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American Association of Anatomist announces winners of Young Investigator Awards

The American Association of Anatomist's (AAA) Young Investigator Awards combine three long-standing AAA awards-Bensley, Herrick, and Mossman-with the Morphological Sciences Award, all recognizing investigators in the early stages of their careers who have made important contributions to biomedical science through their research in cell/molecular biology, developmental biology, comparative neuroanatomy, or the morphological sciences.

12 Dec 2012

UBC researcher helps create new gel that could glue blood vessels back together

A University of British Columbia researcher has helped create a gel - based on the mussel's knack for clinging to rocks, piers and boat hulls - that can be painted onto the walls of blood vessels and stay put, forming a protective barrier with potentially life-saving implications.

12 Dec 2012

TKI-resistant human leukemia stem cells are the source of genomic instability

An international team of scientists, led by researchers from Temple University School of Medicine, has found that a source of mounting genomic chaos, or instability, common to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) may lie in a pool of leukemia stem cells that are immune to treatment with potent targeted anticancer drugs.

12 Dec 2012

Drugs that bind to specific serotonin receptors can improve and impair female sexual function

Drugs that bind to specific serotonin receptors in the brain can both improve and impair female sexual function in non-human primates.

12 Dec 2012

Scientists determine specific genetic switches that sync liver activity to the circadian cycle

When it's dark, and we start to fall asleep, most of us think we're tired because our bodies need rest. Yet circadian rhythms affect our bodies not just on a global scale, but at the level of individual organs, and even genes.

12 Dec 2012

Link between CTNNA3 gene mutations and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Unfortunately, newspaper articles about young athletes dying suddenly on the field are not unheard of. Such reports fuel discussions about compulsory screening, for example of young footballers, for heart failure. Research by scientists from Ghent (VIB/UGent) and Italy will benefit these screening methods.

12 Dec 2012

Epi-marks can lead to homosexuality

Epigenetics - how gene expression is regulated by temporary switches, called epi-marks - appears to be a critical and overlooked factor contributing to the long-standing puzzle of why homosexuality occurs.

12 Dec 2012

U-M devises new system to capture and study circulating tumor cells

A glass plate with a nanoscale roughness could be a simple way for scientists to capture and study the circulating tumor cells that carry cancer around the body through the bloodstream.

12 Dec 2012

Oncogene-induced senescence could play a key role in future cancer therapy

Cell aging, or cellular senescence, has an important role in the natural physiological response to tumor development. Activated oncogenes are able to induce senescence, and recent findings have suggested that oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) could play a key role in future cancer therapy.

12 Dec 2012

Edith and Peter O'Donnell Awards to recognize Texas researchers on Jan.17

The Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science of Texas (TAMEST) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2013 Edith and Peter O'Donnell Awards who will be honored during a banquet on Thursday, January 17, 2013, in conjunction with TAMEST's 10th Annual Conference at the Westin Galleria Hotel in Dallas.

12 Dec 2012

Emotion helps us recognize words quicker and more accurately straight away

Does the emotion in our voice have a lasting effect? According to Annett Schirmer and colleagues from the National University of Singapore, emotion helps us recognize words quicker and more accurately straight away.

12 Dec 2012

New collaborative model for drug discovery can ensure antibiotics are not lost to resistance

Noting "multidrug-resistant organisms are showing up in top-flight hospitals" around the world, Carl Nathan, chair of the department of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, writes in this New York Times opinion piece, "What makes the rapid loss of antibiotics to drug resistance particularly alarming is that we are failing to make new ones."

12 Dec 2012

Researchers decipher mechanism by which anophelin binds to thrombin

An international project lead by the Molecular and Cell Biology Institute of Porto University with the participation of researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) has, for the first time ever, deciphered the mechanism by which a substance called anophelin binds to an enzyme (thrombin) involved in the process of blood coagulation.

12 Dec 2012

Activated astrocytes could play a harmful role in Alzheimer's disease

A research team composed of University of Kentucky researchers has published a paper which provides the first direct evidence that activated astrocytes could play a harmful role in Alzheimer's disease.

12 Dec 2012

Study identifies KNDy neurons as a likely control switch of hot flushes

Hot flushes affect millions of people, and not just women. Yet, it is still unclear what causes the episodes of temperature discomfort, often accompanied by profuse sweating.

12 Dec 2012

Blocking myeloid-derived suppressor cells after lymphopenia improves adoptive T-cell therapy

Researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center have found that delayed tumor growth and enhanced survival of mice bearing melanoma were possible by blocking the reconstitution of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and Tregs (suppressors of anti-tumor activity) after total body irradiation had eliminated them. Blocking myeloid-derived suppressor cells and regulatory T-cell reconstitution improved adoptive T-cell therapy, an immunotherapy designed to suppress tumor activity.

12 Dec 2012