NIH awards new $14.5 million, five-year grant to the Scripps Research Institute
...ins starts with obtaining them. A crystallographer might need several milligrams of protein, but membrane proteins do not express well naturally. They only make up a small part of the membrane, and the membrane is only one small component of the entire cell. In fact, says Stevens, "When you express memb...Commandeering cellular machinery: recognition mechanism to detect small molecules
...total) grew into visible colonies, suggesting they might contain nuclear receptors for the LG335. To verify... quickly analyze an unknown agent. A sensor array might also be used in a hospital emergency room to rapidly test for chemical agents in the blood of an unc......o," although recent studies suggested Homo sapiens might have had contact with Homo erectus in Asia 50,000 years ago. Reed says: "Not only did modern humans live contemporaneously with close cousins such as Neanderthals, but also with more archaic hominids such as Homo erectus, a species that we ...How roots control plant shoots
... we shouldn't." Manipulating the process someday might allow scientists to genetically engineer crops and...the study didn't demonstrate what those conditions might be, but lack of water and compacted soil are likely because such conditions would threaten the plant...Stanford cooling tool may improve performance of athletes, soldiers
...ing anesthesia. They reasoned that rapid rewarming might stop the tremors sooner. It turns out they were right. "We used a pressure differential to draw blood to the skin surface, then we applied heat to the skin to increase heat flow back to the core," Grahn says. "The effect was remarkable--we were ...Plants provide model for new shape-changing materials
... accordingly. Properly engineered nastic materials might allow sensors that can be flexed. Don Leo, profess...s that can produce large shape changes. An example might be a compact container that will deploy into an antenna after it is transported to a particular loca...Head lice reveal contact between modern and ancient humans
... and provide intriguing evidence that H. sapiens might have been in contact with H. erectus . Lice requ...he question of interbreeding, the authors suggest, might now best be pursued by studying the other human louse P. pubis , which requires sexual contact for ...Dying cells encourage neighbors to grow
... of undead cells in Drosophila imaginal discs, one might expect mutations that block or delay apoptosis to cause secondary proliferation and hyperplasia. It remains to be tested if such a mechanism contributes to hyperplasia in mouse models and human malignancies," offers Dr. Steller. ...Most promising clinical uses for stem cells from fat agreed on by international society
...sing patients' own cells, as opposed to cells that might be donated by other individuals. Because adipose is both abundantly available and easily accessible, it offers a practical source of stem cells. A key question the group answered was simply what to call the cells, with the decision in favor of the...Old bones unearth new date for giant deer's last stand
...ve been the ultimate destroyer, but climate change might also have been the culprit. This is the mystery we...asonal nutrient requirements for the antlers alone might have killed off the species. Traditionally, woolly mammoths were believed to have gone extinct aroun...Protein protecting brain from toxins also blocks some chemotherapy from reaching tumors
...y of drugs targeting central nervous system tumors might be improved by inhibiting this protein, a type of molecule called an ABC-dependent transporter. The study showed that Mrp4 works at two levels: by binding to topotecan and transporting it away from the brain Mrp4 restricts the drug's penetration in...FSU scientist links iron imbalance to Parkinson's disease
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. You might want to toss those iron-fortified vitamins, because absent a diagnosed deficiency too much of a good thing can be bad. Dietary iron imbalances either way spell trouble for healthy cells, triggering a chain of cellular events in the brain that increas...Acoustics meeting in San Diego
...gested that some version of decompression sickness might be involved. Meanwhile, recent studies show that marine mammals might commonly carry "supersaturated" levels of nitrogen, in which a higher-than-normal amount of nitrogen...Touching research: How white blood cells navigate
...a new way to fight many of these diseases. Doctors might be able to funnel cells directly where they're nee... "Many people with an expertise in fluid mechanics might go into the petroleum industry, or public works, or the food industry. Here we're using the same exp...Channel protein converts vibrations to electrical signal
...hannel protein. In the search for a molecule that might form the hair cell channel, the researchers turned...ion of TRPA1 was one of the first clues that TRPA1 might indeed be the channel the researchers were searching for. They found that the TRPA1 gene was expre...Gladstone researchers resolve key Huntington's disease mystery in Nature cover story
...a particular abnormality predicted early death and might be pathogenic, or predicted longer survival and might be beneficial. The findings suggest, says Finkbeiner, that inclusion bodies lock up mutant huntingti...Study using robotic microscope shows how mutant Huntington's protein affects neurons
...emove mutant proteins diffused throughout the cell might be a more effective approach. "This approach provides a way to connect cellular changes to fate," says Dr. Finkbeiner. The automated microscope system could be applied to sort out many important questions about how cellular changes or abnorma...Award-winning INEEL probe to help safely monitor hazardous waste sites
...stigate land throughout America and the world that might be contaminated with dangerous chemicals. GEOPS really showcases how science and engineering collaboration can solve difficult environmental problems." Before INEEL's probing system was developed, geoscientists monitored waste sites by drilling aro...Experimental drug prevents vaginal simian HIV transmission in monkeys Science study says
...ition -- alone or coupled with other approaches -- might prevent sexual HIV transmission between humans, according to the authors. The majority of HIV infections are acquired via transmission across mucosal surfaces, especially the vagina and rectum, and substances that prevent mucosal transmission (commo......g mice that develop the tumors. The genetic events might be targets for new drugs that could be tested on t... "If we know where it starts and the cause, you might be able to prevent it, detect it early or develop new treatments based on a better understanding of ...