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Scientific insurgents say 'Journal Impact Factors' distort science
(American Society for Cell Biology) An ad hoc coalition of unlikely insurgents -- scientists, journal editors and publishers, scholarly societies, and research funders across many scientific disciplines -- today posted an international declaration calling on the world scientific community to eliminate the role of the journal impact factor in evaluating research for funding, hiring, promotion, or institutional effectiveness. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - May 16, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Scarlet macaw genome sequenced | @GrrlScientist
The newly-sequenced scarlet macaw genome will provide many important insights into avian and human biology, behaviours and genetics and will contribute to parrot conservationAfter many years of research into the behaviours, diseases, genetics and life history of scarlet macaws, a team of scientists have taken their studies to the next level. Christopher Seabury, an Assistant Professor of Genetics at Texas A&M University's college of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Ian Tizard, Director of the Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center and a Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Texas A&M University's college of ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - May 15, 2013 Category: Science Authors: GrrlScientist Tags: Blogposts Genetics Biology guardian.co.uk Birds Zoology Environment Science Source Type: news

Two UCLA faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences
Two professors from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have been elected by their peers to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors presented to scientists in the U.S.; its membership includes Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright and Alexander Graham Bell. The UCLA professors are among 84 new members of the academy from across the U.S. and 21 foreign associates from 14 countries. Their election brings the number...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 9, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

US guidelines recommend CT scans for smokers
Older people with a history of smoking heavily should be offered annual low-dose CT scans to screen for lung cancer according to new US guidelines reported by the Reuters news agency. These guidelines recommend that annual CT (computerised tomography) scans should be offered to current or former smokers aged 55-74 who have smoked 20 cigarettes a day for 30 years or more. However, screening should only be offered in facilities that can provide high standards of clinical care, the guidelines say. Screening means testing everyone in a particular population for early stages of a disease before they have any symptoms. In the U...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 9, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Older people QA articles Source Type: news

Wip1 Could Be New Target For Treatment Of Colorectal, Breast And Ovarian Cancers
Researchers have uncovered mutations in the phosphatase Wip1 that enable cancer cells to foil the tumor suppressor p53, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The results could provide a new target for the treatment of certain cancers. Like a battlefield surgeon who has to decide which casualties can be saved, p53 performs triage on cells with injured DNA. If the damage is serious, p53 spurs the cells to die or stop proliferating... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 8, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Colorectal Cancer Source Type: news

Progerin's 'Discrimination' May Contribute To Fatal Disease That Resembles Premature Aging
A mutant protein responsible for Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome (HGPS) bars large proteins from entering the nucleus, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The culprit in HGPS, a fatal disease that resembles premature aging, is a protein variant called Progerin. This defective protein impairs cells in many ways, including reducing nuclear levels of the RanGTPase. Ran is crucial for nuclear import and export, as it stimulates unloading of cargo that has just entered the nucleus and loading of cargo that's ready to exit... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 8, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Seniors / Aging Source Type: news

Nobel laureate Christian de Duve dies at 95
Christian de Duve was a Nobel Prize winning cell biologist whose research centered on the separation and characterization of the organelles of living cells. de Duve and his colleagues also made significant contributions to the development of techniques and instrumentation for the study of cell biology. More » (Source: The Rockefeller University Newswire)
Source: The Rockefeller University Newswire - May 6, 2013 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: pubaff Tags: Campus News Christian de Duve nobel prize Source Type: news

Progerin's 'discrimination' may contribute to fatal disease HGPS
(Rockefeller University Press) A mutant protein responsible for Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome bars large proteins from entering the nucleus, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - May 6, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Wip1 could be new target for cancer treatment
(Rockefeller University Press) Researchers have uncovered mutations in the phosphatase Wip1 that enable cancer cells to foil the tumor suppressor p53, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The results could provide a new target for the treatment of certain cancers. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - May 6, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Gene Test Enhances Thyroid Biopsy (CME/CE)
PHOENIX (MedPage Today) -- Genetic profiling of biopsies that can't be labeled benign or malignant on cytology testing may eventually diminish the number of surgeries needed, researchers reported here. (Source: MedPage Today Endocrinology)
Source: MedPage Today Endocrinology - May 4, 2013 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: news

