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EMBO announces 52 new members for 2013
(European Molecular Biology Organization) EMBO announced today that 52 outstanding researchers in the life sciences were newly elected to its membership. 43 of the researchers reside in Europe and neighboring countries and are accompanied by the election of nine Associate Members from Canada, China, India, Japan and the United States. The EMBO membership currently comprises around 1,600 life scientists. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - May 21, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

What can microscopy teach us on suicide? - Mechawar N.
The fine neuroanatomy of mood disorders and suicide is a relatively recent field of investigation. Together with neuroimaging, molecular biology and biochemistry, histological analyses of post-mortem brain regions implicated in mood regulation allow gainin... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))
Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) - May 20, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Suicide and Self-Harm Source Type: news

Researchers Identify Target To Prevent Hardening Of Arteries
The hardening of arteries is a hallmark of atherosclerosis, an often deadly disease in which plaques, excessive connective tissue, and other changes build up inside vessel walls and squeeze off the flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. Now, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have described the molecular and cellular pathway that leads to this hardening of the arteries - and zeroed in on a particularly destructive protein called Dkk1. Their study was published online today by Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 20, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Vascular Source Type: news

A Vicious Cycle That Helps Obesity Perpetuate Itself
With obesity reaching epidemic levels in some parts of the world, scientists have only begun to understand why it is such a persistent condition. A study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry adds substantially to the story by reporting the discovery of a molecular chain of events in the brains of obese rats that undermined their ability to suppress appetite and to increase calorie burning. It's a vicious cycle, involving a breakdown in how brain cells process key proteins, that allows obesity to beget further obesity... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 19, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Source Type: news

Tuberculosis Pathogen Proteome Atlas
Photographers know the problem all too well: with the naked eye, you can see which branch a bird is sitting on, but spotting the bird in the blur of branches through the telephoto lens for high-magnification images requires considerable skill. It is a similar story for researchers who are looking to study proteins, the active biomolecules of cells. Olga Schubert, a doctoral student at ETH Zurich's Institute for Molecular Systems Biology, and her colleagues have now come up with a search aid... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 17, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Tuberculosis Source Type: news

Corruption influences migration of skilled workers
(European Molecular Biology Organization) Countries that have higher levels of corruption struggle to attract and retain skilled workers report the authors of a new study published in EMBO reports. (Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science)
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - May 17, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Most Complete Database To Date Of Human Phosphatases And Their Substrates
Although we know the tool's general purpose, it can sometimes be difficult to tell if a specific pair of precision tweezers belongs to a surgeon or a master jeweller. It is now easier to solve similar conundrums about a type of protein that allows cells to react to their environment, thanks to scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Published in Science Signaling, their work offers a valuable resource for other researchers... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 16, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology / Biochemistry 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

Cannabinoid Receptors Linked To Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Findings Bring First Pharmaceutical Treatment For PTSD Within Reach
In a first-of-its-kind effort to illuminate the biochemical impact of trauma, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered a connection between the quantity of cannabinoid receptors in the human brain, known as CB1 receptors, and post-traumatic stress disorder, the chronic, disabling condition that can plague trauma victims with flashbacks, nightmares and emotional instability. Their findings, which appear online in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, will also be presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry in San Francisco... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 15, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Anxiety / Stress Source Type: news

Vijay Tiwari awarded the Bruno Speck Award 2013
(Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz) Dr Vijay Tiwari, a Group Leader at the Institute of Molecular Biology in Mainz, has been awarded the Bruno Speck Award by the Swiss Foundation of Haematological Research. The award recognizes outstanding work by young scientists in the fields of haematology and stem cell research. (Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer)
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - May 14, 2013 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news

No proof that red hair raises skin cancer risk
Conclusion The researchers' article discusses potential ways in which the red pigment found in the cells of people with red hair might increase the risk of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. It is not a standard report of a research study, but the authors put forward potential explanations for their previous research findings. These now need to be tested to see if they are correct. The researchers' previous research found that mice genetically engineered to be predisposed to melanoma and red fur developed melanomas even without UV exposure. It is not clear to what extent these genetically engineered mice rep...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 13, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

How Breast Cancer Cells Acquire Drug Resistance
A seven-year quest to understand how breast cancer cells resist treatment with the targeted therapy lapatinib has revealed a previously unknown molecular network that regulates cell death. The discovery provides new avenues to overcome drug resistance, according to researchers at Duke Cancer Institute. "We've revealed multiple new signaling pathways that regulate cell death," said Sally Kornbluth, PhD, vice dean of Basic Science and professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 10, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Breast Cancer 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

