Biochemistry News and Research

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Compounds that may stop replication of T-cell leukemia virus

Researchers are analyzing several compounds that may inhibit the enzyme that is essential for the reproduction of the Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 (HTLV-I), which has infected 15 to 20 million people worldwide. The virus causes the fatal adult T-cell leukemia in up to 10 percent of those infected.

1 Apr 2004

Discovery of molecule that is part of the machinery that mediates the sense of hearing

A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, at the University of California in San Diego, and at the Oregon Hearing Research Center and Vollum Institute at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered a key molecule that is part of the machinery that mediates the sense of hearing.

28 Mar 2004

Researchers turn off individual human genes to study their function

Researchers have produced vast libraries of short segments of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that can be used to turn off individual human and mouse genes to study their function. The libraries will be made widely available to laboratories studying human biology and disease. The researchers are optimistic that the libraries will become a powerful research tool for gene analysis and discovery.

25 Mar 2004

Tiny Ribozyme package could be future treatment of Hepatitis B virus

Penn State College of Medicine researchers have developed a tiny package that searches for and destroys up to 80 percent of hepatitis B virus in the livers of mice.

22 Mar 2004

Research suggests protein released from lungs could initiate labour

A protein released from the lungs of a developing mouse fetus initiates a cascade of chemical events leading to the mother's initiation of labor, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.

22 Mar 2004

New optical glucose sensor could mean help for diabetics

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a novel optical glucose sensor that could be used to provide continuous monitoring of glucose levels in diabetics and hospitalized patients. Recently published studies showed that the sensor detects glucose under physiological conditions, giving a reversible fluorescent signal that changes intensity in response to changes in the concentration of glucose.

22 Mar 2004