Centenary scientist Associate Professor Barbara Fazekas de St. Groth, a leader in inflammatory bowel disease research, has demonstrated for the firsttime the important role of T cells in the prevention of autoimmune diseases in humans.

For nearly four years, a researcher in Washington, D.C., has been working toward tracking how servicemembers respond to treatment for the "silent disease" hepatitis C.

Research into three major scientific and technological challenges is to receive a major boost from the application of e-Science and grid computing. The challenges are, understanding the brain, mapping the detailed environmental impact of traffic and designing future generation nano-scale electronic circuits.

A new study published in this month's European Journal of Nutrition demonstrates a strong correlation between reducing bone loss in non-obese postmenopausal women and the dose-dependent effect of soy germ isoflavones, particularly SoyLife®. These findings support previous scientific findings regarding soy isoflavones for post-menopausal women.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released an ambitious new research agenda for the development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. The 200-page scientific "roadmap" cites recent advances in biotechnology that have made cost-effective production of ethanol from cellulose, or inedible plant fiber, an attainable goal. The report outlines a detailed research plan for developing new technologies to transform cellulosic ethanol--a renewable, cleaner-burning, and carbon-neutral alternative to gasoline--into an economically viable transportation fuel

UCLA researchers report that thousands of genes behave differently in the same organs of males and females – something never detected to this degree. Published in the August issue of Genome Research, the study sheds light on why the same disease often strikes males and females differently, and why the genders may respond differently to the same drug.

Like a bodyguard turned traitor, a protein whose regular job is to help repair severed DNA molecules will, in some cases, join forces with another protein to do the opposite and chop the DNA to bits, according to new research at the University of Minnesota. The chopping up of a cell's DNA occurs in response to damage, for example, from ultraviolet light, and appears to be a means of killing the cell before it can become dysfunctional or cancerous. The proteins are produced by two cellular processes, both of which must be set in motion before the proteins can gang up on the DNA molecule and seal the cell's fate. The researchers describe their discovery in the July 7 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

A new study shows that statins, which are typically used as anti-cholesterol medications, can inhibit the replication of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). They could replace ribavirin in combination therapy with interferon. These findings are published in the July 2006 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hepatology is available online via Wiley InterScience at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/hepatology.