Chemokine Receptors and Neural Stem Cells
Neural stem cells (NSCs) represent a limited population of progenitor cells in the central nervous system that sustain their self-renewal and multipotency from early development to adulthood. Recent evidence suggests that chemokine receptors are constitutively expressed by NSCs and are directly involved in stem cell biology. As cell surface receptors, chemokine receptors also provide an important avenue to enrich these cells and further identify the potential molecular pathways required to maintain their biological functions. Here, I describe in vitro methods that have been widely applied to sort, culture, maintain, and di...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Biochemistry - May 3, 2013 Category: Biochemistry Source Type: news

Cell biologists say immigration reform critical to scientific education and competitiveness
(American Society for Cell Biology) Progress in American scientific research and reform in American immigration law must go hand in hand, the American Society for Cell Biology declared today in a position paper that outlines four recommendations for modernizing US immigration policy. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - May 2, 2013 Category: Biology Source Type: news

Membrane remodeling: Where yoga meets cell biology
Cells ingest proteins and engulf bacteria by a gymnastic, shape-shifting process called endocytosis. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health revealed how a key protein, dynamin, drives the action. (Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH) News Releases)
Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH) News Releases - April 30, 2013 Category: American Health Source Type: news

Conversion from bad fat to good fat (EurekAlert, 28 April 2013)
A study from Switzerland published in Nature Cell Biology investigates adipocyte differentiation in mice exposed to varying temperatures. Full article (Source: Society for Endocrinology)
Source: Society for Endocrinology - April 30, 2013 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: news

Membrane remodeling: Where yoga meets cell biology
This study suggests that, in contrast to earlier theories, dynamin proteins and membrane lipids work together synergistically. Also, GTP completes the final act of separation (membrane fission) not through brute force, but by encouraging the highly stressed membrane to relax. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - April 30, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

UC Riverside plant cell biologist elected to the National Academy of Sciences
(University of California - Riverside) Xuemei Chen, a professor of plant cell and molecular biology at UC Riverside has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences for her excellence in original scientific research. Membership in the NAS is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States. Xuemei has made pioneering contributions to our understanding of how cells in an undifferentiated meristem of a plant shoot ultimately form a flower. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - April 30, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Top researchers to receive honorary degrees from Upstate
Upstate Medical University will bestow honorary doctoral degrees on a Nobel Prize winner and a leading expert on cell biology during its Commencement ceremony May 19. (Source: SUNY Upstate Medical)
Source: SUNY Upstate Medical - April 26, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Nanotechnology: striking a balance between glorification and 'grey goo' | Kostas Kostarelos
Emerging fields such as nanotechnology must resist the false dichotomy that says they're either marvellous or demonicGreat things can happen when you think small: thousands of times smaller than a grain of sand, much finer than your thinnest hair. So small that swimming among water molecules would feel as though you were in a pool of thick jam.Get to this scale and you can play Lego with individual molecules. You could build tiny machines that can travel through the stem of a flower or, as in my case, minuscule needles that can inject drugs into single brain cells.There is beauty in exploring the nanoscale. But the idea ge...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 23, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Kostas Kostarelos Tags: Blogposts guardian.co.uk Nanotechnology Physics Chemistry Science Source Type: news

Method makes it easier to separate useful stem cells from 'problem' ones for therapies
Pluripotent stem cells can turn, or differentiate, into any cell type in the body, such as nerve, muscle or bone, but inevitably some of these stem cells fail to differentiate and end up mixed in with their newly differentiated daughter cells. Because these remaining pluripotent stem cells can subsequently develop into unintended cell types — bone cells among blood, for instance — or form tumors known as teratomas, identifying and separating them from their differentiated progeny is of utmost importance in keeping stem cell–based therapeutics safe. Now, UCLA scientists have discovered ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 22, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

This Day in Science History - April 21 - Hertwig and Flemming
April 21st is the birthday of two important scientists in the field of cell biology. Oskar Hertwig was the first to pinpoint when fertilization occurs between sperm and ovum cells ...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Chemistry)
Source: About.com Chemistry - April 20, 2013 Category: Chemistry Source Type: news

CentriVap® Micro IR Vacuum Concentrator Uses Infrared Heat To Speed Sample Evaporation Process
The CentriVap micro IR Vacuum Concentrator has the smallest footprint available so it fits in tight spaces and is ideal for small throughput in molecular biology, proteomics, genomic, genetics, cell biology and drug discovery labs. (Source: Pharmaceutical Online News)
Source: Pharmaceutical Online News - April 17, 2013 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news

