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Kingston University professor receives prestigious prize for work on drug metabolism

The Dean of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing at London's Kingston University has received a prestigious prize recognising her lifetime's work on drug metabolism.

9 Jan 2013

Antibiotics produce changes in microbial and metabolic patterns of the gut

A study co-led by researchers at the Universitat de València reveals that antibiotics produce changes in the microbial and metabolic patterns of the gut.

9 Jan 2013

Body's sodium levels fluctuate rhythmically with 7-day and monthly cycles

Clinical pharmacologist Jens Titze, M.D., knew he had a one-of-a-kind scientific opportunity: the Russians were going to simulate a flight to Mars, and he was invited to study the participating cosmonauts.

9 Jan 2013

Researchers develop new materials to support stem cell growth

Stem cell manufacturing for drug screening and treatments for diseases such as Huntington's and Parkinson's could be boosted by a new method of generating stem cells, a study suggests.

9 Jan 2013

Combination of pazopanib and paclitaxel shows promise in slowing anaplastic thyroid cancer

A combination of the drugs pazopanib and paclitaxel shows promise in slowing anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), according to a Mayo Clinic-led study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

9 Jan 2013

Key link between stem cell factors that fuel ovarian cancer's growth and patient prognosis

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a key link between stem cell factors that fuel ovarian cancer's growth and patient prognosis. The study, which paves the way for developing novel targeted ovarian cancer therapies, is published online in the current issue of Cell Cycle.

9 Jan 2013

Scientists wrestle to understand why Huntington's can produce variable symptoms

Scientists have wrestled to understand why Huntington's disease, which is caused by a single gene mutation, can produce such variable symptoms. An authoritative review by a group of leading experts summarizes the progress relating cell loss in the striatum and cerebral cortex to symptom profile in Huntington's disease, suggesting a possible direction for developing targeted therapies.

9 Jan 2013

Links between rodents' environment, climate and leptospirosis infection

Leptospirosis is a water-related bacterial disease with a high incidence in Southeast Asia. People usually become infected through exposure to water contaminated by the urine of infected animals, mainly rats and mice. In the framework of the CERoPath program, IRD researchers and their partners have revealed the relationship between rodents' environment and infection by leptospirosis bacteria.

9 Jan 2013

Scientists define structure of α-catenin protein

Scientists know that cells in all higher organisms cells need to bind to each other for the development, architecture, maintenance and function of tissues. Mysteries have remained, however, about exactly how cells manage this feat.

9 Jan 2013

Insect research yields insights for muscle control and nerve disorders in mammals

Working with fruit flies, Johns Hopkins scientists have decoded the activity of protein signals that let certain nerve cells know when and where to branch so that they reach and connect to their correct muscle targets. The proteins' mammalian counterparts are known to have signaling roles in immunity, nervous system and heart development, and tumor progression, suggesting broad implications for human disease research.

9 Jan 2013

Researchers use electrokinetic patterning to separate particles and microbes by size

Researchers have demonstrated a new technology that combines a laser and electric fields to create tiny centrifuge-like whirlpools to separate particles and microbes by size, a potential lab-on-a-chip system for medicine and research.

9 Jan 2013

Link between IRGM gene and composition of human gastrointestinal bacteria

New research led by the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and the University of Glasgow, Scotland, has identified a link between a human gene and the composition of human gastrointestinal bacteria.

9 Jan 2013

Scientists describe detailed structure and function of the TFIID protein complex

A research team of scientists from EMBL Grenoble and the IGBMC in Strasbourg, France, have, for the first time, described in molecular detail the architecture of the central scaffold of TFIID: the human protein complex essential for transcription from DNA to mRNA. The study, published today in Nature, opens new perspectives in the study of transcription and of the structure and mechanism of other large multi-protein assemblies involved in gene regulation.

9 Jan 2013

Study demonstrates effects of obesity on 'Taupathies'

In France, more than 860,000 people suffer from Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, making them the largest cause of age-related loss of intellectual function. Cognitive impairments observed in Alzheimer's disease result from the accumulation of abnormal tau proteins in nerve cells undergoing degeneration . We know that obesity, a major risk factor in the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, increases the risk of dementia during the aging process.

9 Jan 2013

New compound restores health of mice with MRSA infection

Researchers have discovered a new compound that restores the health of mice infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an otherwise dangerous bacterial infection. The new compound targets an enzyme not found in human cells but which is essential to bacterial survival.

8 Jan 2013

SNSF-funded professor to receive 2012 National Latsis Prize

On 10 January 2013, Jacques Fellay will receive the National Latsis Prize 2012 at the Rathaus in Berne. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is awarding the Prize to the SNSF-funded professor at EPF Lausanne in recognition of his work on the human genome and its defence mechanisms against viral diseases such as AIDS.

8 Jan 2013

Researchers identify protein that helps prevent obesity

University of Florida researchers and colleagues have identified a protein that, when absent, helps the body burn fat and prevents insulin resistance and obesity.

8 Jan 2013

Study finds a new way in which calcium signaling may be controlled

In a study published in Current Biology, scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center, Marquette University and Oberlin College discovered a new way in which calcium signaling may be controlled. Study authors say their findings define a mechanism for regulating calcium signaling that has never been recognized before and should be of great help to the thousands of scientists who study the extremely important role of calcium signaling in health and disease.

7 Jan 2013

Fluoxetine stimulates production of new neurons from L1-INP cells

The production of new neurons in the adult normal cortex in response to the antidepressant, fluoxetine, is reported in a study published online this week in Neuropsychopharmacology.

7 Jan 2013

New research reveals a shared genetic susceptibility to epilepsy and migraine

New research reveals a shared genetic susceptibility to epilepsy and migraine. Findings published in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), indicate that having a strong family history of seizure disorders increases the chance of having migraine with aura (MA).

7 Jan 2013