Studying the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered a previously unknown way of making fatty acids, a component of fat and the outer layer of all cells. The find unveils more about the biology of this hard-to-kill parasite and could lead to a target for designing new drugs to fight the illness that infects a half-million people and kills 50,000 a year worldwide.

An enzyme that helps neurons rid themselves of excess or aberrant proteins is required for normal brain function, according to a new report in the August 25, 2006 issue of the journal Cell, published by Cell Press. What's more, by increasing brain levels of the enzyme in mice with Alzheimer's symptoms, the researchers found they could reverse lapses of memory characteristic of the debilitating disease.

With the introduction of just four factors, researchers have successfully induced differentiated cells taken from mouse embryos or adult mice to behave like embryonic stem cells. The researchers reported their findings in an immediate early publication of the journal Cell, published by Cell Press.

Doctors at the University of Virginia Health System have shown for the first time that getting rid of poisonous RNA (ribonucleic acid) in muscle cells can reverse myotonic dystrophy, the most common type of muscular dystrophy in adults.

When space shuttle Atlantis rockets into space later this week, it will take along three kinds of microbes so scientists can study how their genetic responses and their ability to cause disease change.

In creating the first "encyclopedia" of an entire superfamily of nuclear receptors – proteins that turn genes on and off throughout the body – UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers found that certain receptors form networks and interact to regulate disease states and physiology in two main areas, reproduction and nutrient metabolism.

A certain type of adult stem cell can turn into bone, muscle, neurons or other types of tissue depending on the "feel" of its physical environment, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.