Boston Univeristy bioengineers devise 'dimmer swith' to regulate gene expression in mammal cells
... uses bacteria or yeast, but the Boston University team used more complex mammalian cells, from hamsters and mice. The switch has several new design features that extend possible applications into areas from basic research to gene therapy. There are a number of technologies available to regulate gene ex...U-M team identifies gene that regulates blood-forming fetal stem cells
...s after transplantation into patients. Now a U-M team led by Sean Morrison has identified the first know...fferent stages of life. Last September, Morrison's team reported that old stem cells don't simply wear out; a gene called Ink4a actively shuts them down. ...Scientists find stem cell switch
...e John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. The research team determined that the hormone ethylene regulates cell division in root stem cells. Ethylene is known to play a role in perceiving and communicating environmental cues. We predict that this is the mechanism plants use to detect how tough or soft the ...Carnegie Mellon scientists find key HIV protein makes cell membranes bend more easily
...d to overcome this resistance. The Carnegie Mellon team found that FP-23 reduces the energy required to pe...ally relevant. Using X-ray diffuse scattering, the team quantified structural properties of different lipid bilayers seeded with FP-23 peptides. The lipid b...Study points to new way to predict death risk from torn aorta
...ew England Journal of Medicine by an international team of researchers may offer hope for aortic dissectio...every six to 12 months after diagnosis. The U-M team is now conducting prospective studies of aortic dissection patients that will follow them over time ...Learning a second language -- Is it all in your head?
...study -- again with the same participants -- Wongs team used functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe brain areas that were activated when participants listened to different pitch tones. They found that the more successful second-language learners were those who showed activation in the auditory c...Air pollution link to clogged arteries
...gering the genes behind inflammation. A research team drawn from medical and environmental engineering d...lammation pathways. To confirm these findings, the team exposed mice with high cholesterol levels to the pollutant diesel particles, and saw some of the sam...UCLA study links air pollution to clogged arteries
...at leads to artery blockage. In particular, the team was interested in how oxidation cell and tissue d...ing of human blood vessels. A few hours later, the team extracted DNA from the cells for genetic analysis. We saw that the diesel particles and oxidized ...Scratch no more: Gene for itch sensation discovered
... or in the spinal cord until now." In fact, Chen's team became interested in GRPR because they were looking for genes in the pain pathway. Among potential pain-sensing genes they identified, GRPR stood out because it is present in only a few nerve cells in the spinal cord known to relay pain and/or itch s...Discoverer of Sly Syndrome finds way of delivering medicine to fight rare genetic disorder
...covered Sly Syndrome nearly four decades ago and a team of colleagues at Saint Louis University are a step closer to finding an approach to treat the rare genetic disease. Sly Syndrome causes bone defects, mental retardation, vision and hearing problems, heart disease and premature death. They found tha...Researchers watch antibiotics, bacteria meet at atomic level
...Nebraska Medical Center. In the first study, the team found that they could create a detailed image of t...the elongation complex. In the second study, the team learned how the antibiotic streptolydigin blocks transcription. Streptolydigin has been around for s...Camera-shy deer caught for first time
... the first time in the wild, according to a survey team from the Nam Theun 2 Watershed Management and Protection Authority (WMPA) and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The deer, previously known only from specimens collected by hunters and a few fleeting glimpses by biologists, stands approximately 25-3...Scientists discover new way to study nanostructures
...ssistant professor in the School of Physics. The team hypothesized that the new measured peaks likely or...sequent first principles calculations by Landman's team predicted that such peaks would occur at three different frequencies, or voltages, and their integer......ck together againon command. This discovery by a team of researchers from the Universities of Sheffield (UK) and Bayreuth contradicts our day-to-day experience. In the animal kingdom, geckos can climb up vertical inclines, displaying an incredible switchable adhesion as they do so. Insects also use anot...New model for autism suggests women carry the disorder and explains age as a risk factor
...ing how autism is acquired has been developed by a team of researchers led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Autism is a developmental disorder, characterized by language impairments, social deficits, and repetitive behaviors. The researchers analyzed data on...Adult survivors of childhood leukemia exercise less, worsening high risk for obesity and illness
...nges that could reverse the damage, according to a team of researchers based at Memorial Sloan-Kettering C...cally active than the general U.S. population, the team reports in the July issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, & Prevention, a journal of the America...Study sheds light on why humans walk on two legs
Studying chimpanzees trained to use treadmills, a team of anthropologists has gathered new evidence sugge...method of locomotion used less energy and why. The team gathered the same information for four adult humans walking on a treadmill. The researchers found ...New joint replacement material developed at MGH put to first clinical use
...er surgery and would eventually fail completely. A team led by William Harris, MD, DSc, now director emeri...n and degradation of the implant, but the research team found that melting the material would eliminate free radicals. The first-generation highly crosslin...Brain's 'hearing center' may reorganize after implant of cochlear device
... was not involved in this study. Guiraud and her team studied 13 profoundly deaf adults who had received...udy. Electrical stimulation to the ear allowed the team to locate where in the brains auditory cortex various frequencies were processed and come up with a ...... among African-American newborns, but the research team has found that neonatal sepsis (infection) was the strongest predictor of mortality among African-American infants, even greater than being born at 28 weeks of age or younger. Our results suggest that reducing neonatal infection among African-Amer...