Biochemistry News and Research

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Computational design used to engineer and construct a protein that could sense the nerve agent soman

Duke University Medical Center biochemists have used computational design to engineer and construct a protein that could sense the nerve agent soman. They said their achievement constitutes a proof-of principle that such engineered proteins can be made to detect nerve agents such as sarin and other toxic substances.

5 Jun 2004

New way to identify cell growth

In a discovery that has relevance in a variety of fields, including human health, UC Riverside Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Frank Sauer and colleagues at UC Riverside, in Germany, and in Wisconsin, have found a new way to identify when a living cell begins to grow.

5 Jun 2004

Parkinson's disease breakthrough

Brandeis scientists have made groundbreaking advances in understanding how the regulations of a novel gene during the cell cycle can lead to a rare familial case of the early onset of Parkinson's disease.

5 Jun 2004

New way to identify when a living cell begins to grow

3 Jun 2004

Scientists reveal the crystal structure of the first described enzymatic RNA

Scientists in the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale revealed the crystal structure of the first described enzymatic RNA - what it looks like and how it reacts - in the journal Nature.

2 Jun 2004

Research laboratory at the forefront of the science of metabolomics

A new $1.8 million research laboratory will catapult Iowa State University to the forefront of the science of metabolomics.

2 Jun 2004

Students win awards for research into liver disease, cancer and insomnia

Targeting a range of diseases and disorders, three University of Houston students won awards at a recent symposium for research in liver disease, cancer and insomnia.

2 Jun 2004

Four critical components of cells' protein-building machine don't do what scientists had long assumed

In the hunt for these details, scientists have focused on four RNA building blocks, or nucleotides, deep within the machine that are identical in every species, from bacteria to humans. Because they sit where the protein chain is actually built, these "universally conserved" nucleotides in the ribosome were thought to help that process.

28 May 2004

New target of a cancer-causing gene

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions have identified a new target of a cancer-causing gene.

27 May 2004

Finding overturns long held ideas about how cells build proteins

Writing in the May 28 issue of Cell, Johns Hopkins researchers report that four critical components of cells' protein-building machine don't do what scientists had long assumed.

27 May 2004

3 or 4 glasses of wine a week can kill cancer cells

It’s well known that drinking red wine in moderation can have some health benefits, mainly attributed to a compound called resveratrol. Now, scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered how.

25 May 2004

Data suggests potential target for Alzheimer's disease treatment

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons have discovered at least one way in which beta-amyloid, the protein that forms stubborn plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients, can kill nerve cells.

25 May 2004

Using gene therapy to fight rheumatoid arthritis

Guided by a similar principle, arthritis researchers at the University of Florida and Harvard University hope to use gene therapy to help joint cells pump out a harmless protein that parks in receptor sites, leaving a notorious inflammatory agent “circling the lot” and unable to cause pain, swelling and possible joint damage.

21 May 2004

Cell division can be halted in multiple ways, with implications for cancer

Brown University researchers have found that there are multiple independent ways to stop cell division, a phenomenon that prevents the spread of genetic mutation, which can make cells cancerous. Results of this research, along with an accompanying editorial, were published in the current issue of the journal Molecular Cell.

20 May 2004

Scientists may have figured out how to use stem cells to regenerate lost or injured tissue

In experiments with fruit flies, Johns Hopkins scientists have restored the insect's sperm-making stem cells by triggering cells on the way to becoming sperm to reverse course. The unexpected findings are described in the May 13 issue of Science.

19 May 2004

Multimillion-dollar electron microscope unveils shapes of viruses and proteins

With a multimillion-dollar electron microscope and computer programs that can pick out the shapes of structures only six atoms wide, Dr. Wah Chiu and his colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston are attempting to explain the intricate structures of viruses and proteins.

19 May 2004

Scientists move closer toward treatment for degenerative diseases

Scientists at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine have discovered a key step that will provide new targets for treatments of many degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cystic Fibrosis and Diabetes.

17 May 2004

Vitamin discovery offers clues for cancer chemotherapy

NH-Dartmouth Medical School cancer researchers, in a fusion of biochemistry and genetics, have discovered a new vitamin in a molecular pathway central to such vital processes as gene regulation, metabolism and aging. And, they found that milk contains this nutrient.

15 May 2004

Researchers identify new genes that control the formation of cilia found throughout the human body

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have used a combination of brainpower and computer power to identify a multitude of new genes that control the formation of tiny, hair-like cilia that stipple the surfaces of many organs in a wide variety of creatures.

14 May 2004

Genomed treatment helps bald eagles with West Nile virus encephalitis

GenoMed, Inc. a Next Generation Disease Management company that uses its expertise in genomics to improve clinical outcomes in as many species as possible, announced today that two non-profit groups which care for wild birds with West Nile virus encephalitis, including American bald eagles, will be using the Company's patent-pending treatment this season.

13 May 2004