Knockout Of Ggamma13 Leads To Loss Of Olfactory Function In Mice
Researchers at the Monell Center and collaborators have identified a protein that is critical to the ability of mammals to smell. Mice engineered to be lacking the Ggamma13 protein in their olfactory receptors were functionally anosmic - unable to smell. The findings may lend insight into the underlying causes of certain smell disorders in humans. "Without Ggamma13, the mice cannot smell," said senior author Liquan Huang, PhD, a molecular biologist at Monell... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 9, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology / Neuroscience Source Type: news

Thrombin inhibits osteoclast differentiation
Osteoclasts and osteoblasts are the major bone cells. Osteoblasts and their precursors express two factors that are essential for osteoclast differentiation and activity: M-CSF and RANKL. Factors that stimulate osteoclast differentiation, includie PTH, PGE2, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D) and interleukin 6 (IL6), do so by stimulating an increase in the expression of RANKL relative to that of its soluble decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG). In the bone environment, active thrombin is generated upon initiation of blood coagulation as a result of bone fracture, as well as in rheumatoid arthritis and possibly other inflamm...
Source: Society for Endocrinology - May 8, 2013 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: news

Professor in Secretion Research : Uppsala, Sweden
Added via Nature Jobs. This role is based at Uppsala University in Sweden and includes the study of cell biological, molecular and electrophysiological mechanisms involved in the endocrine secretion of peptide hormone to the bloodstream. This professorship will take principal responsibility for research and third-cycle (Ph.D.-level) courses and study programmes in the subject area of secretion research, as well as supervision and teaching in the third, second and first cycle. The professor should lead an active research group within the subject area of secretion research, but also contribute to a positive development of ...
Source: Society for Endocrinology - May 8, 2013 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: news

Thijn Brummelkamp receives the EMBO Gold Medal for 2013
(European Molecular Biology Organization) EMBO today announced Thijn Brummelkamp of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam as the winner of the 2013 EMBO Gold Medal. The award acknowledges his outstanding work to accelerate the genetic analysis of human disease. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - May 8, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Researchers discover possible trigger for spread of head and neck cancer cells
UCLA RESEARCH ALERT FINDINGS: Very little has been known about the epigenetic events — developmental and environmental factors affecting genes — that occur prior to the invasive growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and their spread to other parts of the body, or metastasis. However, researchers from the UCLA School of Dentistry discovered what could be a crucial step toward understanding the process that activates the cancer cells. Squamous cell carcinoma is known for being one of the most deadly and debilitating types of tumors. Led by Dr. Cun-Yu Wang, a UCLA School of Dentistry profe...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 7, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Key Process Discovered In Sexual Reproduction
The Research Group headed by molecular biologist Andrea Pichler from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg has made an important discovery in meiosis research. Pichler and her group have identified a new mechanism that plays an important role in meiosis. Meiosis, also called reductional division, is a key process in sexual reproduction. It shuffles parental genetic material and thus guarantees genetic variety... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 7, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology / Biochemistry Source Type: news

Duke researchers describe how breast cancer cells acquire drug resistance
(Duke University Medical Center) A seven-year quest to understand how breast cancer cells resist treatment with the targeted therapy lapatinib has revealed a previously unknown molecular network that regulates cell death. The discovery provides new avenues to overcome drug resistance, according to researchers at Duke Cancer Institute. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - May 7, 2013 Category: Biology Source Type: news

Boosting 'cellular garbage disposal' can delay the aging process, UCLA biologists report
UCLA life scientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, they say, could have important implications for aging and disease in humans. The gene, called parkin, serves at least two vital functions: It marks damaged proteins so that cells can discard them before they become toxic, and it is believed to play a key role in the removal of damaged mitochondria from cells. "Aging is a major risk factor for the development and progression of many neurodegenerative diseases," said David Walke...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 6, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Royal Society scientists angered by Prince Andrew's election as fellow
Some of the Royal Society's 1,450 fellows are unhappy at Duke of York's election and say 'royal fellows' should be phased outAfter more than 350 years of largely happy association with assorted royalty, Britain's pre-eminent scientific institution, the Royal Society, faces unprecedented dissent from members after Prince Andrew was elected to become a fellow.While the objections to the prince centre mainly on his slightly chequered career as a royal, a small number of the 1,450 or so Royal Society fellowship are asking the wider question of whether it is time for an institution based on science to end the practice of honour...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - May 5, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Peter Walker Tags: Royal Society Prince Andrew News guardian.co.uk UK news Monarchy Science Source Type: news

