Newly created cancer stem cells could aid breast cancer research
... queens, possessing the unique ability to maintain themselves in an unspecialized state and seed new tumors. These cells can also divide and produce the worker cells that form the bulk of the tumor. These queens are cancer stem cells. Now the lab of Whitehead Member Robert Weinberg has created such cells in ...A unique arrangement for egg cell division
...of the cells skeleton. Spindle microtubules attach themselves to the chromosomes, separate them and pull one half out of the oocyte into a small polar body that is later discarded. Microtubule spindles are found in all dividing cells. What is special about oocytes is that they lack specialised spindle-forming o......should be a boost to companies hoping to establish themselves in this emerging field. Two researchers working at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University set out to compare the capital and operating costs of generating fuel from starch and cellulose-containing materials. They showed...UF, French scientists seek test to detect gene doping in athletes
...p a test that would bust competitors for injecting themselves with genetic material capable of enhancing muscle mass or heightening endurance. If an athlete injects himself in the muscle with DNA, would we be able to detect that" asked one of Frances leading gene therapy researchers, Philippe Moullier, M.D.,...Scientists move closer to bio-engineered bladders
... understanding of how our bodies work and maintain themselves before we can understand what goes wrong when they become diseased and how the disease can be treated."...Waters off Washington state only second place in world where glass sponge reefs found
...ferent species than the ones capable of colonizing themselves into reefs. Individual glass sponges generally live 100 to 200 years and the Canadian sponge reefs have been dated as being 8,000 years old, making them comparable to coral reefs and redwood forests, Johnson says. The reef-building sponge species ha...Insulin grown in plants relieves diabetes in mice; UCF study holds promise for humans
... blood and urine sugar levels. They have to inject themselves with insulin several times a day. Having a permanent solution for this, Im sure, would be pretty exciting. Though produced in lettuce, the insulin would be delivered to human patients as a powder in capsules because the dosage must be controlled ca...Scientists find stem cell switch
... cells are that they are able to either regenerate themselves or produce other types of cells. The ultimate source of cells in the root is the quiescent center, a group of four stem cells that divides infrequently and can produce any type of cell in the root. This study proved that ethylene is the cue needed to...Scratch no more: Gene for itch sensation discovered
... that stimulates GRPR, the mice started scratching themselves as if they had a bad itch. "That's when we thought the gene might be involved in the itch sensation," Chen says. "So we began to systematically investigate this possibility." They studied scratching behavior in two sets of mice normal mice and GRPR ...Study finds contaminated water reaching Florida's offshore keys
... fecal indicator bacteria, which are not pathogens themselves but rather serve as surrogates for other disease-causing microbes found in sewage, declined with distance from shore but tended to be elevated in the surface layers of coral mucus relative to the surrounding water. High levels of fecal indicator bact...Fruit fly gene from 'out of nowhere' is discovered
...us. These transposons are known to copy and insert themselves into DNA sequences. For example, one theory is that when a transposon sits next to a gene and then jumps to a new location, it carries part of the gene sequence it was next to and inserts it in the new location. Often, transposable elements appear to...Monkeys don't go for easy pickings
...ing further by expending more energy and exposing themselves to predators for longer periods choosing more fru...wed the group to limit feeding competition amongst themselves and to stick together to maintain intergroup dominance. The authors conclude that primates travel...Scientists to make news at Computational Biology Conference
...logy are getting a boost from researchers who call themselves bioinformaticians and whose "laboratories" are spread across chips and measured in terabytes. Several of these reputed scientists will be available to present the highlights of the seven-day event at a press conference to be held on Sunday, July 2...Cardiac patches stimulate regeneration, improve function after heart attack
...heart cells to begin dividing and making copies of themselves again, but also improves heart function. Their findings appear in the July 15 online edition of Nature Medicine. Periostin is a component of the material that surrounds cells and is derived from the skin around bone. Though the mature heart only ha...Fedoroff, of Penn State, to receive National Medal of Science
...e to the ability of plants to perceive and protect themselves from environmental stressors, such as ground-level ozone. The overall goal of her research is to understand and strengthen the mechanisms that allow plants to withstand the environmental challenges of a changing climate. Among her many professiona...Accident-prone? Scientists link brain function to knee injuries
...his major knee ligament, most athletes actually do themselves in--they don't collide with a person or object, they end up injuring themselves when they land off-balance during a jump or run. But why? In a first-ever study of its kind, Uni...What determines the speed at which birds fly?
...e cruising speeds of migrating birds (collected by themselves and others) to do the analysis and provide the comprehensive dataset with the paper (e.g. this contains the flight speed of approximately one-third of all European bird species). Their analysis reveals that the difference between the speed of small a...Researchers discover human embryonic stem cells are the ultimate perpetual fuel cell
... team have been working for the past year to prove themselves wrong, but as every test confirmed their discovery, it was time to submit the work for international peer review from other experts. This will be critical for future developments involving drug and gene screening of human ES cells, that will be req...A stepwise retreat: How immune cells catch pathogens
...urg. Future synthetic nano-machines must integrate themselves into a system and have to react flexibly to changes within the system. Precisely these properties we have now observed in filopodia retraction. The fascinating principles, which we are beginning to understand, will certainly influence the design of s......ng cells first begin to differentiate and organize themselves into functional tissues. He pioneered the use of confocal microscopy live cell imaging at OHSU. His research which has had continuous funding support from the National Science Foundation since 1986 has focused on gaining a better understanding of h...