ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Scientists have discovered a molecular assistant called Spy that helps bacteria excel at producing proteins for medical and industrial purposes.
Bacteria are widely used to manufacture proteins used in medicine and indus…
Tag Archives | hughes medical institute
Quest for designer bacteria uncovers a ‘Spy’
Unlocking the secret(ase) of building neural circuits
LA JOLLA, CA — Mutant presenilin is infamous for its role in the most aggressive form of Alzheimer’s disease — early-onset familial Alzheimer’s — which can strike people as early as their 30s. In their latest study, researchers at the Sal…
Missing molecules hold promise of therapy for pancreatic cancer
By determining what goes missing in human cells when the gene that is most commonly mutated in pancreatic cancer gets turned on, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a potential strategy for therapy.
The production of a particular cluster of …
Cholera and vaccine experts urge United States to stockpile vaccine
As the cholera epidemic in Haiti continues to rage, public health workers are focusing their efforts on treating the tens of thousands who have already been hospitalized with cholera-like symptoms and providing clean water and adequate sanitation to…
MIT biologists find that restoring the gene for cancer protein p53 slows spread of advanced tumors
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In a new study to be published in the Nov. 25 issue of Nature, MIT cancer biologists show that restoring the protein p53′s function in mice with lung cancer has no effect early in tumor development, but restoring the function lat…
More evidence that melanoma does not conform to the cancer stem cell model
ANN ARBOR, Mich—University of Michigan researchers have determined that most types of melanoma cells can form malignant tumors, providing new evidence that the deadliest form of skin cancer does not conform to the increasingly popular cancer st…
Caltech scientists describe the delicate balance in the brain that controls fear
PASADENA, Calif. — The eerie music in the movie theater swells; the roller coaster crests and begins its descent; something goes bump in the night. Suddenly, you’re scared: your heart thumps, your stomach clenches, your throat tightens, your muscle…
The zebrafish’s neural circuit prevents it from biting off more than it can chew
Between alerting us to danger and allowing us to spot prey, vision keeps many animals, including humans, alive. But exactly how does this important sense work, and why is it easier for us to spot movement of small objects in our field of vision,…
Penn study identifies molecular guardian of cell’s RNA
PHILADELPHIA – When most genes are transcribed, the nascent RNAs they produce are not quite ready to be translated into proteins – they have to be processed first. One of those processes is called splicing, a mechanism by which non-coding gene…
‘Reaper’ protein strikes at mitochondria to kill cells
Our cells live ever on the verge of suicide, requiring the close attention of a team of molecules to prevent the cells from pulling the trigger. This self-destructive tendency can be a very good thing, as when dangerous precancerous cells are permit…
Temperature rhythms keep body clocks in sync, UT Southwestern researchers find
DALLAS — Oct. 14, 2010 — Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that fluctuations in internal body temperature regulate the body’s circadian rhythm, the 24-hour cycle that controls metabolism, sleep and other bodily functions.
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Fast-track gene-ID method speeds rare disease search
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A University of Michigan-led research team has identified a gene responsible in some families for a devastating inherited kidney disorder, thanks to a new, faster method of genetic analysis not available even two years ago….
Undergraduate research highlighted in DNA and Cell Biology Journal
New Rochelle, NY, September 16, 2010 — Not only do undergraduate students gain valuable hands-on experience by participating in scientific research projects, but they also make meaningful contributions, examples of which are highlighted in the curr…
Genome comparison of ants establishes new model species for molecular research
PHILADELPHIA – By comparing two species of ants, Shelley Berger, PhD, the Daniel S. Och University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues Danny Reinberg, PhD, New York University, and Juergen Liebig, PhD, Arizona State Univers…
Diabetes in the Elderly Linked to Fewer Cellular ‘Power Plants’
Elderly people may develop insulin resistance — one of the major risk factors for diabetes — because “power plants” in their muscle cells decline or fail with age, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers at Yale University School of Medicine. In studies of young and elderly people, the researchers found that older people had lower levels of metabolic activity in their mitochondria, the “factories” that provide power to cells. The findings suggest that reduced mitochondrial activity underlies insulin resistance, which is a major contributor to type 2 diabetes in the elderly.
Muscle-Repair Defect Underlies Two Muscular Dystrophies
A protein defective in two types of muscular dystrophy also appears to be important in repairing damaged muscle, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. The discovery reveals the first known component of the machinery that repairs the damaged membrane in a muscle fiber. Further studies of this and related proteins could lead to a better understanding of disorders that affect cardiac and skeletal muscles.
An Unexplored Genomic Terrain in a Handful of Dirt
Researchers have literally unearthed a treasure trove of genomic information from ten newly identified viruses found in the monkey pit at the Bronx Zoo and other locations. The viruses are called mycobacteriophages and they infect a range of bacteria, including those that cause tuberculosis and leprosy.
White noise delays auditory organization in brain
Exposure to continuous white noise sabotages the development of the auditory region of the brain, which may ultimately impair hearing and language acquisition, according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco. According to the scientists, the young rats used in their study were exposed to constant white noise that is relevant to the increasing, random noise encountered by humans in today’s environment. They theorize that their findings could aid in explaining the increase in language-impairment developmental disorders over the last few decades.