Leading Researchers Emphasize Need to Regulate Stem Cell Therapy
Thirteen of the world's leading stem cell researchers just published a statement in the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Journal expressing alarm about initiatives to deregulate stem cell therapies. Recent actions by the Italian government allowing unapproved stem cell treatments precipitated the researchers' statement....Read Full Post (Source: About.com Biotech Biomedical)
Source: About.com Biotech Biomedical - May 4, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: news

Studying Extracellular Signaling Utilizing a Glycoproteomic Approach: Lectin Blot Surveys, a First and Important Step
Successful innovative proteomic analysis is highly dependent on molecular biology techniques at the surveying and validation stage. This is because mass spectrometry (MS) analyses of complex samples are limited by their dynamic range for detection—so careful front-end sample preparation, fractionation, and enrichment are crucial to find biologically relevant signals in an extremely complex extracellular environment. Here, we share a very useful and simple front-end surveying methodology—lectin blotting—for proteomic analysis of glycosylation patterns—the most abundant posttranslational modifica...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Biochemistry - May 3, 2013 Category: Biochemistry 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

Chemokine Receptor Interactions with Virus-Like Particles
Virus-like particles (VLPs) presenting conformational envelope proteins on their surface represent an invaluable tool to study molecular interactions between viruses and cellular receptors/co-receptors, eliminating biological risks associated with working with live native viruses. The availability of target cells expressing specific chemokine receptors facilitates the dissection of specific interactions between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral envelope proteins and these receptors in the laboratory. Here, we describe a method to evaluate HIV-VLP binding to cellular chemokine co-receptors, by carboxyfluorescein succ...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Biochemistry - May 3, 2013 Category: Biochemistry Source Type: news

New mechanism discovered in meiosis
(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) The research group headed by molecular biologist Andrea Pichler from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg has made an important discovery in meiosis research. Pichler and her group have identified a new mechanism that plays an important role in meiosis. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - May 3, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Compounds That Stimulate The Cannabinoid Type 2 Receptor In White Blood Cells Can Weaken HIV-1 Infection
A new use for compounds related in composition to the active ingredient in marijuana may be on the horizon: a new research report published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that compounds that stimulate the cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor in white blood cells, specifically macrophages, appear to weaken HIV-1 infection. The CB2 receptor is the molecular link through which the pharmaceutical properties of cannabis are manifested... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 2, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: HIV / AIDS Source Type: news

Researchers find active transporters are universally leaky
(School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana) Illinois professor of biochemistry Emad Tajkhorshid and his team found that as active transporters in cell membranes undergo conformational changes to allow their main substrates to pass through through, small molecules like water slip through as well. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - May 2, 2013 Category: Biology Source Type: news

Mapping Of Cancer Cell Fuel Pumps Paves The Way For New Drugs
For the first time, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to obtain detailed images of the way in which the transport protein GLUT transports sugars into cells. Since tumours are highly dependent on the transportation of nutrients in order to be able to grow rapidly, the researchers are hoping that the study published in the scientific magazine Nature Structural & Molecular Biology will form the basis for new strategies to fight cancer cells... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - May 1, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer / Oncology Source Type: news

The Immune Protein C4BP Shows Potential As A Transporter For Drugs
The protein C4BP is similar to a spider in its spatial form with eight "arms". The structure of the "spider body" has recently been described in detail by researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Technische Universitat Darmstadt. This leads the scientists to unconventional ideas - the protein is possibly suitable as a scaffold for the transport of active pharmaceutical substances, particularly biomolecules. The researchers are publishing their results in the current edition of the international journal Journal of Molecular Biology... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - April 30, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Immune System / Vaccines 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

Pseudomonas syringae Infection Assays in Arabidopsis
Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC30000 (Pst DC3000) infection of Arabidopsis thaliana has been widely used to elucidate many of the general principles underlying the plant immune response and bacterial pathogenesis. Study of Pst DC3000 virulence factors has also proven useful in the discovery and elucidation of fundamental mechanisms in plant biology. In particular, Pst DC3000 produces a phytotoxin, coronatine, that is a remarkable molecular mimic of the active form of the plant hormone jasmonate. Here we illustrate several common methods used for Pst DC3000-based assays, including preparation of Pst DC3000 inocula, inocu...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Plant Sciences - April 28, 2013 Category: Biology Source Type: news

