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Scientists find new mechanism by which brain cells can be damaged during chronic neurodegenerative diseases

Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have targeted a new culprit and method of attack on neurologic functions in diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia associated with HIV.

7 Nov 2005

Gene silencing and microRNA discovery

One of the body's primary strategies for regulating its genome is a kind of targeted gene silencing orchestrated by small molecules called microRNAs, or miRNAs.

7 Nov 2005

New way to generate genetically altered influenza virus

In the event of an influenza pandemic, the world's vaccine manufacturers will be in a race against time to forestall calamity.

1 Nov 2005

How the brain tracks time is essential to understanding all its functions

The brain is a "time machine," assert Duke neuroscientists Catalin Buhusi and Warren Meck. And understanding how the brain tracks time is essential to understanding all its functions. The brain's internal clocks coordinate a vast array of activities from communicating, to orchestrating movement, to getting food, they said.

30 Oct 2005

Analytical method to trace the lineage trees of cells

Some fundamental outstanding questions in science - "Where do stem cells originate?" "How does cancer develop?" "When do cell types split off from each other in the embryo?" - might be answered if scientists had a way to map the history of the body's cells going back to the fertilized egg.

30 Oct 2005

Cichlid fish provide better understanding of the genetic factors that regulate bone shape

Researchers at the Forsyth Institute have discovered that the genes that influence the jaws of cichlid fish, tropical freshwater fish renowned for head shape diversity, offer insight into overall vertebrate diversity.

30 Oct 2005

Trigger discovered that causes stem cells embryos to start developing into organs

They have apparently discovered the chemical trigger that causes stem cells from embryos to start developing into organs, raising the possibility of parts of the body being able to repair their own damage.

30 Oct 2005

HapMap will give clues to many common diseases

Researchers say that they have completed a map that charts patterns of human genetic variation in the world population, to better understand human biology, evolution and how to diagnose diseases.

27 Oct 2005

New understanding of how neurogenesis occurs

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a crucial cellular signal that controls the fate of stem cells in the brains of adult mice.

27 Oct 2005

Scientists have identified the gene which explains why eggs fail to produce a zygote

Scientists have identified the gene responsible for controlling a first key step in the creation of new life, according to new research published in the journal Nature.

27 Oct 2005

Mechanisms of evolution may be associated with disease

By comparing the human genome with that of the chimpanzee, man's closest living relative, researchers have discovered that chunks of similar DNA that have been flipped in orientation and reinserted into chromosomes are hundreds of times more common in primates than previously thought.

26 Oct 2005

Gold nanorods injected into the bloodstream may be used to develop an advanced medical imaging tool

Researchers at Purdue University have taken a step toward developing a new type of ultra-sensitive medical imaging technique that works by shining a laser through the skin to detect tiny gold nanorods injected into the bloodstream.

25 Oct 2005

New technique reveals the strength of bones

Scientists have developed a technique which can be used to reveal the strength of bones, allowing doctors to more accurately estimate the risk of bone fracture.

25 Oct 2005

How cells use very slow biological flows to signal and organize

An EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) team led by professor Melody Swartz has demonstrated for the first time that the presence of very slow biological flows affects the extracellular environment in ways that are critical for tissue formation and cell migration.

25 Oct 2005

Identification of gene in mosquitoes that helps them to fight off infection by the Plasmodium parasite

Researchers have identified a gene in mosquitoes that helps the insects to fight off infection by the Plasmodium parasite, which causes malaria in humans. Anopheles mosquitoes transmit the malaria parasite to nearly 550 million people worldwide each year with these cases resulting in more than 2 million deaths annually.

25 Oct 2005

C. elegans, free-living soil nematodes, pave way for better anesthetics

Ten genes that may make patients more or less susceptible to a common anesthetic agent have been identified by researchers using tiny worms and sophisticated technology that eliminates the activity of individual genes.

23 Oct 2005

Natural antifreeze protein may help store human organs

A new antifreeze protein discovered in tiny snow fleas by Queen's University researchers may lengthen the shelf life of human organs for transplantation.

23 Oct 2005

Mixed carbon nanotubes and standard urban particulates suggests a risk of thrombosis from airborne pollution

Carbon nanoparticles - both those unleashed in the air by engine exhaust and the engineered structures thought to have great potential in medical applications - promote blood-clotting, scientists report in an upcoming edition of the British Journal of Pharmacology.

23 Oct 2005

Neurobiologists gain new insights into brain and memory

We often make unwise choices although we should know better. Thunderstorm clouds ominously darken the horizon. We nonetheless go out without an umbrella because we are distracted and forget. But do we?

19 Oct 2005

Discovery increases the yield of stem cells from umbilical cord blood

A team of bioengineers led by the University of Toronto has discovered a way to increase the yield of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, to an extent which could broaden therapeutic use of these cells.

18 Oct 2005