News in Bioscience

Nano detector for deadly anthrax

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:00:52 PST

An automatic and portable detector that takes just fifteen minutes to analyze a sample suspected of contamination with anthrax is being developed by US researchers. The technology amplifies any anthrax DNA present in the sample and can reveal the presence of just 40 microscopic cells of the deadly bacteria Bacillus anthracis.B. anthracis, commonly known as anthrax, is a potentially lethal microbe

Unexpected function of dyslexia gene

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:00:52 PST

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that a gene linked to dyslexia has a surprising biological function: it controls cilia, the antenna-like projections that cells use to communicate.Dyslexia is largely hereditary and linked to a number of genes, the functions of which are, however, largely unknown. This present study from Karolinska Institutet and Helsinki University

Discoveries in mitochondria open new field of cancer research

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:00:52 PST

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have revealed novel mechanisms in mitochondria that have implications for cancer as well as many other age-related diseases such as Parkinson's disease, heart disease and hypertension. This discovery has pioneered the formation of a whole new field within epigenetics research ripe with possibilities of developing future gene

First genetic mutation linked to heart failure in pregnant women

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:02:05 PST

Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City have identified the first genetic mutation ever associated with a mysterious and potentially devastating form of heart disease that affects women in the final weeks of pregnancy or the first few months after delivery.The disease, peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), weakens a woman's heart so that it no longer pumps

Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells will deliver cancer-fighting drugs

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:02:05 PST

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel method of disguising nanoparticles as red blood cells, which will enable them to evade the body's immune system and deliver cancer-fighting drugs straight to a tumor. Their research will be published next week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The method involves

Molecular glue sticks it to cancer

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:02:05 PST

Imagine dropping dish soap into a sink full of greasy water. What happens? As soon as the soap hits the water, the grease recoils—and retreats to the edges of the sink.Now, what if the sink was a cancer cell, the globs of grease were cancer-promoting proteins and the dish soap was a potential drug? According to new research from the University of Toronto Mississauga, such a drug could force the

The human genome -- now on an iPad near you

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:02:05 PST

Navigating the human genome with software that you can view on an iPad® sounds pretty impressive, until perhaps you reflect that nature has already encoded trillions of copies of this in your chromosomes. Then again, printing that data using ink and paper would produce a mind-staggering pile of pages—so viewing it on an iPad® may be impressive after all.Now the Center for Biomedical Informatics (

Non-coding RNA has role in inherited neurological disorder

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:31:54 PST

A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have uncovered a novel mechanism regulating gene expression and transcription linked to Spinocerebellar ataxia 7, an inherited neurological disorder. The discovery promises to have broad ramifications, suggesting that abundant non-coding transcripts of ribonucleic acid (RNA) may be key players

New cell type offers immunology hope

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:31:55 PST

A team of Australian scientists has discovered a new type of cell in the immune system.The new cell type, a kind of white blood cell, belongs to a family of T-cells that play a critical role in protection against infectious disease.Their findings could ultimately lead to the development of novel drugs that strengthen the immune response against particular types of infectious organisms.It is also

'SpongeBob' mushroom discovered in the forests of Borneo

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:31:55 PST

Sing it with us: What lives in the rainforest, under a tree?Spongiforma squarepantsii, a new species of mushroom almost as strange as its cartoon namesake.Its discovery in the forests of Borneo, says San Francisco State University researcher Dennis Desjardin, suggests that even some of the most charismatic characters in the fungal kingdom are yet to be identified.Shaped like a sea sponge, S.

Lyme disease bacteria take cover in lymph nodes

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:31:55 PST

The bacteria that cause Lyme disease, one of the most important emerging diseases in the United States, appear to hide out in the lymph nodes, triggering a significant immune response, but one that is not strong enough to rout the infection, report researchers at the University of California, Davis.Results from this groundbreaking study involving mice may explain why some people experience

iPS cells to reverse blindness

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:20:28 PST

Researchers have used cutting-edge stem cell technology to correct a genetic defect present in a rare blinding disorder, another step on a promising path that may one day lead to therapies to reverse blindness caused by common retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa which affect millions of individuals.In a study appearing in an advance online publication of the

Genome offers clue to functions of destructive wheat fungus

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:20:28 PST

One of the world's most destructive wheat pathogens is genetically built to evade detection before infecting its host, according to a study that mapped the genome of the fungus.Stephen Goodwin, a Purdue and U.S. Department of Agriculture research plant pathologist, was the principal author on the effort to sequence the genome of the fungus Mycosphaerella graminicola, which causes septoria tritici

Scientists crack the spiders' web code

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:23:44 PST

Decorative white silk crosses are an ingenious tactic used by orb-weaving spiders to protect their webs from damage, a new study from the University of Melbourne has revealed.The team, led by Dr Andre Walter and Professor Mark Elgar from the University of Melbourne's Department of Zoology, found that orb-weaving spiders respond to severe damage to their webs by building bigger silk crosses, but

