American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- July 25, 2007
...n the moral and political fallout from a synthetic toxin that falls into the hands of terrorists. Hoffmann calls on scientists to confront the reality that well-intentioned research that holds promise to cure disease, clean water and otherwise improve the conditions of life also can be commandeered for si...JCI table of contents -- July 26, 2007
...iently deleted by the administration of diphtheria toxin (DT). In healthy mice, injected, dying cells are normally selectively engulfed and destroyed by immune cells known as dendritic cells, and as such the presence of cell-associated antigens does not trigger an immune response. By contrast, in DT-treate...Boston Univeristy bioengineers devise 'dimmer swith' to regulate gene expression in mammal cells
...nserting it into cells. One molecule of diphtheria toxin can kill a cell, but with the genetic switch turne...or weeks. When the researchers flipped the switch, toxin production was triggered and the cell died. They also showcased the switchs capability for delica...N.C. A&T food scientist develops process for allergen-free peanuts
...dwide, including a process to remove a common mold toxin from peanuts, a low-fat, high protein meat substitute, an infant formula, and antioxidants from red peanut skins. The allergy-free peanut is the first in a portfolio of peanut innovations to be available for commercialization from N.C. A&T. Ahmedna...'Preconditioning' helps protect brain's blood vessels from stroke
...event occurs." Normal mice given an inflammatory toxin called lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 24 hours before an induced stroke -- the preconditioning method used in this study -- had a 68 percent reduction in stroke intensity, the researchers found. Preconditioning also boosted blood flow in areas of the br...New use for a cell toxin found to inhibit survival proteins in cancer cells
... A chemically-modified version of a mitochondrial toxin long used to control species of invasive fish in lakes has been found to selectively inhibit two "survival proteins in cancer cells. The research is a first step toward developing a molecularly-targeted drug that could eliminate cellular-level resist...Tracing Parkinson's lethal mechanism
... of the disease, in which a mitochondria-affecting toxin called MPTP is used to produce Parkinsons-like brain pathology. In earlier studies, they had found that MPTP activates protein-snipping enzymes called calpains in mitochondria. They also found evidence that calpains, in turn, activate a cellular swit...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
.... difficile. Toxin A initiates infection allowing toxin B to access underlying cells. In the study resear...neously immunized mice, some also with the cholera toxin and some without, over a period of 42 days. Mice immunized with both C. difficile toxin A and chole...Genome of Clostridium botulinum reveals the background to world's deadliest toxin
... the organism that produces the worlds most lethal toxin is revealed today. This toxin is the one real weapon in the genome of Clostridium botulinum and less than 2 kg the weight of two ...Understanding why C. difficile causes disease -- it's hungry
...ult disease to treat. "The genes responsible for toxin production only seem to be expressed during period...ebec. The highly virulent strain has a much higher toxin production which leads to more destructive and deadly disease, says Vivian Loo of McGill University...Botulism bug has few genome wrinkles
...the organism that produces the world's most lethal toxin is revealed today. This toxin is the one real weapon in the genome of Clostridium botulinum and less than 2 kg - the weight of two...Engineered protein effective against Staphylococcus aureus toxin
...oluble form," Kranz said. "It's the binding of the toxin to T-cells that is critical. If you can prevent the toxin from binding to the T-cell receptor then you can prevent it from initiating that cascade." The eng...Weill Cornell pharmacologist receives prestigious NIH MERIT Award
...as previously thought to be a simple environmental toxin was discovered to be (1) produced by the cells of all mammals, including humans, and (2) a signaling molecule that plays a part in diverse and vital bodily functions such as fighting infections, communicating between nerve cells, determining the diam...Anthrax paralyzes immune cells with lethal toxin, UF research shows
...toxins." Once inhaled, anthrax releases a lethal toxin that immobilizes the white blood cells that normal... and destroy invading bacteria. Just traces of the toxin can slow movement of these cells, called neutrophils, by 50 percent, UF researchers discovered. "N...... they ended up with one-third the concentration of toxin in their tissues because, as they grew faster, the toxin was diluted. Methylmercury is a neurotoxin found in all water bodies. While normally present in t...Can a taste for poison drive speciation?
...octanoic acid and transformed an urge to avoid the toxin into a fondness for its fetor. The researchers suspect that the fly lost its urge to avoid the fruit first; a plausible scenario if an ancestral population of flies landed on fruit in advanced stages of decay, when octanoic acid toxins have mostly de...News tips from the Journal of Biological Chemistry
...ich then spread throughout the body, releasing the toxin and triggering the disease. Since spore germination is needed to cause infection, preventing germination is a potentially efficient way to stop the infection. Jurgen Brojatsch, Ernesto Abel-Santos, and colleagues identified seven chemicals that ...Cheaper, better disease treatments expected from faster approach to developing antibodies
...l engineering, engineered antibodies to an anthrax toxin called PA. He and Thomas Van Blarcom, a graduate student in chemical engineering, used a method called APEx, co-developed by Georgiou and Iverson's lab, to identify the bacteria-bound antibodies that attach best to the PA. Van Blarcom then took those...Better together: Bacterial endosymbionts are essential for the reproduction of a fungus
...ofungal bacteria in return provide a highly potent toxin for defending the habitat and accessing nutrients from decaying plants. ......ls. It also announces the presence of an oxidative toxin you havent identified. We dont have to have 20 sensors for 20 toxins. We can sense the presence of any oxidative toxin, Love said. Ikuma, who was an undergraduate biology student at Virginia Tech when she began working with Love, has now come ful...