PGC-1 mediates effects of nutrition on blood disease porphyria

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers say they have uncovered a molecular explanation for the episodic attacks of irrational and demented behavior in porphyria, the disease believed to have afflicted "Mad" King George III, the British ruler blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the Revolutionary War.

A newly discovered protein not only is vital to the immune system's ability to fight off viral infections but also has been found in an unexpected location within the cell, causing researchers to rethink previous notions about the workings of the human immune system.

One of the most devastating diseases in sub-Saharan Africa almost disappeared in the late 1950s. That disease, African sleeping sickness, or trypanosomiasis, largely succumbed to heroic public health efforts -- including relocating entire villages. But in the past several decades, because of post-colonial turmoil, the catastrophic illness has come back to ravage parts of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan and other countries. In some regions, the tsetse fly-borne infection rivals or exceeds the toll AIDS takes.

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum uses different pathways to invade red blood cells, evading the body's immune system and complicating efforts to create effective vaccines against the disease. A research team led by Australia's Alan F. Cowman, an international research scholar with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has identified a gene that the parasite uses to switch back and forth between invasion pathways.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that a protein prolonging life in mice works by controlling insulin.

New understanding of spinocerebellar ataxiaResearchers have discovered how the abnormal repetition of a genetic sequence can have disastrous consequences that lead to the death of neurons that govern balance and motor coordination. The studies bolster the emerging theory that neurodegenerative disorders can be caused by having extra copies of a normal protein, not just a mutated one.

Using muscle tissue from tarantulas, an HHMI international research scholar and his colleagues have figured out the detailed structure and arrangement of the miniature molecular motors that control movement. Their work, which takes advantage of a new technique for visualizing tissues in their natural state, provides new insights into the molecular basis of muscle relaxation, and perhaps its activation too.