Because the oceans absorb man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, its pH declines. Effects of this chemical change on tropical coral reefs can be examined in laboratory or short-term field experiments. However, a team led by Dr. Marlene Wall, marine biologist at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, chose a different approach: In the framework of the German research network BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification), they examined corals of the genus Porites, which grow at volcanic carbon dioxide vents in Papua New Guinea and have become a dominant species there.

Duke Health-led researchers have discovered new information about the signaling mechanism of cells that could one day help guide development of more specific drug therapies.

Proteins that bind DNA or RNA are usually put in different categories, but researchers at Umeå University in Sweden and Inserm in France recently showed how the p53 protein has the capacity to bind both and how this controls gene expression on the levels of both transcription (RNA synthesis) and mRNA translation (protein synthesis). The discovery was presented in the July issue of the journal Oncogene.

A month after announcing that two promising vaccine candidates provided mice with complete protection against the Zika virus, a research team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in collaboration with scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and the University of São Paulo, now reports achieving complete protection against Zika virus in rhesus monkeys. The research team's findings were published online today in the journal Science.