Researchers identify protein promoting vascular tumor growth
... mentor to Gordillo on this research. The trick will be regulating MCP-1 levels safely, because the protein also is called to action to help wounds heal. Macrophages recruited in these cases make free radicals and promote angiogenesis that is beneficial in the wound-healing process. "T...The book opens on the first tree genome
...JGI computational genomics department head. "The trick will be in figuring out how these similar gene sets have been customized and redeployed in poplar to generate a large woody plant instead of a small weed. We're currently comparing the poplar sequence with the genomes of rice and Arabidopsis to shed ...Endangered species list more bleak than originally thought
...ple, are restricted to a single host species. The trick was in trying to determine how many other species could act as hosts and factoring that degree of dependence into the study." The researchers believe these processes have been largely overlooked in the past because some of the most susceptible organi...The search for a kinder, gentler chemotherapy
...developed nano-sized particles that can target and trick cancer cells into absorbing them. Once inside, the particles may soon be able to deliver a pharmaceutical payload, killing the tumor from within, avoiding the destruction of healthy cells responsible for much of the damage caused by traditional chemo...Bacteria use 'molecular lasso' to cop copper
...hane before it can reach the atmosphere use a neat trick to gather a key nutrient for the job. They produce a small organic compound and release it into the surrounding environment, where it "lassos" atoms of copper. The bacteria then reabsorb the compound and use the copper as a weapon against methane, fr...Muscles are smarter than you think
...le membranes stay excitable.' 'It is a very clever trick because rested muscles need the chloride effect normally to prevent them spontaneously contracting. The acidity produced by the strenuous exercise reduces chloride's stabilising effect, enabling the impulses to keep exciting the muscle when they woul...The first engineering of cell surfaces in living animals
...nds is stable under physiological conditions. The trick is to get the azide half of the reaction to show up on cell surfaces. In cell cultures, this is done by diffusing into the cells a precursor, containing the azide group, of a commonly expressed form of oligosaccharide, or sugar, that includes sialic ...Brain's reward circuitry revealed in procrastinating primates
...the researchers played a similar recombinant decoy trick targeted at the gene that codes for receptors for another neurotransmitter abundant in the rhinal cortex: NMDA (N-methlD-aspartate). Three monkeys lacking the NMDA receptor in the rhinal cortex showed no impairment in reward learning, confirming that...Finding the hole in the defenses of cavity-creating microbes
...ia happily ensconced in red meat perform a similar trick as they travel through the human digestive system. Another harmful bacterium, Listeria, changes its membrane properties to allow it to live even in the cool temperatures of the refrigerator. Matching the bacteria's abilities, however, are various hu...Mimicking humpback whale flippers may improve airplane wing design
...ed hammerhead shark head may act like a wing. The trick now is to figure out how to incorporate the advantage of the tubercle flipper into manmade designs, said Fish. The research team now plans to perform a systematic engineering investigation of the role of scalloped leading edges on lift increase, drag...Transplant rejection averted by simple light exposure in Stanford animal study
...ransplantation to avoid harmful side effects. "The trick is deplete the host Langerhans cells in a manner that doesn't cause other unwanted effects," he said....UCLA chemists develop new coating for nanoscale probes
...rve as 'Halloween costumes' for the particles, and trick the live cell into thinking that the nanoparticles are benign, protein-like entities," said Shimon Weiss, UCLA professor of chemistry and a member of the university's California NanoSystems Institute. "As a result, we can use these coated particles t...Genetic trick adapted from viruses makes gene therapy vectors more versatile
A genetic trick used by viruses to replicate themselves has been a...ork efficiently. Because it only borrows a genetic trick from viruses but does not cause a real infection, the technique may increase the usefulness of curre...New software developed at Rensselaer predicts promising ingredients for new drugs
...d from the National Science Foundation. "The trick with drug discovery is to have the drug molecule fit like a key in a lock, because shape affects its performance," Embrechts said. The safety and effectiveness of medicines depend on the shape and chemistry of the molecule. To find the most likely mo...Human embryonic stem cells may promise medical advances
...omatic cell nuclear transfer." But, achieving this trick with human cells posed unique challenges, said Donald Kennedy, Science 's Editor-in-Chief. The researchers attribute their apparent success to the use of extremely fresh donor eggs, stringent timing protocols, and a special method for gently extrud......pring even if she never meets another animal. "The trick comes in being able to estimate whether the food will be plentiful or not when it is ready to reproduce, because it needs to make the decision to be male or female well before that," said Pilgrim. "This research helps understand how animals adapt to ...US develops lethal new viruses
...ioterrorists might be more tempted to use the same trick to modify a pox virus that infects humans. Such a disease, like anthrax, would infect only those directly exposed to it. It would not spread around the world and rebound on the attackers. But there is no guarantee that other pox viruses modified in a...Potent toxin reveals new antibiotic resistance mechanism
...out of affected cells. They also have acquired the trick of making molecular 'sponges,' proteins that bind to antibiotics and take the drugs out of the game before they can do their lethal work. The new mechanism found by Thorson's group does not bode well for the fight against dangerous and sometimes dead...Molecule found to be critical for kidney development
... of Medicine in St. Louis. "Before we can actually trick cells into doing what we want them to do we really need to understand every detail about how the organ is put together." Using an antibody that specifically identifies the active form of Notch, Kopan's group observed that the protein is extremely act......rom the same source as the nerve cells. This might trick the patients' immune system into developing tolerance. Researchers are exploring a number of approaches to repairing damaged spines, including drugs that overcome spinal cells' reluctance to regrow, ways of bridging the gap between severed nerves and...