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WHOI Teaming with Flatley Discovery Lab in Search for Effective Treatments for Cystic Fibrosis

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2011Health, Scienceantibiotics, biological and chemical processes of ocean microbes, cf, cftr, cftr gene, charlestown, chemical extracts, cystic fibrosis, cystic fibrosis trans-membrane conductance regulator, flatley discovery lab, fungi, gene, john flatley, marine actinomycetes, marine microbes, marine microbial extracts, membrane, microbes, microbial infection biofilm, mutation, phytoplankton, respiratory disease, richard fitzpatrick, sodium transport, susan k. avery, therapeutic agents for cystic fibrosis, tracy mincer, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has signed a $1.18 million agreement with the Flatley Discovery Lab in Charlestown, Mass., to investigate and supply marine microbial extracts as possible treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF).

The life-shortening respiratory disease has eluded attempts at a cure, although researchers have been successful in some cases at adding years to a person’s lifespan, primarily through treatment with antibiotics. (more…)

Zinc’s Role in the Brain

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2011Health, Sciencechemical in synaptic vesicles, duke university, long-term potentiation, neuroscience, stores neurotransmitters, the role of zinc in the brain, university of toronto scarborough (utsc), xiao-an zhang, zinc, zinc’s function, zinc’s role in the brain, zx1

*Research gives insight into 50-year-old mystery – zinc important for learning and memory

TORONTO, ON – Zinc plays a critical role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, and could affect how memories form and how we learn. The new research, in the current issue of Neuron, was authored by Xiao-an Zhang, now a chemistry professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), and colleagues at MIT and Duke University.

Researchers have been trying to pin down the role of zinc in the brain for more than fifty years, ever since scientists found high concentrations of the chemical in synaptic vesicles, a portion of the neuron that stores neurotransmitters. But it was hard to determine just what zinc’s function was. (more…)

Worms Among First Animals To Surface After K-T Boundary Extinction Event, CU-Led Study Finds

By Guest PostOctober 12, 2011Sciencedemise of dinosaurs, extinction boundary, extinction event, global extinctions, k t boundary, nuclear winter

A new study of sediments laid down shortly after an asteroid plowed into the Gulf of Mexico 65.5 million years ago, an event that is linked to widespread global extinctions including the demise of big dinosaurs, suggests that lowly worms may have been the first fauna to show themselves following the global catastrophe. (more…)

Battle between the Placenta and Uterus could Help Explain Preeclampsia

By Guest PostOctober 12, 2011Sciencebaby’s placenta, brews in the mother’s womb, cure for preeclampsia, disease of pregnancy, dr. harvey j. kliman, father’s biological goal, lymphocytes, mother during pregnancy, mother’s uterus, online issue of reproductive sciences, preeclampsia, protein 13, trophoblasts, yale school of medicine, yale university

A battle that brews in the mother’s womb between the father’s biological goal to produce the biggest, healthiest baby possible vs. the mother’s need to live through delivery might help explain preeclampsia, an often deadly disease of pregnancy. The fetus must be big enough to thrive, yet small enough to pass through the birth canal. In a new study, Yale researchers describe the mechanism that keeps these conflicting goals in balance. (more…)

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Smarter Toxins Help Crops Fight Resistant Pests

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2011Scienceb rogers leonard, bacillus thuringiensis, bacterium, beneficial insects, bruce tabashnik, bt, bt cotton, bt toxins, cadherin, cadherin mutations, caterpillars, change in molecular structure, crop protecting proteins, david heckel, fangneng huang, genetic engineering, Germany, jena, lady bugs, manduca sexta, max planck institute for chemical ecology, mukti ghimire, pectinophora gossypiella, pests, pink bollworm, rna interference, tobacco hornworm

*A slight change in molecular structure introduced by genetic engineering gives crop-protecting proteins called Bt toxins a new edge in overcoming resistance of certain pests, a UA-led team of researchers reports in Nature Biotechnology.*

One of the most successful strategies in pest control is to endow crop plants with genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short, which code for proteins that kill pests attempting to eat them.

But insect pests are evolving resistance to Bt toxins, which threatens the continued success of this approach. In the current issue of Nature Biotechnology, a research team led by UA Professor Bruce Tabashnik reports the discovery that a small modification of the toxins’ structure overcomes the defenses of some major pests that are resistant to the natural, unmodified Bt toxins. (more…)

Charles P. Sonett: the Legacy of a Pioneering Space Scientist

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2011Scienceapollo program, interplanetary space, shock waves, space scientist, spacecraft missions

Charles P. Sonett, the first head of the UA’s department of planetary sciences, died at the age of 87. Sonett was involved in spacecraft missions that dramatically advanced our understanding of the solar system and beyond, including the Pioneer Program, the Explorer Program and the Apollo Program

Charles “Chuck” P. Sonett, a founding faculty member and the first department head of the University of Arizona’s department of planetary sciences, died on Sept. 30. He was 87. (more…)

How the Brain Makes Memories: Rhythmically!

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2011Health, Sciencearvind kumar, brain, brain mechanisms of learning, brain rhythms, connections between neurons, conventional wisdom, detuning process, einstein, experimental data, frequency, mayank r mehta, memory disorders, mozart, neural signals, neuro physicists, optimal brain rhythm, optimal learning, spike trains, stimuli, synapses, synaptic plasticity, synaptic strength

The brain learns through changes in the strength of its synapses — the connections between neurons — in response to stimuli.

Now, in a discovery that challenges conventional wisdom on the brain mechanisms of learning, UCLA neuro-physicists have found there is an optimal brain “rhythm,” or frequency, for changing synaptic strength. And further, like stations on a radio dial, each synapse is tuned to a different optimal frequency for learning.

The findings, which provide a grand-unified theory of the mechanisms that underlie learning in the brain, may lead to possible new therapies for treating learning disabilities. (more…)

Space Observatory Provides Clues to Creation of Earth’s Oceans

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2011Sciencecreation of oceans, early earth, early solar system, kuiper belt, oort cloud, oort cloud comets

PASADENA, Calif. — Astronomers have found a new cosmic source for the same kind of water that appeared on Earth billions of years ago and created the oceans. The findings may help explain how Earth’s surface ended up covered in water. (more…)

Category Archives: Science

*Research gives insight into 50-year-old mystery – zinc important for learning and memory