Critical Role Played By Mast Cells In Initializing Pulmonary Fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic, deadly disease that affects five million people worldwide. It is irreversible, its cause is poorly understood, and it has a median survival of only about 3 years. A new study that implicates mast cells - an immune cell involved in allergic asthma - in the development of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis could lead to new, more effective therapies. The study is published in DNA and Cell Biology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the DNA and Cell Biology website... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - April 16, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Respiratory / Asthma Source Type: news

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of the Breast(Tse et al.)
Atlas of Cyto-Histologic CorrelatesThis book provides a detailed update on all aspects of fine-needle aspiration cytology of breast lesions. It will serve readers as an up-to-date reference and atlas on both new entities in breast pathology, including borderline lesions such as flat epithelial atypia, and the classic benign and malignant lesions. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the characteristic diagnostic features as well ... (Source: Springer Medicine titles)
Source: Springer Medicine titles - April 13, 2013 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: Pathology Source Type: news

Isotope Labeling Strategies for Analysis of an Ion Channel Cytoplasmic Domain by NMR Spectroscopy
As large, multimeric, integral membrane proteins, ion channels pose technical challenges to analysis by NMR spectroscopy. Here we present a strategy to overcome some of these technical hurdles, using a representative ion channel modulatory domain, the regulator of K+ conductance (RCK) domain from a K+ channel cloned from Thermoplasma volcanium. By introducing a mutation to limit the stoichiometry of the octameric RCK domain “gating ring” complex to its dimeric building block, NMR spectral resolution can be greatly improved. Here we present protocols for efficient production of highly deuterated, uniformly 15N-l...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Recording Dendritic Ion Channel Properties and Function from Cortical Neurons
Dendrites emerging from the cell bodies of neurons receive the majority of synaptic inputs. They possess a plethora of ion channels that are essential for the processing of these synaptic signals. To fully understand how dendritic ion channels influence neuronal information processing, various patch-clamp techniques that allow electrophysiological recordings to be made directly from dendrites have been developed. In this chapter, I describe one such method that is suitable for making electrophysiological recordings from the apical dendrites of hippocampal and cortical pyramidal neurons. (Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology)
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

