Zebrafish's powerful heart gene could lead to transplant therapy
...earchers could theoretically use this technique to cultivate andharvest such genetically modified cells in the petri dish and then transplantthem into people with failing hearts. "Discovery of a gene that could convert human embryonic stem cells intomyocardial cells would be golden," said Didier Stainier, PhD,......ars-Sinai: "It's very fertile ground upon which to cultivate a ventricularassist device program." Shortly after arriving at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Magliato implanted a new-generationventricular assist device into the chest of Harland Allen (Al) Nuckols, aMission Viejo resident who has suffered four heart attacks s...Biology, engineering jointly train students in neuro-mechanics
...ion and research training. The agency's goal is to cultivate more well-rounded scientists and engineers with greater interdisciplinary competence. The grant will support research, courses, travel to conferences in this field and funds to bring the "stars" of neuro-mechanics to campus to interact with students......mplexmicrobial communities without having to first cultivate bacteria in a lab, whichis often difficult. Such applications of the tools of molecular biology have revised scientists'notions of the actual enormous diversity of microbial species; most nowacknowledge that only 1 percent to 10 percent of all microb...Ant-Fungus Relationship May Provide New Clues About Antibiotics
...fungus-growing, or attine, ants andthe fungus they cultivate and eat has long been considered a model of symbiosis.But researchers at the University of Toronto have found that another factor--Streptomyces bacteria-- maintains this mutualism. Carried on the ants' bodies,the bacterium produces an antibiotic that...Researchers Find That Where There's Muck There's DNA Brass
...chuse. However, researchers have only been able to cultivate 1% of the biologicalmatter found in soil. The rest of this vast biological reservoir exists only inminute quantities, as fragments of full organisms, or in quiescent states thatrequire very precise conditions for re-activation. Thus, over 99% of the ...Duke Studies Show That Environmental Effects Of Dams Extend To Insect Life
...ung trees and carry them away to their colonies to cultivate a fungus theyfeed on. Rao found these leaf cutter ants seem to thrive on the very smallislands that some butterflies avoid. In fact, her systematic census showed anaverage of 5.6 leaf cutter ant colonies per hectare on the smallest islands,co......mers will be tempted to use these dryconditions to cultivate their fields earlier. This will force the birds to flyfurther north for acceptable nesting areas. Malcolm says a changing climatecould cause even further upheavals in an ecosystem that has already been heavilyinfluenced by human activities. For examp...