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Tiny fluorescent crystals barely visible to the human eye that could revolutionise cancer diagnosis

Scientists funded by the Association for International Cancer Research have developed tiny fluorescent crystals barely visible to the human eye that could revolutionise cancer diagnosis and treatment in a big way.

26 May 2005

Scientists watch agents of brain-wasting diseases invade and move within brain cells

Scientists for the first time have watched agents of brain-wasting diseases, called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), as they invade a nerve cell and then travel along wire-like circuits to points of contact with other cells.

25 May 2005

Scientists show nuclear protein Ezh2 helps establish previously unknown signaling pathway in cells

Since 2001, scientists have wrestled with the discovery that there are fewer genes in humans than biological processes linked to those genes over the course of a human lifespan. One way to understand genetically coded events is by studying epigenetics, the regulation and heritability of genes at a cellular level due to molecular changes to the many proteins (called histones) that package DNA in a cell's nucleus.

23 May 2005

Secrets of how the brain is wired for sex revealed

There are two brain structures that a mouse just can't do without when it comes to hooking up with the mate of its dreams--and trying to stay off the lunch menu of the neighborhood cat. These are the amygdala, which is involved in the initial response to cues that signal love or war, and the hypothalamus, which coordinates the innate reproductive or defensive behaviors triggered by these cues.

23 May 2005

Embryonic body wash controls left-right development

Humans and other animals may appear to be symmetrical on the outside, but symmetry is only skin deep. Many body organs, such as the stomach, the heart and the liver, are tipped to the right or left side. So how does the developing embryo distinguish left from right?

20 May 2005

Britain's Royal Society contributes little to medical science

The Royal Society today has contributed little to medical science and should undergo an urgent review of its purpose and programmes, states an editorial in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

19 May 2005

Scientists clone human patients for stem cells

The team of South Korean scientists who cloned the first human embryo to use for research have now have used the same technology to create batches of embryonic stem cells from nine patients.

19 May 2005

Valium puts humans and amoeba to sleep

Biologists at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have discovered that the popular sedative Valium has similar effects on the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum as it does in humans. Their surprising finding that Valium, as well as a "natural Valium" molecule found in human brains, causes the social amoeba to enter a dormant or "sleep" phase, may provide new insights into how cells in higher organisms, including humans, communicate with each other.

16 May 2005

Disabling gene defuses rheumatoid arthritis in mice

Scientists studying mice have identified a gene that allows immune cells known as neutrophils to protect themselves from the inflammatory chemicals they secrete.

16 May 2005

Brains of one species of mouse actually shrink during the winter

The brains of one species of mouse actually shrink during the winter, causing the mice to have more difficulty with some types of learning, a new study found.

15 May 2005

Humans more prone to cancer than chimpanzees

Chimpanzees and humans share a common ancestor, and even today 99 percent of the two species' DNA is identical. But since the paths of man and chimp diverged 5 million years ago, that one percent of genetic difference appears to have changed humans in an unexpected way: It could have made people more prone to cancer.

15 May 2005

Vitamin A's paradoxical role in influencing symmetry during embryonic development revealed

In this week's journal Nature, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report that they have solved one of the "holy grail" puzzles of developmental biology: the existence of a mechanism that insures that the exterior of our bodies is symmetrical while inner organs are arranged asymmetrically.

11 May 2005

Virus that targets and kills glioblastoma

Yale School of Medicine scientists have identified a virus that targets and kills glioblastoma, a deadly type of human brain tumor resistant to current medical or surgical treatment, according to a study published as the cover article in the Journal of Virology.

11 May 2005

Laboratory model of immune system overcomes ethical constraints on studies of hematopoietic stem cells in humans

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have joined with colleagues at several other institutions to develop a laboratory model of the human immune system. This model will allow scientists to study ways for improving the results of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation without putting patients at risk.

10 May 2005

Smell may play a big role in selecting your potential mate

Your nose, whether big or small, male or female, heterosexual or homosexual, may play a big role in selecting your potential mate. According to scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, one person's preference for another person's body odor depends in part upon the gender and sexual orientation of both sender and receiver.

9 May 2005

GM mice live longer and give hope for anti-aging treatments

U.S. scientists have produced genetically modified mice that live 20 per cent longer than normal and may have possibly discovered an approach to extending the human lifespan.

8 May 2005

Mosaic Analysis with Double Markers (MADM) - A powerful new tool to study diseases and genetics

A powerful laboratory technique used by fruit fly geneticists for more than a decade is now available to scientists studying genes and diseases in mice.

5 May 2005

Scientists extend the lifespan of mice

Scientists at the University of Washington and their colleagues at other research centers have found a way to significantly extend the lifespan of mice while reducing the impact of the aging process. Their study, which will be published online by the journal Science on May 5, lends more credence to the free-radical theory of aging.

5 May 2005

Neutrophils dictate whether our immune system will permit or prevent bacterial infections

New research on a bacterium that can survive encounters with specific immune system cells has strengthened scientists' belief that these plentiful white blood cells, known as neutrophils, dictate whether our immune system will permit or prevent bacterial infections.

5 May 2005

Cancer hijacks normal wound-healing processes

Scientists have known for the last decade that a link exists between wound healing and cancer. For instance, in a 1994 experiment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, chickens infected with a cancer virus developed tumors in areas of their body that had undergone wounding or scarring, while no tumors developed in infected areas that had not suffered wounding.

5 May 2005