M-Current Recording from Acute DRG Slices
Electrophysiological recordings from an acutely sliced preparation provide information on ionic currents and excitability of native neurons under near physiological conditions. Although this technique is commonly used on central nervous system structures such as spinal cord and brain, structures within the peripheral nervous system (including sensory ganglia and fibers) have proven to be much more difficult to study in acute preparations. Here we describe a method for patch-clamp recordings from rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) slices. (Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology)
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Approaches to Cloning of Pain-Related Ion Channel Genes
Molecular pain research is a relatively new and rapidly expanding field that represents advancement in conventional pain research. One of the fundamentals of molecular pain involves the cloning of genes and especially the ion channels specifically involved in nociceptive processing at the periphery and centrally. A variety of approaches were used to isolate these critically important genes. Cloning of these genes involved innovative strategies based on existing molecular approaches. This review will discuss well-utilized cloning approaches and their exploitation in molecular pain research. (Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology)
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Mammalian Expression Systems and Transfection Techniques
To delineate the function of a single ion channel subtype amongst the multitude that normally constitutes a signalling pathway, it is often insightful to study the function or signalling of that one ion channel in the absence of the others. Mammalian cell lines that do not normally express the gene of interest can be manipulated to do so via plasmid DNA expression vectors. However, large and highly charged molecules like DNA cannot passively diffuse through cell membranes. Therefore introducing nucleic acid into mammalian cells may involve introducing pores transiently into the cell membrane to allow the passage of circula...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Use of Escherichia coli for the Production and Purification of Membrane Proteins
Individual types of ion channels and other membrane proteins are typically expressed only at low levels in their native membranes, rendering their isolation by conventional purification techniques difficult. The heterologous over-expression of such proteins is therefore usually a prerequisite for their purification in amounts suitable for structural and for many functional investigations. The most straightforward expression host, suitable for prokaryote membrane proteins and some proteins from eukaryotes, is the bacterium Escherichia coli. Here we describe the use of this expression system for production of functionally ac...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Transient Overexpression of Genes in Neurons Using Nucleofection
Nucleofection is a transfection method used to introduce substrates such as cDNA plasmids into primary cells or other cell lines. The method can be successfully applied to cells that are considered difficult to transfect or suffer from low transfection efficiency as seen with traditional transfection techniques. Neurons in primary cultures retain many properties of their in vivo state and therefore, in many instances, are considered better experimental systems than immortalized cell lines, thus becoming increasingly desirable cell types for biomedical research. However, being post-mitotic, primary neuronal cultures are par...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Viral Gene Delivery: Optimized Protocol for Production of High Titer Lentiviral Vectors
HIV-derived lentiviral vectors (LVV) are among the most commonly used gene delivery vehicles. Their production in high quantities, which enables concentration of viral particles to high titers, is important for their successful application in both biomedical research and gene therapy. LVV are produced by co-transfection of three or more plasmids into a packaging cell line followed by several purification and concentration steps. Protocols currently in circulation differ from each other but the direct comparison of their efficacy based on the published information is extremely difficult because more than one variable may be...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Combined Single-Channel and Macroscopic Recording Techniques to Analyze Gating Mechanisms of the Large Conductance Ca2+ and Voltage Activated (BK) Potassium Channel
Ion channels are integral membrane proteins that regulate membrane potentials and signaling of cells in response to various stimuli. The patch-clamp technique enables the study of single channels or a population of channels. The macroscopic recording approaches are powerful in revealing population-averaged behaviors of channels both under basal conditions and in response to various stimuli, modulators and drugs. On their own, however, these approaches can be insufficient for determinations of channel gating mechanisms as they do not accurately report channel open probabilities below 10−2 to 10−3. This obstacle ...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Perforated Whole-Cell Patch-Clamp Recording
Perforated whole-cell patch-clamp is a variant of the patch-clamp technique used to measure the sum activity of ion channels in the plasma membrane of a single cell. Its defining feature is that electrical access to the cell is obtained through inclusion of a pore-forming antibiotic in the patch pipette which perforates the sealed patch of membrane in contact with the patch pipette. The antibiotic pores allow equilibration of small monovalent ions between the patch pipette and the cytosol whilst maintaining endogenous levels of divalent ions such as Ca2+ and signalling molecules such as cAMP. Therefore, the perforated patc...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Piezo-Electrically Driven Mechanical Stimulation of Sensory Neurons
Mechanotransduction, the conversion of a mechanical stimulus into a biological response, constitutes the basis of a variety of physiological functions such as the senses of touch, balance, proprioception, blood pressure, and hearing. In vertebrates, mechanosensation is mediated by mechanosensory neurons, whose cell bodies are located in trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia. Here, we describe an in vitro model of mechanotransduction that provides an opportunity to explore the properties of mechanosensitive channels in mammalian sensory neurons. The mechano-clamp method allows applying local force on plasma membrane of whole-c...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Automated Planar Patch-Clamp
Ion channels are integral membrane proteins that regulate the flow of ions across the plasma membrane and the membranes of intracellular organelles of both excitable and non-excitable cells. Ion channels are vital to a wide variety of biological processes and are prominent components of the nervous system and cardiovascular system, as well as controlling many metabolic functions. Furthermore, ion channels are known to be involved in many disease states and as such have become popular therapeutic targets. For many years now manual patch-clamping has been regarded as one of the best approaches for assaying ion channel functi...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Recording Single-Channel Currents Using “Smart Patch-Clamp” Technique
Microdomains that form on the plasma membrane of cells are essential for signalling compartmentation within cells. The localization of ion channels in these surface microdomains is important in defining what signalling cascades will be generated. For example, in cardiomyocytes, similar to other excitable cells, action potential propagation depends essentially on the properties of ion channels that are functionally and spatially coupled. In this chapter we describe a novel advanced patch-clamp technique, “Smart patch-clamp,” which enables the study of functional ion channels in the cell surface microdomains in a...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news

Two-Electrode Voltage Clamp
Two-electrode voltage clamp (TEVC) is a conventional electrophysiological technique used to artificially control the membrane potential (V m) of large cells to study the properties of electrogenic membrane proteins, especially ion channels. It makes use of two intracellular electrodes—a voltage electrode as V m sensor and a current electrode for current injection to adjust the V m, thus setting the membrane potential at desired values and recording the membrane current to analyze ion channel activities. Here we describe the use of TEVC in combination with exogenous mRNA expression in Xenopus o...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Cell Biology - April 12, 2013 Category: Cytology Source Type: news