The Sagan criteria for life revisited
...lecules that only an astrophysicist could love and transform them into something that ought to fascinate astrobiologists," comments Thomas Wdowiak, an astrophysicist at University of Alabama at Birmingham. "This shows there is a process that takes a rather abundant substance that exists in the universe and con...Bone Marrow Gives Rise To Functioning Liver Cells, University Of Pittsburgh Scientists Discover
... thescene. In this setting they proliferate, then transform into several types offunctional liver cells, thus helping to repair the damaged organ. The origin ofoval cells has remained controversial, although they are known to carry markersalso seen on bone marrow cells. "Our animal experiments using ...Scientists Discover Function For Type III TGF-Beta Receptor
... cell surface receptorsare found on the cells that transform but are missing on the cells that do not." Transfo...mally would not respond-the neighborcells, they do transform in response to TGF-beta." The findings provide strong evidence that the Type III TGF-beta receptor i...What Makes An Arm An Arm And A Leg A Leg
...nces, and have identified a gene that canpartially transform the upper limb of a vertebrate into a structure thatresembles its lower limb. Their findings, published in the March 12 Science,open new doors to understanding how vertebrate limbs acquire their identity.Postdoctoral fellow Malcolm Logan and Clifford...Millennium Clones Diet-Induced Obesity Gene
...tion through patient management, to accelerate and transform thediscovery and development of proprietary therapeutic and diagnostic products andservices. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Millennium and itsaffiliates currently employ more than 700 people. This press release contains forward-looking s...Researchers Find How Two Cancer Genes Interact To Cause Malignancy
...overedhow two cancer-causing genes can interact to transform normal cells intocancerous cells, adding further insight into the long-held theory that cancersrequire mutations in multiple genes. In a paper published in the Feb. 26 issue of Molecular Cell, geneticist JosephNevins and his colleagues report details...By Revving Up Key Gene, Researchers Discover They Can Manipulate The Size Of Cells In Plants
...es work with tobacco cells because they are easyto transform genetically....UD Education News: HHMI Award Supports Undergraduate Discovery
...ynthesis problem-the process by which green plants transform carbondioxide into biomolecules in the presence of sunlight-Yoon shakes his head. Helearned about photosynthesis years ago, he says, by listening to traditionallectures. "I remember memorizing the entire process, step by step," he says."Now, I don't ...Turning "Unrecyclable" Waste Into Plastic Products
...rap yard shredder waste or "fluff" that refuses to transform into anything intrinsically useful. But now researchers at the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick have found a way of using this unpleasant residue to form the basic structure of everyday plastic containers and components. Dr ...New Evidence Shows How Some Flu Viruses Become Lethal
...scovered a new molecular trick some viruses use to transform from dangerous todeadly. In research detailed in the Aug. 18 Proceedings of the National Academyof Sciences, UW-Madison virologists Hideo Goto and Yoshihiro Kawaoka have found a molecular mechanism that allows influenza viruses to cause swee...USGS Scientists Find New Invasive Fish Species In Florida
...r spending part of their life as females, the eels transform into large males. Swamp eels belong to the family Synbranchidae, a group of fishes found in fresh and brackish waters in Central and South America, Africa, and from India east to Australia. These fish are not true eels, in part because they do not m...Spinach Enzymes Neutralize Explosives
...nach and other natural compounds can eat,digestand transform explosives such as TNT. This emerging biotechnol...othercatalyst. During this recycling, the enzymes transform the explosives into another compound, abyproduct of the process. Future research efforts will determ...Hard Hearts: New Discovery Of Bone In Heart Tissue May Explain Valve Disease
...research on the biochemical process by whichvalves transform into bone, could lead to the development of therapies toprevent or treat heart-valve disease. The broader problem of valve calcificationis the leading reason for heart-valve-replacement surgery. According to theAmerican Heart Association, more than 7...Prostate Cancer Switch May Yield Map Of Cancer Machinery, Targets For Drugs
...ively benign stage for many years, but to suddenly transform into a deadlyform that spreads, or metastasises, throughout the body. The scientists are Russ Carstens and Mariano Garcia-Blanco of the DukeUniversity Medical Center department of pharmacology and cancer biology, andWallace McKeehan of Texas...Increased Amount Of Enzyme In Brain May Be Marker Of Alzheimer's Disease
...eurology. Their results suggest that BChE may help transform benignamyloid protein deposits in the brain into the compact plaques associated withthe nerve degeneration and dementia of Alzheimer's disease. Mesulam is the Ruth and Evelyn Dunbar Professor of Psychiatry andBehavioral Science, a professor ...New Description Of Protein May Be Basis For Regulating Cholesterol
...n an internalvessel-like cavity to fold, shape and transform a natural building block - acommon plant alcohol derivative - into a particular product. In this case, theproduct is a terpene molecule that is eventually converted into anantibiotic. The study's lead author is David W. Christianson, a protein cryst...Scientists Determine 3-D Crystal Structure Of Cancer-Causing Protein
...later found to contain a gene with the capacity to transform healthy cellsinto cancer cells. The gene, called src , was identified as a mutatedversion of a gene that is normally present in cells. Rockefeller's HidesaburoHanafusa, Ph.D., Leon Hess Professor, was among the first to provide directevidence for th...Harvard, Duke Researchers Discover 'Off-switch' Inside Human Cells
...roteins, removing a phosphatefrom the G protein to transform it to an inactive state. The Harvard-Duke team is now performing further experiments to understandhow the action of RGS10 itself is regulated within the cell. "While this discovery is clearly important in the signaling processes,we have a long way ...