32 new grants made for innovative technology R&D
... approach to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer allowing more accurate detection and contemporaneous, minimally invasive treatment using near-infrared absorbing nanoparticles. NexTech Materials, Ltd. (Lewis Center, Ohio) High-Power-Density Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Aerospace ApplicationsDevelop a l...Commandeering cellular machinery: recognition mechanism to detect small molecules
...s, chemical weapons and other small molecules. By allowing manipulation of this cellular protein machinery known as nuclear receptors the technique could also lead to new methods for producing enzymes and important pharmaceutical compounds. "We are hijacking these nuclear receptors for a new set of purpose...Endangered frogs coexist with fungus once thought fatal
...s caused the decline, then vanished from the area, allowing frog populations to recover. Although it's possible that B. dendrobatidis did not cause the initial T. eungellensis declines, surviving frog populations may have developed resistance to the pathogen, or less virulent strains of the fungus may hav...Columbia University scientist wins 2004 Nobel Prize
... introduction of virtually any gene into any cell, allowing the analysis of gene function in vivo. These experiments in cell transformation led to the isolation and functional analysis of the gene for the T-cell surface protein, CD4, the cellular receptor for HIV. He then began to apply the techniques of mo...HHMI researchers Richard Axel and Linda Buck win 2004 Nobel Prize
...e assumptions that drastically narrowed the field, allowing her to zero in on a group of genes that appear to code for the odorant receptor proteins. Her first assumption--based on bits of evidence from various labs--was that the odorant receptors look a lot like rhodopsin, the receptor protein in rod cells o...Stanford researchers establish center for physics-based simulations of biological structures
...reate innovative software programs and other tools allowing the biomedical community to integrate, analyze, mo...ars, aims to build an easy-to-use software package allowing high-quality physical modeling. Altman's vision? "A biologist working on a problem at the molecular,...Low dose radiation evades cancer cells' protective 'radar'
...an design therapy to dismantle this "radar" sensor allowing more radiation to evade detection and destroy even greater numbers of cancer cells. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center tested the low-dose radiation strategy on cultured prostate and colon cancer cell lines and found that it killed...Society for Psychophysiology Research
...Device (TDD) uses a web-accessible computer system allowing patients to communicate directly with a computer by controlling their brain-wave patterns. Over the last eight years, 11 patients with ALS have learned to communicate directly to the computer by learning to control their brain-waves. Researchers ha...New method identifies chromosome changes in malignant cells
... ability to disable some genes and overuse others, allowing their unchecked growth into tumors. The most aggressive of these distortions occurs when cells delete or multiply chunks of their own chromosomes. Cells can simply snip strings of genes from the chromosome, or make many extra copies of the string and...Touching research: How white blood cells navigate
...ble to funnel cells directly where they're needed, allowing them to boost the body's immune response without causing side effects. Engineers are already working on devices that could filter out harmful cells by making them stick, and devices that capture rare but crucial cells such as stem cells and then rele...Discovery might improve design, effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs
...analytical tool capable of sequencing peptides and allowing researchers to identify and characterize proteins at their physiological level. The instrument in which the experiments were performed is located at the North American headquarters of Bruker Daltonics in Billerica, Mass. The Michael Hooker Proteomics...Manipulation of epigenome turns off as many genes as it turns on
...ently unravels the chromosomes, exposing genes and allowing their instructions to be read. Much to the team's surprise, both chemical agents -- one methyl-based and one chromosome-based -- created similar patterns of changes in gene expression in the cell lines, says Hengmi Cui, Ph.D., assistant profes...Lag-3 gene dampens immune responses by controlling regulatory T-cell function
...ect of regulatory T cells on the effector T cells, allowing the effector cells to continue an aggressive attack. This finding provided further evidence that Lag-3 is a key protein on regulatory T cells that controls effector T cell function. "The tumor-specific T cells generated by some anti-cancer...ORNL system eliminates perchlorate, helps scientists trace source
... process of removing perchlorate also purifies it, allowing the scientists to isolate trace quantities and examine the compound more closely than ever before. Using isotopic analysis, they compared naturally-occurring perchlorate from Chile's Atacama Desert to synthetic or manufactured samples and found...OHSU study: Bacterial switching mechanism key to survival
...nding the CCR master regulatory protein, CcpA, and allowing them to then bind a large number of specific DNA sites on the bacterial chromosome. Such binding, in turn, redirects the metabolic program of the cell so only proteins that are needed for glucose metabolism are made. When glucose is not present, HPr ...New DNA repair enzyme makes mistakes to save lives of cells
...ich the life of a cell or species is preserved by allowing its DNA to be replicated despite discovery of a mishap on the sequence that it corrects with a new mistake. Its sophisticated yet quick-fix tactics, employed at a most critical time, when typically damage can halt replication altogether, may save the...NIH funds new bioinformatics resources at UT Southwestern
... animal modeling and studies using cultured cells, allowing researchers to better identify altered genes and proteins that lead to disease. Dr. Scheuermann predicts that such a database will enhance the development of novel treatment strategies for diseases like autoimmunity. Researchers will be able to acces......ignals can be distributed over more units, thereby allowing each unit to handle a more specific part of the overall signal." Such improved processing might manifest as the potential for the great mental capabilities seen in autistic savants, although this is strictly speculative, says Buxho...Singled out: Spotting mutant neurons in normal brains offers clues to Fragile X
...or overexpressed it, the fluorescent protein label allowing the entire architecture of these neurons to be visualized in the intact brain. From the observations made with this approach, it became apparent that the Fragile X protein acts as a so-called "global negative regulator" of nerve cell complexity. Nerv...GENEPI: a tool to refine and fine-tune radiotherapy treatment for cancer
...mise side effects for those most sensitive, whilst allowing more intense, and potentially more effective, trea...ssociated important socio-economic benefits, while allowing more effective radiotherapy to be given to selected patients, thereby improving cure rates"....