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…
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…
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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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….
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…
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…
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.
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.
Scientists have finally laid hands on the first member of a recalcitrant group of proteins called the Wnts two decades after their discovery. Important regulators of animal development, these proteins were suspected to have a role in keeping stem cells in their youthful, undifferentiated state – a suspicion that has proven correct, according to research carried out in two laboratories at Stanford University Medical Center. The ability to isolate Wnt proteins could help researchers grow some types of stem cells for use in bone marrow transplants or other therapies.
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.
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.
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.