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Researchers develop technique to concentrate, manipulate and separate a wide class of swimming bacteria

The technique is based on the transmission of tiny electric current in a very thin film sample cell containing a colony of bacteria. The current produces electrolysis that changes the local pH level in the vicinity of the electrodes.

18 Apr 2007

Assessing exposure to airborne nanomaterials

New methods and tools for measuring exposure to airborne engineered nanomaterials will be required to protect the health of workers in nanotechnology-related jobs, estimated to total 10 million people by 2014, according to two occupational health experts writing in the inaugural issue of the journal Nanotoxicology.

18 Apr 2007

Bacteria barge inside guard cells and initiate a powerful immune response

Immune cells that are the body's front-line defense don't necessarily rest quietly until invading bacteria lock onto receptors on their outside skins and rouse them to action, as previously thought.

18 Apr 2007

Better understanding of membrane fusion

Cells constantly swap cargo bound in vesicles, miniscule membrane-enclosed packages of proteins and other chemicals. Before the swap can take place, the vesicle membrane must fuse with another membrane, creating channels packages can pass through.

18 Apr 2007

Scientists study freezing process at the ultra-small scale

Using what is thought to be the world's smallest pipette, two researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown that tiny droplets of liquid metal freeze much differently than their larger counterparts.

16 Apr 2007

Stranger than science fiction?...Human sperm created from bone marrow

A team of scientists have created primitive human sperm in the laboratory by using bone-marrow tissue from male volunteers.

16 Apr 2007

Potential of nanotechnology in medicine

Scientists are working now to create novel nanostructures that serve as new kinds of drugs for treating cancer, Parkinson's and cardiovascular disease; to engineer nanomaterials for use as artificial tissues that would replace diseased kidneys and livers, and even repair nerve damage; and to integrate nanodevices with the nervous system to create implants that restore vision and hearing, and build new prosthetic limbs.

15 Apr 2007

Mapping rhesus macaque genome helps illuminate what makes us human

Researchers have sequenced the genome of the relatively ancient rhesus macaque ( Macaca mulatta ), providing perspective into how humans are genetically different from our primate relatives.

15 Apr 2007

Macaque genome analysis will improve scientists' ability to identify human genes involved in diseases

Cornell experts in computational biology and bioinformatics have made key contributions to the analysis of the genome of the rhesus macaque, better known as the rhesus monkey.

15 Apr 2007

Hands-on and minds-on approach to school science

In a paper to be presented Thursday, April 12, at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Ronna C.

15 Apr 2007

Understanding of primate evolution advanced

The completed DNA sequence of the rhesus macaque ,an Old World monkey, has advanced understanding of primate evolution and will enhance medical research in neuroscience, behavioral biology, reproductive physiology, endocrinology, heart and blood vessel disease and immunodeficiency, said scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Human Genome Sequencing Center who led the effort.

15 Apr 2007

Gelatin-based nanoparticles deliver therapeutic genes to human breast cancer

Northeastern University professor Mansoor Amiji and graduate student Sushma Kommareddy have published a new paper that examines the potential of engineered gelatin-based nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic genes to human breast cancer tumors implanted in mice.

14 Apr 2007

Scientists discover key player in embryonic muscle development

Muscle fibers are large cells that contain many nuclei. They begin, like all animal cells, as naive embryonic cells. These cells differentiate, producing intermediate cells called myoblasts that are now destined to become muscle.

12 Apr 2007

Analysis of Rhesus monkey genome provides new clues to primate biology

An international consortium of researchers has published the genome sequence of the rhesus macaque monkey and aligned it with the chimpanzee and human genomes.

12 Apr 2007

First measurement of a cellular heartbeat

Researchers have made a breakthrough by detecting the electrical equivalent of a living cell's last gasp. The work takes them a step closer to both seeing the 'heartbeat' of a living cell and a new way to test drugs.

12 Apr 2007

Breakthrough in photoswitchable fluorescent protein science

University of Oregon scientists have identified molecular features that determine the light-emitting ability green fluorescent proteins, and by strategically inserting a single oxygen atom they were able to keep the lights turned off for up to 65 hours.

11 Apr 2007