New therapeutic target for Alzheimer's could lead to drugs without side effects
...p of a small protein called beta-amyloid, which is formed when a larger protein is broken into pieces. But the enzyme that produces beta-amyloid is also responsible for cleavage of another protein called Notch. The problem with current drugs is that they block these enzymes to stop production of beta-amyloi...Looking for life on Jupiter's icy moon Europa
...terial and organisms floated to the surface by ice formed on the bottom of the ocean or gouged by moving ice, as well as a variety of habitats in the ice itself. Lipps noted, too, that while radiation at the surface could be intense enough to kill any Earth-like life, it would not penetrate more than a me...Biologically inspired sensors can augment sonar, vision system in submarines
...uld detect the hydrodynamic wake (such as the wake formed behind a propeller-driven submarine) for long-distance tracking. With further advances in engineering, man-made underwater vehicles should be able to autonomously image hydrodynamic events from their surroundings, Liu said. "Although biology remains ...ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- February 14, 2007
...ed modules of interconnected electronic components formed by a thin layer of conducting material deposited, or "printed," on the surface of an insulating board. They contain materials potentially toxic if released to the environment. However, PCBs also are a rich potential source of valuable metals and othe...Problem forgetting may be a natural mechanism gone awry
...ignaling is necessary to enable new memories to be formed by discarding old ones. The basic gist is that information storage requires a balance between mechanisms that make synapses stronger and weaker, said Mark F. Bear, Ph.D., director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusett...The connector rotation hypothesis? Phage do not pack their DNA by rotation
...DNA passes into the capsid shell through a channel formed by a structure called the connector. Scientists have speculated that rotation of the connector complex might feed the DNA into the capsid as it turns. In a new study published online this week in the open access journal PLoS Biology, researchers Th...Preliminary results of largest scan of autism DNA information
...than 50 institutions representing 19 countries who formed a first-of-its-kind autism genetics consortium, the Autism Genome Project (AGP). The AGP began in 2002 when researchers from around the world decided to come together and share samples, data and expertise to facilitate the identification of autism su...UCI awarded $3.5 million for stem cell research
... awarded $623,500 to study the chromatin structure formed at DNA sequences linked to a form of muscular dystrophy. She plans to develop human embryonic stem cells associated with the disorder and compare them to normal human embryonic stem cells during skeletal muscle differentiation. The research is expect...Orbiter provides new hints of past groundwater flows on Mars
...e the layered deposits in the crater may have been formed by fluid processes similar to those at work in the... of the crater that the authors believe could have formed from fluid motion along fractures, as in Candor Chasma. Layered deposits have intrigued scientist...Super-thin membrane, 50 atoms thick, sorts individual molecules
...scope to see the crystal structure in his samples, formed with different heat treatments. Striemer found that as parts of the silicon contracted into crystals, holes opened up in their wakes. Imagine a party of people spread out evenly throughout a room, but as the evening progresses and people huddle int...Man-made proteins could be more useful than real ones
..., were remarkably similar to a coiled helix bundle formed of -amino acids. "What is interesting about the...r shows that protein-like folded structures can be formed by molecules that are protein-like but have chemically distinct backbones. This is conceptually simi...World's oldest rocks show how Earth may have dodged frozen fate of Mars
... study. Since the iron carbonates could only have formed in an atmosphere containing far higher CO2 levels than those found in Earth's atmosphere today, the researchers concluded the early Earth environment was extremely rich in CO2. "We now have direct evidence that Earth's atmosphere was loaded with ...UK-India success for University of Nottingham
... research and academic excellence. UKIERI has also formed partnerships with four corporate partners BAE, BP, GlaxoSmithKline and Shell. The UKIERI scheme made a total of six major awards of 500,000, allocated over four years. A further 23 standard awards were also made, worth up to 150,000 each. In all, ...JCI table of contents: Feb. 1, 2007
...BF-A a complex composed of CBF-A, KAP-1, and FST-1 formed and that this triggered EMT. This study indicated that the CBF-A/KAP-1/FTS-1 complex is an early regulator of EMT and the authors suggest that it might be the master regulatory complex in this important process. In an accompanying commentary, Raghu ...Biogen Idec acquires Brandeis spin-out
..., MassSyntonix Pharmaceuticals, a spin-out company formed by Brandeis University, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Children's Hospital Boston announced today that it was acquired by biotech giant Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB - News). Syntonix, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, was founded in 1997 ba...Low-pathogenic forms of bird flu do cause illness among birds
...ant. Van Gils adds, "These mild virus-types always formed the origin of massive pandemics such as the Spanish Flu. Only such viruses that are non-lethal to birds can be spread easily by (wild or captive) birds, simply because the birds stay alive." Only after mixing with human flu can such a low-pathogenic ...Molecular motors and brakes work together in cells
...o their correct structure. If microtubules are not formed properly such basic functions as cell division and...brakes." If microtubule-based structures are not formed properly because of failures in brakes or motors, such basic functions as cell division and cell tra...Chemical switch triggers critical cell activities
...stals of proteins with X-rays and use the patterns formed by beams bouncing off the crystals to create computer-generated 3-D images of the molecules. The goal was to create a freeze-frame image that captured the fleeting moment when E2 is next to NEDD8, just before it falls off and carries NEDD8 with it......ocess is as effective as devouring bacteria: "NETs formed by dying granulocytes kill as many bacteria as are eaten up by living blood cells", says Arturo Zychlinsky. Thus, neutrophils fulfil their role in the defence battle even after their deaths.......ar too often. They gave rise to too many cells and formed a defective placenta, especially where the placent...t destroyed in cells produced by them. These cells formed a normal-looking placenta and the embryos survived. "This suggests that Rb is important in maintai...