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Nanotechnology and biochemistry provide new way to study T cell signaling

Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley, combining nanotechnology with biochemistry, have created unique synthetic membranes that, for the first time ever, enable them to directly control signaling activity in living T cells from the immune system. Already their experiments have yielded surprising results.

21 Nov 2005

Possible viral cause of Kawasaki disease identified

In an important discovery in infectious disease research, a team of scientists from Northwestern University has identified a possible viral cause of Kawasaki disease, the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children in developed nations.

20 Nov 2005

Link between diet and epileptic seizures studied

Although the high-fat, calorie-restricted ketogenic diet (KD) has long been used to prevent childhood epileptic seizures that are unresponsive to drugs, physicians have not really understood exactly why the diet works.

13 Nov 2005

MIT speeds up robotic muscles

Robots, both large and micro, can potentially go wherever it's too hot, cold, dangerous, small or remote for people to perform any number of important tasks, from repairing leaking water mains to stitching blood vessels together.

7 Nov 2005

New high-resolution data on intact ribosome

A new, sharper picture of the nano-machine that translates our genetic program into proteins promises to help researchers explain how some types of antibiotics work and could lead to the design of better ones.

7 Nov 2005

Scientists discover molecular structure related to cell growth and cancer

Researchers discovered a special type of molecular structure that helps keep genes properly turned off until the structure is ejected from those genes in a regulated manner to help turn the genes on.

23 Oct 2005

Electron-beam computed tomography - a more accurate replacement for coronary catheterizations

Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for detecting a dangerous congenital heart abnormality that could cause sudden death, according to research by a Saint Louis University radiologist published last month in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

10 Oct 2005

New insights that advance the current model of protein motility and muscle contraction

Scientists from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of Vermont have captured the first 3-dimensional (3D) atomic-resolution images of the motor protein myosin V as it "walks" along other proteins, revealing new structural insights that advance the current model of protein motility and muscle contraction.

3 Oct 2005

Scientists measure with unprecedented accuracy the strengths of hydrogen bonds in a protein

The scientists were then able to predict the function of different versions of the protein based on structural information, a novel outcome that was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

3 Oct 2005

Dilute bleach neutralizes the mold allergens that cause most mold-related health complaints

Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center have demonstrated that dilute bleach not only kills common household mold, but may also neutralize the mold allergens that cause most mold-related health complaints.

22 Sep 2005

Molecular pathway in mice that makes prostate cells vulnerable to cancer-causing oxygen damage

Scientists from Maryland and New Jersey have identified a molecular pathway in mice that makes prostate cells vulnerable to cancer-causing oxygen damage.

19 Sep 2005

African-American women with mitochondrial DNA variant are at increased risk of breast cancer

African-American women who carry the 10398A mitochondrial DNA allele are 60 percent more likely to develop invasive breast cancer than African-American females without that genetic marker, according to research published in the September 1 issue of "Cancer Research."

1 Sep 2005

New way to "image" the internal chemistry of bacteria

As part of the search for better ways to track and clean up soil contaminants, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a new way to "image" the internal chemistry of bacteria.

29 Aug 2005

Using muscle tissue from tarantulas scientists discover how muscles relax

Using muscle tissue from tarantulas, an HHMI international research scholar and his colleagues have figured out the detailed structure and arrangement of the miniature molecular motors that control movement.

24 Aug 2005

Chemists synthesize new class of carbenes - potential for pharmaceutical industry

Chemists at the University of California, Riverside have synthesized a new class of carbenes - molecules that have unusual carbon atoms - that is expected to have wide applications in the pharmaceutical industry, ultimately resulting in a reduction in the price of drugs.

22 Aug 2005

Analytical tool to help detect cancer

Scientists have long used ultra-fine glass tubes known as capillaries to analyze the chemical makeup of substances. Called capillary electrophoresis, or CE, the method applies high voltage to the capillaries, and by measuring the rate that the various materials move through the capillaries, researchers are able to identify individual compounds.

16 Aug 2005

Electron-beam computed tomography best for evaluating adults with congenital defects in the heart arteries

Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for identifying which adult patients face the greatest risk of sudden death from congenital abnormalities in the arteries supplying blood to the heart, according to a study in the September 2005 issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

13 Aug 2005

New breast cancer genes detected using cutting edge technology

Scientists in the UK say they have detected four new genes believed to be involved in the development of breast cancer.

4 Aug 2005

New insights into dietary divergences between some of our human ancestors

A Penn State researcher is part of the team that developed techniques that have generated insights into dietary divergences between some of our human ancestors, allowing scientists to better understand the evolutionary path that led to the modern-day diets that humans consume.

3 Aug 2005

New way to prevent macular degeneration

Two studies from an unusual research partnership at the University of Chicago appear to have resolved a long-standing dispute about the role of melanin in the eye. The studies, one published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and one early online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), also suggest a new way to prevent a common cause of blindness.

28 Jul 2005