Mapping of cancer cell fuel pumps paves the way for new drugs
(Karolinska Institutet) For the first time, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to obtain detailed images of the way in which the transport protein GLUT transports sugars into cells. The researchers are hoping that the study, published in the scientific magazine Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, will form the basis for new strategies to fight cancer cells. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - April 28, 2013 Category: Biology Source Type: news

Nine gardening myths debunked
Burying a cow's horn filled with manure is one thing, but even some of the better known horticultural tips don't stand up to scientific scrutinyIs there a hobby anywhere that's more burdened with folklore and superstition than gardening? On any allotment you'll soon find someone convinced that potatoes must be planted on Good Friday, that garlic keeps aphids away, or that human hair wards off eelworm.The extreme version of this is biodynamics, the "holistic" approach to plants favoured by Prince Charles, which combines organic gardening with new-age magic. Biodynamic gardeners sow according to the moon and the zodiac. They...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 27, 2013 Category: Science Authors: David Derbyshire Tags: Organic gardening Features Life and style The Observer Gardens Science Source Type: news

DNA double helix: how James Watson and Francis Crick cracked the secret of life – video
Dr Mark Hirst and Prof Robert Budd discuss how Crick and Watson made their landmark discovery 60 years ago this week (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 26, 2013 Category: Science Tags: Genetics Biology guardian.co.uk Editorial Biochemistry and molecular biology Science Source Type: news

The Role Of Epigenetic Influences In Autism
Scientists from King's College London have identified patterns of epigenetic changes involved in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by studying genetically identical twins who differ in autism traits. The study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, is the largest of its kind and may shed light on the biological mechanism by which environmental influences regulate the activity of certain genes and in turn contribute to the development of ASD and related behaviour traits... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - April 25, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Autism Source Type: news

Competing pathways affect early differentiation of higher brain structures
(Georgia Institute of Technology) A new study shows how the strength and timing of competing molecular signals during brain development has generated natural and presumably adaptive differences in a brain region known as the telencephalon -- much earlier than scientists had previously believed. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - April 25, 2013 Category: Biology Source Type: news

Gene patents are a hindrance to innovation | Adam Rutherford
Scientists researching diseases such as cancer are impeded by having to pay companies who own specific gene patentsYou carry a set of instructions in every cell, encrypted in DNA. Your genome, 3 billion letters of genetic code, is not only unique to you now, but is unique to every human who has ever and will ever exist. It contains about 22,000 genes and it was a surprise to geneticists on completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003 that we bear so few, fewer than a roundworm. But what you might find even more shocking is that hundreds, possibly thousands of these genes are effectively owned by someone else.The bi...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 24, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Adam Rutherford Tags: Comment United States Genetics Biology US supreme court guardian.co.uk Medical research Law Cancer Breast cancer Chemistry Biochemistry and molecular biology Ovarian cancer Science Comment is free Source Type: news

Vitamin D Supplements Or Mushroom Powder? You Choose
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine have discovered that eating mushrooms containing vitamin D2 can be as effective at increasing and maintaining vitamin D levels (25-hydroxyvitamin D) as taking supplemental vitamin D2 or vitamin D3. These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting in Boston. The findings also appeared concurrently as an open-access article in the journal Dermato-Endocrinology... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - April 24, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Nutrition / Diet Source Type: news

Deborah Blum on science writing: I'm a neurotic over-researcher
Our series to accompany the 2013 Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize asks top science writers about their craft. Today we talk to author, blogger and professor of journalism Deborah BlumWhat's a good science story?Beyond the incoming asteroid story, you mean? I've never been a writer who spends a lot of time on what you might call "big" science stories. I like the view through a small lens. My favourite stories are ones that illustrate the ways that science is essential to our everyday life.That's partly because I've never really liked, as they say, preaching to the choir. The audience that interests me doesn't really dwe...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 24, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Deborah Blum Tags: Comment guardian.co.uk Science prizes Science writing prize Chemistry Biochemistry and molecular biology Source Type: news

