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Scientists identify blood development gene which may aid the fight against cancer and leukemia

Researchers at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have pinpointed a crucial gene on which the normal development of the body's entire blood system depends. If the gene is absent, even the most basic blood stem cells cannot be generated. In a mutated form, this gene can cause a rare and devastating form of leukemia.

22 Mar 2004

New Theory About Alzheimer's Disease

A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has proposed a new theory about the cause of Alzheimer's disease, the progressive neurodegenerative disorder that currently afflicts some 4.5 million Americans. According to the hypothesis, the disease arises as a consequence of inflammation, which creates abnormal metabolites out of normal brain molecules.

22 Mar 2004

Drug Based on Brain Chemical Could End Narcolepsy and Insomnia

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have discovered a potentially new avenue for treating human narcolepsy, and the work may also lead to more effective ways for insomniacs to boost their wakefulness during the daytime.

22 Mar 2004

Gene Responsible for The Most Common Form of Diabetes

International research teams studying two distinct populations have found variants in a gene that may predispose people to type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. The researchers, who collaborated extensively in their work, report their findings in companion articles in the April issue of Diabetes.

22 Mar 2004

Stem cells and female reproduction: lessons from an unexpected source

Baltimore, MD. The recent findings reported in Nature (March 11, 2004) by Jonathon Tilly’s group at Harvard Medical School, show that female mice produce stem cells that give rise to eggs. This result overturns previous notions about mammalian reproduction, which held that females are born with all the eggs that they will ever have and that the decline in egg quality that occurs after a certain age is due to an extended aging process. What mammalian research has not been able to address at this point, however, is how these stem cells operate, what prompts them to develop into eggs, and why they are eventually lost. To answer these questions we must turn to our cousin the fruitfly.

22 Mar 2004

Molecules That Trigger a Heartbeat

Two biomedical engineering students at Johns Hopkins are mapping the interaction of molecules within a cardiac cell, describing microscopic movements that could be critical for maintaining a healthy heartbeat. The students, seniors Bhuvan Srinivasan and Carol Xiaoying Koh, have presented their findings at two prestigious computational biology conferences and are now collaborating with their faculty supervisor on a paper for a scientific journal.

22 Mar 2004