The health benefits of exercise on blood sugar metabolism may come from the body’s ability to devour itself, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in the journal Nature.
UW-Madison researchers have discovered that a gene called distal-less is critical to the fly’s ability to receive, process and respond to smells.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers have mapped out a mechanism by which micronuclei could potentially disrupt the chromosomes within them and produce cancer-causing gene mutations. The findings may point to a vulnerability in cancer cells that could be attacked by new therapies.
Quirky evolution yields clues to fatal condition.
Cancers rarely are deadly unless they evolve the ability to grow beyond the tissues in which they first arise. Normally, cells — even early-stage tumor cells — are tethered to scaffolding that helps to restrain any destructive tendencies. But scientists from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and from UCSF have identified a cleaver-wielding protein that frees some tumor cells, allowing them to further misbehave.
An international team of microbiologists led by Indiana University researchers has identified a new bacterial growth process -- one that occurs at a single end or pole of the cell instead of uniform, dispersed growth along the long axis of the cell -- that could have implications in the development of new antibacterial strategies.
Whitehead Institute scientists report that the growing fruit fly brain instructs glia cells that form the blood-brain barrier to enlarge by creating multiple copies of their genomes in a process known as polyploidization. Cell layers in other organs such as the human placenta and skin may employ a similar strategy.
As tissue slides are more routinely digitized to aid interpretation, a software program whose design was led by U-M is proving its utility.
A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine by NYU Cancer Institute researchers, shows how the cancer causing gene Notch, in combination with a mutated Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) protein complex, work together to cause T- cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).
Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a gene that tells cells to develop multiple cilia, tiny hair-like structures that move fluids through the lungs and brain. The finding may help scientists generate new therapies that use stem cells to replace damaged tissues in the lung and other organs.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have isolated a natural hormone that triggers some of the key health benefits of exercise. Irisin, which switches on genes that convert white fat into "good" brown fat, may hold promise as a treatment for diabetes, obesity and perhaps other disorders, including cancer.
Cancer cells have been long known to have a “sweet tooth,” using vast amounts of glucose for energy and for building blocks for cell replication.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that DNA changes in a gene that drives the growth of a form of lung cancer can make the cancer’s cells resistant to cancer drugs. The findings show that some classes of drugs won’t work, and certain types of so-called kinase inhibitors like erlotinib—may be the most effective at treating non-small cell lung cancers with those DNA changes. Some kinase inhibitors block a protein known as EGFR from directing cells to multiply.
A University of Iowa team has worked out the exact function of an enzyme that is critical for normal muscle structure and is involved in several muscular dystrophies. The findings, published Jan. 6 in Science, could help develop rapid, large-scale screening of potential muscular dystrophy therapies.
In the two and a half years since Adam Bogdanove of ISU and colleagues discovered how a class of proteins find and bind specific sequences in plant genomes, researchers worldwide have moved fast to use this discovery. Now, the next step has been taken by determining the 3-D structure of a TAL effector bound to DNA. The research is now in the journals Science and Nature.
Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard University, and the University of Cambridge have found that the age-related impairment of the body’s ability to replace protective myelin sheaths, which normally surround nerve fibers and allow them to send signals properly, may be reversible, offering new hope that therapeutic strategies aimed at restoring efficient regeneration can be effective in the central nervous system throughout life.
A tiny, freshwater flatworm found in ponds and rivers around the world that has long intrigued scientists for its remarkable ability to regenerate has now added a new wrinkle to biology.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered that planarians, tiny flatworms fabled for their regenerative powers, completely lack centrosomes, cellular structures that organize the network of microtubules that pulls chromosomes apart during cell division.
Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have solved the three-dimensional structure of a newly discovered type of gene-targeting protein that has shown to be useful as a DNA-targeting molecule for gene correction, gene therapy and gene modification. The findings are published online in Science Express on Jan. 5.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a gene that is required for proper development of the mouse inner ear. In humans, this gene, known as FGF20, is located in a portion of the genome that has been associated with inherited deafness in otherwise healthy families.
Inflammatory signaling blocks NUMB’s ability to deaden NOTCH1-driven tumor development.
Transcriptional elongation control takes on new dimensions as Stowers researchers find gene class-specific elongation factors.
Whitehead Institute scientists have identified conserved, long intervening non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) that play key roles during brain development in zebrafish, and went on to show that the human versions of these RNAs can substitute for the zebrafish lincRNAs.
Maintaining balance is crucial. In Drosophila, the common fruit fly, the creation and maintenance of the blood supply requires such balance.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered the first known mechanism by which cells control the survival of messenger RNA (mRNA)—arguably biology’s most important molecule. The findings pertain to mRNAs that help regulate cell division and could therefore have implications for reversing cancer’s out-of-control cell division. The research is described in today’s online edition of the journal Cell.
Biochemists have discovered a key interaction that could lead to a new treatment for a rare metabolic disorder, Fabry disease. It should aid understanding of other protein-folding diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well. Findings are the cover story in the current Chemistry & Biology.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found in an animal model of acute lung injury a molecular mechanism that allows cells of the immune system to reduce tissue damage from inflammation.
