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Latest Biology Articles, News & Current Events

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Category: Biology

Neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have tied the human aversion to losing money to a specific structure in the brain–the amygdala.

Full articleFebruary 8, 2010 07:54 PM626 views
Category: Molecular & Cell Biology

Cellular imaging offers a wealth of data about how cells respond to stimuli, but harnessing this technique to study biological systems is a daunting challenge. In a study published online in Genome Research (www.genome.org), researchers have developed a novel method of interpreting data from single-cell images to identify genetic interactions within biological networks, offering a glimpse into the future of high-throughput cell imaging analysis.

Full articleFebruary 8, 2010 07:54 PM539 views
Category: Molecular & Cell Biology

Overeating in mice triggers a molecule once considered to be only involved in detecting and fighting viruses to also destroy normal metabolism, leading to insulin resistance and setting the stage for diabetes. The new study, led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), specifically links together the immune system and metabolism, a pairing increasingly suspected in diseases that include — in addition to diabetes — heart disease, fatty liver, cancer, and stroke. Understanding how to regulate the molecule through targeted drugs or nutrients could eventually change the way these diseases are prevented and treated in humans. The study will publish in the February 5, 2010, issue of Cell.

Full articleFebruary 4, 2010 03:22 PM2104 views
Category: Health & Medicine

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified DNA variants in mothers and fetuses that appear to increase the risk for preterm labor and delivery. The DNA variants were in genes involved in the regulation of inflammation and of the extracellular matrix, the mesh-like material that holds cells within tissues.

Full articleFebruary 4, 2010 03:22 PM1532 views
Category: Biology

In a finding that overturns conventional wisdom, scientists are reporting the first discovery of the female sex hormone progesterone in a plant. Until now, scientists thought that only animals could make progesterone. A steroid hormone secreted by the ovaries, progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy and maintains pregnancy. A synthetic version, progestin, is used in birth control pills and other medications. The discovery is reported in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products, a monthly publication.

Full articleFebruary 4, 2010 03:22 PM2136 views
Category: Molecular & Cell Biology

Nuclear pore complexes are best known as the communication channels that regulate the passage of all molecules to and from a cell's nucleus. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, however, have shown that some of the pores' constituent proteins, called nucleoporins, pull double duty as transcription factors regulating the activity of genes active during early development.

Full articleFebruary 4, 2010 03:22 PM775 views
Category: Biotechnology

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a "smart coating" that helps surgical implants bond more closely with bone and ward off infection.

Full articleFebruary 3, 2010 04:57 PM1687 views
Category: Biology

Yale University researchers have found more than two dozen scent receptors in malaria-transmitting mosquitoes that detect compounds in human sweat, a finding that may help scientists to develop new ways to combat a disease that kills 1 million people annually.

Full articleFebruary 3, 2010 04:57 PM2479 views
Category: Stem Cell Research

Stem cell researchers exploring a new approach for the care of respiratory diseases report that an experimental treatment involving transplantable lung cells was associated with improved outcomes in tests on mice with acute lung injury. The lung cells were derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Findings by investigators at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are scheduled to appear in the March issue of Molecular Therapy.

Full articleFebruary 3, 2010 04:57 PM1134 views
Category: Bioinformatics

Scientists at The Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) led an international effort to build a map that shows in detail how the human genome is modified during embryonic development.

Full articleFebruary 3, 2010 04:57 PM762 views
Category: Biotechnology

Medical researchers were shocked to discover that virtually all human embryonic stem cell lines being used in 2005 were contaminated. Animal byproducts used to line Petri dishes had left traces on the human cells. If those cells had been implanted in a human body they likely would have been rejected by the patient's immune system.

Full articleFebruary 2, 2010 07:27 PM1001 views
Category: Bioinformatics

Together with colleagues in Barcelona, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have generated a complete map of the areas of the genome that control which genes are "turned on" or "off." The discovery, made in pancreatic islet cells, opens new avenues for understanding the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes and other common illnesses.

Full articleFebruary 2, 2010 07:27 PM1023 views
Category: Molecular & Cell Biology

University of Michigan researchers have shown that tension on DNA molecules can affect gene expression---the process at the heart of biological function that tells a cell what to do.

Full articleFebruary 2, 2010 07:27 PM1430 views
Category: Health & Medicine

There remains a lack of consensus amongst the medical and scientific communities about any cancer risk from low level radiation, particularly low-dose radiation delivered from computed tomography (CT) scans. However, the study of epigenetics may play a role in determining whether or not future trends of diseases can in fact be linked to utilization of CT, according to an article in the February issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR).

Full articleFebruary 1, 2010 01:41 PM972 views

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