3-D structure of the protein complex that allows the retrovirus to penetrate living cells. Retroviruses are among the trickier and more malicious disease agents, causing AIDS and cancers such as leukemia. The viruses manage to sneak into cells with the help of special protein assemblies scattered all over their surfaces. These retrovirus surface proteins cause the membrane envelope of the virus to fuse with the membrane of the cell, spilling virus RNA into the cell to wreak damage. Now, a team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry has obtained a close-up 3-D portrait of the large protein complex on the virus that enables its entry into the cell. Their work appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA in March.

In an Australian first, UNSW researchers have developed three clones of cells from existing human embryonic stem cells. The breakthrough could lead to new treatments for diabetes, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury.

Although not widely appreciated as a disease of the genes, cancer is always rooted in genetic errors or problems in gene regulation. Scientists have identified some of the first genetic triggers for cancer as mutations in specific oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Full-blown tumors and metastatic cancers, however, often exhibit many genetic mutations, sometimes dozens in a given tumor. An important scientific question, and one with significant clinical implications, has been what happens after the initial mutation that leads to dangerous later-stage cancers with multiple damaged genes.

Affymetrix Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX), announced today the launch of the new GeneChip(R) Globin-Reduction kits and associated protocol developed in conjunction with PreAnalytiX -- a joint venture between QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). The new kits optimize the PreAnalytiX PAXgene(TM) Blood RNA System for use with Affymetrix GeneChip technology and improve gene expression profile results of cellular RNA extracted from whole blood.

Having vaccines developed by computer may sound unnerving but the increasing role of computer modelling in the development of new vaccines could bring new products onto the market quicker, benefiting patients and saving pharmaceutical companies millions of pounds.

Drinking water during a long-distance race may do serious harm rather than keep you safe from injury if you're drinking too much, according to a cardiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

U.S. President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld may not all get a library, airport or highway named after them. But each has a slime-mold beetle named in his honor.