NIH awards new $14.5 million, five-year grant to the Scripps Research Institute
...a molecule looks like, but the scale of biological molecules is extraordinarily small. All but the largest mole... that bend a beam of electrons to image biological molecules and other tiny objects. Electron microscopy looks at a range of magnifications, from 60 times (the l...Commandeering cellular machinery: recognition mechanism to detect small molecules
...lls use to recognize and respond to such important molecules as steroid hormones, thyroid hormones and vitamin ...ormally recognize, and instead recognize the small molecules we want to detect. That would allow us to develop a new type of sensing mechanism." A paper publishe...HHMI researchers Richard Axel and Linda Buck win 2004 Nobel Prize
...t, how does the system respond to the thousands of molecules of different shapes and sizes that we call odorants--"does it use a restricted number of promiscuous receptors, or a large number of relatively specific receptors?" And second, how does the brain make use of these responses to discriminate between od...Stanford researchers establish center for physics-based simulations of biological structures
...worldwide to model biological systems ranging from molecules to whole organisms. SimBioS is one of four new national centers endeavoring to build the biomedical computing infrastructure urgently needed to speed progress in biomedical research. The centers will create innovative software programs and other too...Below the surface: New clues to plant signaling from the roots
... previously identified plant hormones or signaling molecules and report evidence that it may be a novel carotenoid. ...Dying cells encourage neighbors to grow
...growth-associated signaling pathways and secreting molecules that promote growth in surrounding tissues. They also suggest that abnormal regulation of apoptosis, as has been shown to be the case in some cancers, may result in pathological activation of these pathways. "Based on the behavior of undead cells in ...Putting physiology into the Nobel Prize: 2004 marks 100th anniversary of Pavlov's award
... review article on smell, "Olfaction: From odorant molecules to the olfactory cortex," appeared News in Physiological Science (NIPS, see below), June 2004, by Anna Menini et al. Citing Buck and Axel's 1991 article in Cell, the authors note: "It was only after the discovery in 1991 of a large multigene family o...Protein energy profiles offer clues about amyloids
...olecules, cleave others into pieces and fuse other molecules together. Since the function of a protein is often...teins that make or disrupt chemical bonds in other molecules -- individual atoms of a protein must be aligned just so if they are to function properly. Consequen...University of Oregon professor wins 2004 Spiers Medal
...realized that this technology could let us see how molecules such as the phospholipids that make up cell membra... a surface," Bain explains. "She has shown how the molecules of water line up at a surface and turn around to point in the opposite direction if the charge on th...NIH awards Emory and Georgia Tech $10 million for partnerships in cancer nanotechnology
...mice. Bioconjugated dots are chemically linked to molecules such as antibodies, peptides, proteins or DNA and ...aborate with cell biologists to study a variety of molecules involved in the development and progression of cancer, including those involved in programmed cell d...Component of volcanic gas may have played a significant role in the origins of life on Earth
...re one of the most important classes of biological molecules found in living things today. Fifty years of chemi...the early Earth, and he collected and analyzed the molecules that formed--which included the amino acids alanine, glycine, and a few others. In the years since, ...Yale scientists find cooperative RNA switches in nature
...ond to various target compounds, including several molecules of basic metabolism. They speculated that, if an RNA World theory were true, then RNA molecules most likely would make great molecular switches. After creating RNA switches in the lab, including u...Embryonic stem cells correct congenital heart defect in mouse embryos
...f the rescue, the authors identified two important molecules implicated in signaling from the ES cells to the Id knock-out cells. These molecules are insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) and WNT5a. The former molecule is a long-range acting facto...Emory chemists develop bacteria that may help decaffeinate coffee
...rrific chemists, but they normally synthesize only molecules they need for their own survival, says Gallivan. H...h team is interested in making bacteria synthesize molecules that they would otherwise not make on their own, resulting in molecules that may someday benefit hum...Study describes basic mechanism in cell growth control involving damaged DNA
...ases. These ligases place a long tail of ubiquitin molecules on proteins, which are then slated for degradation and recycling. The degradation signaling process is set in motion when a protein is "misfolded" and cannot function properly. Degradation also occurs when proteins of invading bacteria or viruses ar...Protein protecting brain from toxins also blocks some chemotherapy from reaching tumors
... cells from accumulating toxic levels of topotecan molecules that do escape the bloodstream. "The ability of ...huetz said. "It suggests that Mrp4 blocks specific molecules from leaving the capillaries. And if such molecules slip out of the blood into the choroid plexus, M...UF scientists have bionanotechnology recipe to find elusive bacteria
...ery simple idea," said Tan. He takes antibodies -- molecules used to seek specific types of bacteria -- and att..."Inside this particle, we put many fluorescent dye molecules in such a way that you can generate a very, very high signal." Once a particle finds the bacteria th...Study in Royal Society journals presents evidence for inherited factors in homosexuality
...osis. Using a Molecular Dynamics simulation, fluid molecules and a pore are modelled on a computer and set in motion according to the laws of dynamics. The results indicate that osmosis in such pores is a complex phenomenon involving both viscosity and diffusion, where the contribution of each is determined by...Touching research: How white blood cells navigate
...ere cells stick and accumulate. When some adhesion molecules are activated, cells begin to roll slowly along a blood vessel wall; when others turn on, the cells are snagged by the blood vessel wall and ultimately allowed admittance to our tissues, where they fight disease. The Rochester team has shown how phys...Award-winning INEEL probe to help safely monitor hazardous waste sites
...ied underground don't always sit still. Sometimes, molecules of hazardous waste can travel out of landfills, wandering through soil layers near aquifers. Technology exists to monitor landfill perimeters, but scientists would prefer to keep an eye on contaminants long before they leave the area. Now with a new ...