DNA Imaging to Design Better Drugs
...r techniques require us to examine several billion molecules ata time and then make inferences about the behavior of individualmolecules," he said. Fourth-year graduate student Joseph E. Coury, working underBottomley's direction, is responsible for much of the development of thenew assay. Third-year graduate ...Discovery Hints At Multitude Of New Targets For Drugs
...ide array of effectswith a limited set of receptor molecules by altering the way the receptorfunctions in different cells," McDonnell said. "So, a receptormight interact with one set of factors in one cell, giving rise to one response.And it might interact with another set in another cell, giving rise to awhol...Fertilization Protein Structure To AID in Leukemia Treatment
... reconstructed. The image reveals that two of the molecules combine together to create a hole, or molecular ca...otein, Stout and his collaborators think that CD38 molecules also pair up to create an internal cavity. However, unlike cyclase, CD38 has a tail reaching across...Common Carbohydrates May Prove To Be Substitute For Dietary Fiber
...ing groups of carbohydratescontaining simple sugar molecules -- found in many fruits and vegetables. For years, oligosaccharides were thought to give people flatulence ordiarrhea. A 1968 study of men who ate beans and other legumes found thatthe bad side effects were caused by stachyose and raffinose, which n...Duke Study Uses Tiny Temperature Changes To Probe Water-Exclusion At Protein Binding Sites
... And blocking these binding events using synthetic molecules is thebasis of action of almost all pharmaceutical...porary combinations, called complexes,with protein molecules at special protein binding sites. Pharmaceuticalresearchers can elicit biological effects by designi...Study Injects New Interest In How Vaccines Work
...ff foreign substances. Antigens -- the proteins or molecules that stimulate the immune system to create antibod..., is capable of obtaining accurate measurements of molecules that are present in minuscule proportions. "The technique is so sensitive, it can detect the equival...Affordable, Hand-Held Biosensor For Diagnostics
...tood, the scientists speculate that the binding of molecules to thesurface significantly alters the refractive index of the silicon matrix itself,resulting in a major increase in sensitivity. "It's as if the color of the film itself is changing because we inducethis change in the silicon nanoparticles,...Researchers Finding May Boost Effectiveness Of Anti-HIV Drugs
... (Pgp) may becreating these hide-outs. Transporter molecules protect the body from poisoningby recognizing groups of chemicals and pumping them out of cells as soon as theyenter. Their research is the subject of an article and accompanying editorialin the January 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Inv...Chemists Closing In On Commercial Potential Of Alkanes
... as iridium or rhodium, sandwiched between organic molecules with a uniqueproperty. Upon irradiation with ultraviolet light, these organometallics wereshown to generate a reaction that is able to break the carbon-hydrogen bonds inalkanes and insert metal atoms into the mix, creating new, much more reactivecar...Chemist Turns To Self-Assembly To Create New Drugs
...arty, these atoms ofzinc and cadmium pair up small molecules known as monomers,searching for a fruitful combina...molecule. "With our technique, we try to find molecules to bindreceptors in much the same way nature has for millions of years,"says Miller, an assistant pr..."Powerful New Tool" For AIDS Is Reported In Science
... DNA. The body does not differentiate between DNA molecules that contain deuterium and those that do not. Sophisticated instruments such as the mass spectrometers developed by SpectruMedix are capable of determining the amount of deuterium-labelled sugar, which indicates new cell development. In this manner...New Math, High-Tech Imaging Solving Old Riddle: How Does The Brain Operate When We Think?
... body. Inturn, this alters MRI signals released by molecules in there. The researchers demonstrated the a...als dueto the decrease in the number of hemoglobin molecules carrying oxygen. Theoxygen levels werethen returned to normal levels and the signals again measured....Snipping Inflammation In The Bud; New Agents May Provide Relief
...on,scientists have forged a new class of synthetic molecules that offer a newstrategy for treating pain, swelli...ding to thecarbohydrate groups attached to protein molecules on the surface of an opposingcell," said Kiessling. "The many copies of L-selectin on the white bloo...X-ray Microscope Designed To Study Jet Engine Components Now Probes Tooth Dentin
...dstiffness of dentin by pushing the very atoms and molecules apart and using thedevice to observe how they respond. Researchers want to understand the structure and properties of dentin inorder to find methods and materials that will create a tighter, more permanentbond between the tooth and the plastic-......nderstanding of the rolesplayed by these and other molecules in specific pain syndromes. Their findingspoint to strategies that might be adopted to design more effective drugs toindividually target these various molecules. "Drug candidates need to be evaluated in the context of a particularpain syndro...Is Ritalin As Effective--And As Harmless--As It Could Be?
...tributed as a "racemic" mixture of both its chiral molecules -- d-threo andl-threo. However, some evidence has suggested that the drug's therapeutic effectresides solely in the d-threo enantiomer, which is about 10 times more potentthan its chiral counterpart, according to Ding. "If the beneficial eff...New Research In Battling Alzheimer's Impact On Memory
...nada,scientists have found about 100 small organic molecules that bind to thebeta-peptide implicated in Alzheimer's disease and subsequently may prevent itfrom aggregating into the insoluble plaque. Although no good animal modelexists for Alzheimer's disease, according to Donald F. Weaver, Ph.D.,researchers a...Successful Cancer Therapy May Doom Later Treatments To Failure
...st-time therapies may fail becausetherapeutic drug molecules are too bulky to pass through the blood vessel poresin the first place. The findings suggest a fundamental change in the approach to designingchemotherapy agents. They may need to be smaller and more agile. "The public,investors, and the government ...Chemical Society's Highest Award Goes To Ronald Breslow
...merican university. "What I do is make new molecules with interesting properties,"particularly in medic...les. Proteins called enzymes lock on to thesteroid molecules and maneuver the oxygen into precise position -- an efficientbut complicated method that is nearly i...Neurotransmitter-Induced Electrical Activity Identified As Key Regulator Of Synaptogenesis
...rve endings. The released transmitter molecules diffuse to the adjacent nerve cell and activate specific receptor proteins that are highly concentrated within the membrane segment underlying the presynaptic nerve terminal, the postsynaptic membrane proper. By culturing em...