(Philadelphia, PA) - Over the last several months, the labs of Yale Goldman, MD, PhD, Director of the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Erika Holzbaur, PhD, Professor of Physiology, have published a group of papers that, taken together, show proteins that function as molecular motors are surprisingly flexible and agile, able to navigate obstacles within the cell. These observations could lead to better ways to treat motor neuron diseases.

More than half of human cancers involve mutations in the p53 tumor-suppressor gene, suggesting the critical role played by the normal p53 protein in defending against cancer. Similarly, roughly 95 percent of cancer-causing mutations in the p53 protein occur in its DNA-binding core domain, pointing to this region of the p53 protein as being pivotal to its anti-cancer activity.

Using an enzyme found in the venom of the brown recluse spider, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a new way to open molecular pores, called ion channels, in the membrane of cells. The research team – Zhe Lu, MD, PhD; Yajamana Ramu, PhD; and Yanping Xu, MD, PhD of the Department of Physiology at Penn – screened venoms from over 100 poisonous invertebrate species to make this discovery.

Environmental and occupational health experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that major countries--including India, China and Malaysia -- still produce and sell consumer paints with dangerously high lead levels.

A long-awaited report by the United Nations shows the need for an international moratorium on bottom-trawling and other destructive fishing practices that damage deep sea life, Conservation International (CI) said.

The current condition of the oceans, their significance as the most important resource for the world's population, and their impact on the climate will be at the centre of discussion during the seminar 'A new look on the ocean' at the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF 2006) in Munich. The primary focus of the seminar will be on utilisation and monitoring of coastal zones and their potential benefits for industries and society. Friedhelm Schröder and Wilhelm Petersen of the GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht, together with Prof Dr Karen Wiltshire of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, will be organising the seminar. On July 16, 2006, from 8.30 to 11.15, the meeting will take place at the Forum of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Prof Wiltshire is Assistant Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven. Her own research emphasis is on plankton, and her work is carried out at the Biological Station Helgoland which is part of the Alfred Wegener Institute. One of the current projects within her field is the data base PLANKTON*NET.

In a step toward personalized medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Brian J. Druker and colleagues have developed a new technique to identify previously unknown genetic mutations that can trigger cancerous growth. By analyzing the proteins – instead of the genes – inside acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, the researchers have dramatically reduced the time it takes to zero in on molecular abnormalities that might be vulnerable to specific drug treatments.

In the second it takes you to read these words, tens of thousands of vesicles in your optic nerves are released in sequence, opening tiny surface pores to pass chemical signals to the next cell down the line, telling your brain what you're seeing and your eyes where to move. Thanks to two new studies – including one spearheaded by an undergraduate biochemistry student at Rice University and published online today by Nature Structural and Molecular Biology – scientists have defined the function of a key protein that nerve cells use to pass information quickly.

Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) is the second major form of dementia. Under the direction of Christine Van Broeckhoven, researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) affiliated to the University of Antwerp have recently discovered that the progranulin growth factor plays an important biological role in the development of this form of dementia. Because progranulin is known primarily for its role in tumor formation, this research result is very surprising. Although progranulin's proper role in the brain is not yet known, it may well be responsible for the survival of brain cells, because FTD patients have a shortage of this growth factor. The new finding predicts that progranulin might also play a role in other types of brain diseases in which brain cells die off − such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Every second, the cells constituting our bodies are replaced through cell division. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have found a piece of the puzzle of how genetic information remains intact despite this continuous exchange of cells. Their results are presented in the latest issue of the scientific journal Molecular Cell.

Combining thermal ablation with radiation therapy extends average life expectancy and decreases recurrences of tumors in patients who have early stages of inoperable lung cancer, according to researchers at Rhode Island Hospital.