Researchers Determine Fundamental Mechanisms Involved in Immune Response
Scientists from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and their colleagues have unraveled some of the fundamental mysteries about the genetic mechanisms that endow the immune system with its life-saving ability to generate specialized antibodies. Without genetic fine-tuning, antibodies would be relatively ineffective in finding a good match on the surface of viruses, parasites, and other potentially dangerous foreign pathogens. The findings also reveal the workings of a gene mutation process that can go awry, leading to the development of certain forms of cancer or allergic reactions.
Researcher ID new target for anti-HIV drugs
Researchers say they have discovered a new target on the HIV molecule that could potentially lead to a new class of anti-viral drugs to fight the virus that causes AIDS. “The greatest challenge in treating HIV today is drug resistance brought on when the virus mutates and renders existing drugs ineffective at stopping viral replication,” said a lead researcher. “Our research has led to the identification of a new class of compounds that inhibit a novel target in HIV. These compounds disrupt the assembly of the HIV-1 capsid protein, which is a vital step in changing immature, non-infectious HIV into its mature, infectious form.”
Deceptive Strategy Shields HIV from Destruction
Researchers have discovered one way in which the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) wins its cat-and-mouse game with the body’s immune system. The study, published in the March 20, 2003, issue of the journal Nature, shows that HIV-1, a common strain of the virus that causes AIDS, uses a strategy not seen before in other viruses to escape attack by antibodies, one of the immune system’s prime weapons against invading viruses and bacteria.
Researchers Identify Signals that Cause Hair Follicles to Sprout
The delicate interplay of two chemical signals coaxes stem cells into becoming hair follicles, according to new research by scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at The Rockefeller University. The research has implications for understanding hair growth and hair-follicle development, and it may also help explain how diverse structures, such as teeth and lungs, are formed or how some forms of skin cancer develop.
Gene Mutation Exacerbates Eye Defect in Inherited Glaucoma
While studying mice with a mutant gene whose counterpart causes inherited glaucoma in humans, researchers have discovered a second gene mutation that worsens the structural eye defect that causes this type of glaucoma. The newly discovered gene mutation affects production of L-DOPA. The researchers suggest that it might be feasible to prevent glaucoma by administering L-DOPA, which is used in treating Parkinson’s disease.
Pheromones Create a 'Chemical Image' in the Brain
For the first time, researchers have eavesdropped on the brains of mice as they go about the normal behaviors of detecting the subtle chemical signals called pheromones from other animals. The researchers have discovered that the animals’ pheromone-processing machinery in the brain forms, in essence, a specific “pheromonal image” of another animal. Such an “image” of another animal’s sex, identity, social standing and female reproductive status governs a range of mating, fighting, maternal-infant bonding and other behaviors. The scientists said that the specificity they discovered in the neurons that process pheromonal signals is akin to the “face neurons” in the visual areas of primate brains that are specifically triggered by facial features of other animals.
Taste Receptor Cells Share Common Pathway
Although sweet, bitter and umami (monosodium glutamate) tastes are different, researchers are finding that information about each of these tastes is transmitted from the various taste receptors via a common intracellular signaling pathway. The identification of a common pathway runs counter to widespread belief among some researchers in the taste field who have long held the view that the different tastes require distinct machinery within the cell to transduce their signals to the brain, which is responsible for processing taste perceptions.
Mutation Causes Specific Arrhythmia and Sudden Cardiac Death
An international team of researchers has demonstrated a genetic basis for a fatal form of inherited cardiac arrhythmia that usually strikes young, seemingly healthy people. Basing their research on a French family with a form (Type 4) of inherited Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) and experiments in mice, the researchers found the mutation in a specific gene encoding ankyrin-B, a protein within heart muscle cells. Their discovery identifies what appears to be a novel mechanism for cardiac arrhythmia.
Protein Linked to Movement Disorders
Using a tiny worm to model a severe childhood movement disorder, researchers have discovered the role of a protein that may have implications for a number of neurological syndromes such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases. The scientists found that a mutated gene associated with early onset dystonia, a severe hereditary movement disorder, normally helps manage protein folding.
Mechanism to overcome Gleevec resistance demonstrated
Amid the glowing results for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients using Gleevec the past three years, the one reality check has been that a majority of the patients with advanced disease eventually relapse and die of the leukemia. An article to be published in the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research shows that, in the lab, the molecular mutations that produce a resistance to Gleevec can be overcome. Brian Druker, M.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute, and colleagues report that a compound called PD180970 successfully stopped the activity of several mutations found in patients who developed a resistance to Gleevec.
Zebrafish May Point the Way to Mending a Broken Heart
Researchers have found that the secret to mending a broken heart — at least at the molecular level — resides within the two-chambered heart of a fish commonly found in household aquariums. The scientists showed that the zebrafish can regenerate its heart after injury, and their studies suggest that understanding cardiac regeneration in this fish may lead to specific strategies to repair damaged human hearts.
Protective protein blocks DNA breaks at fragile sites
With 46 chromosomes and six feet of DNA to copy every time most human cells divide, it’s not surprising that gaps or breaks sometimes show up in the finished product – especially when the cell is under stress or dividing rapidly, as in cancer. But what is surprising is that the breaks don’t always occur at random. They happen at a few specific locations on chromosomes, when cells are under stress, during the stages in the cell cycle where DNA is copied, or replicated, and the cell splits into two identical daughter cells. Scientists call them fragile sites, but the reasons for their inherent instability have remained a mystery. Now researchers have discovered that a protein called ATR protects fragile sites from breaking during DNA replication.