

New findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers show that a byproduct of cholesterol metabolism interferes with the beneficial effects estrogen has on the cardiovascular system, providing a better understanding of the interplay between cholesterol and estrogen in heart disease.

17 Sep 2007