UCLA receives major federal contract to study potential new autism drugs
UCLA has been awarded a $9 million contract by the National Institute of Mental Health for an ambitious effort to rapidly study promising new drugs that may help restore normal development and brain function in children with autism spectrum disorders. UCLA researchers will create and lead a network of U.S. academic centers that will carry out early "high risk/high reward" studies of experimental medications over a three-year period. The goal of the project, New Experimental Medicine Studies: Fast–Fail Trials in Autism Spectrum Disorders, is to determine within weeks rather than years ("fast") if a particular p...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 23, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news

Researchers Have Deciphered The Underlying Mechanism Of An Antiviral Drug
A long-forgotten candidate for antiviral therapy is undergoing a renaissance: Since the 1970s, the small molecule CMA has been considered a potent agent against viral infections, yet it was never approved for clinical use. Scientists at the Bonn University Hospital have now deciphered how the molecule can actually stimulate the immune system to combat viruses. The results are now being presented in the journal of the European Molecular Biology Organization EMBO... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - April 23, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Source Type: news

Same Protein That Fires Up Cancer-Promoting Erk Also Blocks Its Activation
A protein which is intimately involved in cancer-promoting cell signaling also keeps a key component of the signaling pathway tied down and inactive, a team led by scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in Nature Structural Molecular Biology. Shc, pronounced "schick," plays a key role in activating signals which lead to cell proliferation (and cancer) when cells are stimulated, however it unexpectedly turns out to be a tumor-suppressor, keeping Erk under wraps when a cell is less active, said senior author John Ladbury, Ph.D... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - April 23, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Ovarian Cancer Source Type: news

Pharmacology of Mammalian Olfactory Receptors
Mammalian species have evolved a large and diverse number of odorant receptors (ORs). These proteins comprise the largest family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) known, amounting to ∼1,000 different receptors in the rodent. From the perspective of olfactory coding, the availability of such a vast number of chemosensory receptors poses several fascinating questions; in addition, such a large repertoire provides an attractive biological model to study ligand–receptor interactions. The limited functional expression of these receptors in heterologous systems, however, has greatly hampered attempts to deorp...
Source: Springer protocols feed by Genetics/Genomics - April 19, 2013 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news

Myoglobin: turd of the century? | Stephen Curry
An exhibition celebrating one of the greatest scientific advances of the 20th century has an unexpected centrepieceThe greatest turd of the 20th century is currently on show in London's Science Museum. Its heavy brown coils can be found in a glass cabinet on the second floor, impaled on a forest of sticks to preserve their shape. The colour and texture leave little to the imagination, but what is this obnoxious coprolite doing in a science museum, next to displays on the history of mathematics and computing?Clearly this is no ordinary ordure. The poop is in fact a molecule called myoglobin, a protein from muscle that can ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 19, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Stephen Curry Tags: Blogposts guardian.co.uk Science Source Type: news

From blank round to a potently active substance?
(University of Bonn) A long-forgotten candidate for antiviral therapy is undergoing a renaissance: Since the 1970s, the small molecule CMA has been considered a potent agent against viral infections, yet it was never approved for clinical use. Scientists at the Bonn University Hospital have now deciphered how the molecule can actually stimulate the immune system to combat viruses. The results are now being presented in the journal "EMBO" of the European Molecular Biology Organization. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - April 19, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

A surprising new function for small RNAs in evolution
(University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna) An international research team in including Christian Schlötterer and Alistair McGregor of the Vetmeduni Vienna has discovered a completely new mechanism by which evolution can change the appearance of an organism. The researchers found that the number of hairs on flies' legs varies according to the level of activity of a so-called microRNA. The results, published in the journal Current Biology, shed a completely new light on the molecular mechanisms of evolution. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - April 19, 2013 Category: Biology Source Type: news

Same protein that fires up cancer-promoting Erk also blocks its activation
(University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center) A protein which is intimately involved in cancer-promoting cell signaling also keeps a key component of the signaling pathway tied down and inactive, a team led by scientists from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports this week in Nature Structural Molecular Biology. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - April 19, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news

Same protein that fires up cancer-promoting Erk also blocks its activation
A protein which is intimately involved in cancer-promoting cell signaling also keeps a key component of the signaling pathway tied down and inactive, a team led by scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports this week in Nature Structural Molecular Biology. (Source: M. D. Anderson Cancer Center - News Releases)
Source: M. D. Anderson Cancer Center - News Releases - April 19, 2013 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news