Throughout the interior spaces of humans and other warm-blooded creatures is a special type of tissue known as brown fat, which may hold the secret to diets and weight-loss programs of the future.
Cancer researchers studying genetic mutations that cause leukemia have discovered a connection to the rare disease cherubism, an inherited facial bone disorder in children.
For the first time, biologists have altered natural bioelectrical signals among cells to directly specify the type of new organ to be created at a particular location within a vertebrate organism. Using genetic manipulation of membrane voltage in Xenopus (frog) embryos, Tufts University scientists were able to cause tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the head area.
A long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) prevents programmed cell death during one of the final stages of red blood cell differentiation, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. Preventing normal cell death is a key step in the development of leukemias and other cancers.
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a way to use patients' own cells to potentially cure sickle cell disease and many other disorders caused by mutations in a gene that helps produce blood hemoglobin.
The trifecta of biological proof is to take a discovery made in a simple model organism like baker’s yeast and track down its analogs or homologs in “higher” creatures right up the complexity scale to people, in this case, from yeast to fruit flies to humans. In a pair of related studies, scientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have hit such a trifecta, closing a circle of inquiry that they opened over a decade ago.
When RNA component units called ribonucleotides become embedded in genomic DNA, they can cause problems for cells, but not much is known about the fate of these ribonucleotides. A new study identifies two mechanisms cells use to recognize and remove ribonucleotides embedded in genomic DNA.
Tweaking the levels of factors used during the reprogramming of adult cells into induced pluriopotent stem (iPS) cells can greatly affect the quality of the resulting iPS cells, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. This finding explains at least in part the wide variation in quality and fidelity of iPS cells created through different reprogramming methods.
Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have identified cancer cell mitochondria as the unsuspecting powerhouse and “Achilles’ heel” of tumor growth, opening up the door for new therapeutic targets in breast cancer and other tumor types.
Indiana University biologists and two physicists at Brown University with IU connections have shown that certain bacteria wait until the last minute to synthesize the glue that allows them to attach permanently to surfaces.
Researchers from the NYU Cancer Institute, an NCI-designated cancer center at NYU Langone Medical Center, have discovered a new potential therapeutic target for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), the most aggressive and common type of lymphoma in adults. The new study, published in the November 23 issue of Nature, reveals the underlying molecular mechanism contributing to the development of lymphomagenesis.
Cells often multi-task when synthesizing and splicing RNA. But when unconventional splicing is required, they synthesize first and splice later, according to a study led by researchers at the Public Health Research Institute at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and published in Cell .
Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have identified a cellular protein that plays a central role in the formation of new blood vessels. The molecule is the protein Shc (pronounced SHIK), and new blood vessel formation, or angiogenesis, is seriously impaired without it.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine describe for the first time a key target of DNA damage checkpoint enzymes that must be chemically modified to enable stable maintenance of chromosome ends by telomerase, an enzyme thought to play a key role in cancer and aging.
The accumulation of damaged protein is a hallmark of aging that not even the humble baker’s yeast can escape. Yet, aged yeast cells spawn off youthful daughter cells without any of the telltale protein clumps. Now, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research may have found an explanation for the observed asymmetrical distribution of damaged proteins between mothers and their youthful daughters.
Researchers interested in the treatment of schizophrenia and dementia have clarified how antipsychotic drugs that target a complex of two receptors at the surface of cells in the brain work, according to a new study published online Nov. 23 in the journal Cell.
NYU Langone Medical Center researchers have discovered the novel protective role dendritic cells play in the pancreas. The new study, published in the November issue of journal Gastroenterology, shows dendritic cells can safeguard the pancreas against acute pancreatitis, a sudden dangerous swelling and inflammation of the pancreas gland.
A research team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists has identified an atypical metabolic pathway unique to some tumors, possibly providing a future target for drugs that could reduce or halt the spread of cancer.
Sluggish recycling of a protein-slicing enzyme could promote Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study in The Journal of Cell Biology.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers now have discovered the molecular sensor that detects wound-induced hydrogen peroxide and orchestrates the marshaling of neutrophils and other immune cells, or leukocytes, including those that affect tumors.
Collaborations between Johns Hopkins and National Taiwan University researchers have successfully manipulated the life span of common, single-celled yeast organisms by figuring out how to remove and restore protein functions related to yeast aging.
Each time a cell divides—and it takes millions of cell divisions to create a fully grown human body from a single fertilized cell—its chromosomes have to be accurately divvied up between both daughter cells. Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research used, ironically enough, the single-celled organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae—commonly known as baker’s yeast—to gain new insight into the process by which chromosomes are physically segregated during cell division.
The removal of rare tumor cells circulating in the blood might be possible with the use of biomolecules bound to dendrimers, highly branched synthetic polymers, which could efficiently sift and capture the diseased cells, according to new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
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