Deadly bacteria may mimic human proteins to evolve antibiotic resistance

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:23:44 PST

Deadly bacteria may be evolving antibiotic resistance by mimicking human proteins, according to a new study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).This process of "molecular mimicry" may help explain why bacterial human pathogens, many of which were at one time easily treatable with antibiotics, have re-emerged in recent years as highly infectious public health threats, according

Tiny bubbles signal severe impacts to coral reefs worldwide

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:23:44 PST

A new study from University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science scientists Chris Langdon, Remy Okazaki and Nancy Muehllehner and colleagues from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany concludes that ocean acidification, along with increased ocean temperatures, will likely severely reduce the diversity

What is a laboratory mouse?

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:24:50 PST

Mice and humans share about 95 percent of their genes, and mice are recognized around the world as the leading experimental model for studying human biology and disease. But, says Jackson Laboratory Professor Gary Churchill, Ph.D., researchers can learn even more "now that we really know what a laboratory mouse is, genetically speaking."Churchill and Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena, Ph.D., of

New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 enzyme acquired in Canada

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:24:50 PST

An enzyme associated with extensive antibiotic resistance called New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase-1 (NDM-1), endemic in India and Pakistan and spreading worldwide, has been found in two people in the Toronto area, one of whom acquired it in Canada, states a case report in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj110477.pdf. The report

Origins of XMRV deciphered, undermining claims for a role in human disease

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:24:33 PST

Delineation of the origin of the retrovirus known as XMRV from the genomes of laboratory mice indicates that the virus is unlikely to be responsible for either prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in humans, as has been widely published. The virus arose because of genetic recombination of two mouse viruses. Subsequent infection of lab experiments with XMRV formed the basis of the original

Saliva is effective in screening for CMV infection in newborns

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:24:33 PST

Swabbing a newborn's mouth for saliva can be used to quickly and effectively screen for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, a leading cause of hearing loss in children, says research in the June 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) found saliva correctly identified every baby born with the infection when liquid samples were used,

Tarantulas shoot silk from feet

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:24:33 PST

Climbing is possibly one of the riskiest things an adult tarantula can do. Weighing in at anything up to 50gm, the dry attachment systems that keep daintier spiders firmly anchored are on the verge of failure in these colossal arachnids. 'The animals are very delicate. They wouldn't survive a fall from any height,' explains Claire Rind from the University of Newcastle, UK. In 2006, Stanislav Gorb

Vaccine protects from deadly Hendra virus

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:28:04 PST

CSIRO scientists have shown that a new experimental vaccine helps to protect horses against the deadly Hendra virus. Dr Deborah Middleton from CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) will announce the successful progress to develop the vaccine at the Australian Veterinary Association conference in Adelaide today."Our trials so far have shown that the vaccine prevents the infection of

Zebrafish regrow fins using multiple cell types, not identical stem cells

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:28:04 PST

What does it take to regenerate a limb? Biologists have long thought that organ regeneration in animals like zebrafish and salamanders involved stem cells that can generate any tissue in the body. But new research suggests that multiple cell types are needed to regrow the complete organ, at least in zebrafish.Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that

There's no magic number for saving endangered species

noreply@blogger.com (About us) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:28:04 PST

A new study offers hope for species such as the Siberian Tiger that might be considered 'too rare to save', so long as conservation efforts can target key threats.The findings have important implications for conserving some of the world's most charismatic endangered species, which often exist in populations far smaller than the many thousands of individuals that earlier studies had argued were

News in Bioscience

Nano detector for deadly anthrax

Unexpected function of dyslexia gene

Discoveries in mitochondria open new field of cancer research

First genetic mutation linked to heart failure in pregnant women

Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells will deliver cancer-fighting drugs

Molecular glue sticks it to cancer

The human genome -- now on an iPad near you

Non-coding RNA has role in inherited neurological disorder

New cell type offers immunology hope

'SpongeBob' mushroom discovered in the forests of Borneo

Lyme disease bacteria take cover in lymph nodes

iPS cells to reverse blindness

More biology articles in the 'Health & Medicine' category Life expectancy in most US counties falls behind world's healthiest nations

Genome offers clue to functions of destructive wheat fungus

Scientists crack the spiders' web code

Deadly bacteria may mimic human proteins to evolve antibiotic resistance

Tiny bubbles signal severe impacts to coral reefs worldwide

What is a laboratory mouse?

New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 enzyme acquired in Canada

Origins of XMRV deciphered, undermining claims for a role in human disease

Saliva is effective in screening for CMV infection in newborns

Tarantulas shoot silk from feet

Vaccine protects from deadly Hendra virus

Zebrafish regrow fins using multiple cell types, not identical stem cells

There's no magic number for saving endangered species