Medical Science News

RSS

Scientists map the entire active protein inventory in cells

Scientists have shown how cutting-edge methods can be used to catalogue the entire inventory of active proteins in cell organelles at a particular moment. Their work sheds considerable light on how cells use proteins.

29 May 2006

In vivo, in vitro, in silico

Prof. Jens Reich, Biomathematician and member of the German National Ethics Council, is one of the scientists within the Systems Biology competence network HepatoSys who is on the scent of a major mystery of life.

17 May 2006

Small molecule interactions were central to the origin of life

In an important new paper forthcoming in the June issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, Robert Shapiro (New York University) argues against the widely held theory that the origin of life began with the spontaneous appearance of a large, replicating molecule such as RNA.

17 May 2006

3D map of the structure of the enzyme D-xylose isomerase

An innovative collaboration among scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fox Chase Cancer Center and the University of Tennessee has successfully applied neutron diffraction to create a three-dimensional map of the structure of the enzyme D-xylose isomerase.

16 May 2006

Dynamics of drying DNA droplets on glass surfaces

Coffee drinkers are familiar with the ring-shaped stains that result from spilled drops that have dried, in which the brown stain is not evenly distributed, but instead concentrated at the edge.

11 May 2006

Scientists detect cancer genes with new algorithm

Researchers at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences have developed a new algorithm that enhances the ability to detect a cancer gene, and have applied their algorithm to map the set of tumor-suppressor genes involved in lung cancer.

10 May 2006

Silica nanoparticles shown to boost reflection of ultrasonic energy

Targeted nanoparticles may eventually help physicians detect the very earliest stages of cancer using readily available ultrasound equipment, a new study from investigators at The Ohio State University suggests.

9 May 2006

Advancing nanoparticle-based imaging and therapy of brain cancer

Brain cancer is one of the most difficult malignancies to detect and treat, in large part because of the difficulty in getting imaging and therapeutic agents past the so-called blood-brain barrier and into the brain.

9 May 2006

Nanoparticle system for imaging and delivering drugs to tumors

By melding magnetic and luminescent properties with an easily modified surface, a team of investigators at the National Research Council of Canada have created what could prove to be a highly versatile nanoparticle system for imaging and delivering drugs to tumors.

9 May 2006

Scientists assemble a complete viral coat around a gold nanoparticle

Using a short piece of DNA as a template, a team of investigators at North Carolina State University has assembled a complete viral coat around a gold nanoparticle.

9 May 2006

Scientists discover molecular security mechanism for keeping gene mutations in check

Everyone knows mutations - genetic mistakes in DNA, the material of heredity - are bad: The more mutations in the cell's DNA, the higher the risk of cancer developing.

8 May 2006

Gene silencing protein discovered

A team of researchers, including biologists at Washington University in St. Louis, has discovered the key role one protein plays in a major turn-off -in this case, the turning off of thousands of nearly identical genes in a hybrid plant.

8 May 2006

Allergy-free soybeans

Researchers have isolated two Chinese soybean lines that grow without the primary protein linked to soy allergies in children and adults.

8 May 2006

Novel protein JHDM2A offers new look at male hormone regulation

For the second time in less than a year, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have purified a novel protein and have shown it can alter gene activity by reversing a molecular modification previously thought permanent.

8 May 2006

New approaches to genetic disease, based on cells' own ability to correct themselves

New approaches to genetic disease, based on cells' own ability to correct themselves, will be outlined today at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

8 May 2006

Scientists learn valuable lesson from nature - secret behind nature's medicines

After years of wondering how organisms managed to create self-medications, such as anti-fungal agents, chemists have discovered the simple secret.

3 May 2006

New technology to identify and engineer protease substrates

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have developed a new biotechnology that enables scientists to identify and engineer protease substrates, giving them the means of crafting pharmaceuticals to outsmart disease.

3 May 2006

Hormones may affect how brain listens

From zebra fish to humans, reproductive hormones govern behavioral responses to courtship signals.

3 May 2006

Scientists create leaner and meaner E. coli

By stripping the E. coli genome of vast tracts of its genetic material - hundreds of apparently inconsequential genes - a team of Wisconsin researchers has created a leaner and meaner version of the bacterium that is a workhorse of modern biology and industry.

3 May 2006

Comprehensive analysis of the human and mouse transcriptomes

An international consortium of scientists, including a team from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), is a step closer to the next generation of treatments to combat disease, after publishing a comprehensive analysis of the human and mouse transcriptomes.

3 May 2006