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Berkeley Lab Scientists Find That Normal Breast Cells Help Kill Cancer Cells

By Guest PostApril 20, 20111 commentHealth, Scienceberkeley lab, breast cancer cells, cytostatic, cytotoxic, dna mutations, extracellular matrix culture, healthy cells, human body, il25, immune system, inflammation, interleukin 25, malignant phenotype, mammary epithelial cells, microenvironmental factors, mina bissell, natural defense mechanism against cancer, pathogens, protein, saori furuta, treatment of breast cancer, tumor cells, tumor surveillance system

It is well known that the human body has a highly developed immune system to detect and destroy invading pathogens and tumor cells. Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that the body has a second line of defense against cancer – healthy cells. A new study shows that normal mammary epithelial cells, as they are developing, secrete interleukin 25, a protein known for its role in the immune system’s response to inflammation, for the express purpose of killing nearby breast cancer cells.

“We found that normal breast cells provide an innate defense mechanism against cancer by producing interleukin 25 (IL25) to actively and specifically kill breast cancer cells,” says breast cancer authority Mina Bissell, of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division, who led this research. “This suggests that IL25 receptor signaling may provide a new therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.” (more…)

Berkeley Scientists at AAAS Highlight Challenges of Meeting State Energy Goals by 2050

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2011Environmentberkeley lab, biodiversity, biofuel crops, biofuels, biomass, california, carbon capture and sequestration, carbon sequestration technology, carbon storage, ebi, energy analyst, energy biosciences institute, greenhouse gas emissions, james mcmahon, jeffery greenblatt, load balancing triangle, low carbon, portraits of the california energy system in 2050, saline aquifers

California is showing the way for the rest of the nation in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, having set an ambitious goal to reduce these emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Given that energy demand is projected to double by 2050, experts agree that the state will have to dramatically overhaul its energy systems to achieve its greenhouse gas emission goals.

At the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, some of the specific challenges and issue ahead were discussed in a session titled “Portraits of the California Energy System in 2050: Cutting Emissions by 80 Percent.” Contributing to this discussion were two scientists from Berkeley Lab and one from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), in which Berkeley Lab is a partner. (more…)

A Second Pathway for Antidepressants: Berkeley Lab Reports New Fluorescent Assay Reveals TREK1 Mechanism

By Guest PostFebruary 25, 2011Scienceantidepressant drugs, berkeley lab, c terminal, cell based fluorescent assay, cytoplasm, ehud isacoff, flow of electrical current, fluorescent protein, fluoxetine, gfp, green fluorescent protein, guillaume sandoz, high speed transistors, human brain, ion channels, membrane, molecular gates, neurons, pharmacological agents, plasma membrane, protein, prozac, sarah bell, transmembrane proteins, trek1, trek1 potassium channel

Using a unique and relatively simple cell-based fluorescent assay they developed, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC), Berkeley have identified a means by which fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, suppresses the activity of the TREK1 potassium channel. TREK1 activity has been implicated in mood regulation and could be an important target for fluoxetine and other antidepressant drugs. (more…)

The Promise of Ion Beam Cancer Therapy

By Guest PostOctober 23, 20101 commentHealth, Scienceatoms, beams of ions, berkeley lab, bragg peak, cancer, carbon, cyclotron, ernest lawrence, gamma rays, heavy ion linear accelerator, heidelberg ion beam therapy center, hilac, hit, hydrogen ions, ion-beam therapy, john lawrence, neon, protons, robert wilson, therapy, x-rays

For certain kinds of cancer, the most effective therapy does not use x-rays or gamma rays but beams of ions, the electrically charged cores of atoms, including hydrogen ions (protons) and heavier ions such as carbon and neon.

About the image: Beams of heavy ions can target hard-to-reach tumors with great accuracy and with minimal damage to surrounding tissues. Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center. Image credit: Berkeley Lab (more…)

Scientists identify key enzyme in microbial immune system

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 20102 commentsSciencearchaea, bacteria, berkeley lab, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repea, crispr, crrna molecule, csy4 enzyme, DNA, doudna group, genetic element, jennifer doudna, microbes, movie, nucleic acid, nucleic acid-based immune system, plasmids, rachel haurwitz, terminator

Imagine a war in which you are vastly outnumbered by an enemy that is utterly relentless – attacking you is all it does. The intro to another Terminator movie? No, just another day for microbes such as bacteria and archaea, which face a never-ending onslaught from viruses and invading strands of nucleic acid known as plasmids.

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Study Shows Deepwater Oil Plume in Gulf Degraded by Microbes

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2010Environmentberkeley lab, biodegradation, bp, carbon, deep-sea psychrophilic, deepwater horizon drilling, degradation, gamma-proteobacteria, gulf of mexico, hoi-ying Holman, hydrocarbon-degrading enzymes, microbial ecologist, oil dispersant corexit 9500, oil plume, oxygen depletion, petroleum, petroleum-degrading microbes, terry hazen

In the aftermath of the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a dispersed oil plume was formed at a depth between 3,600 and 4,000 feet and extending some 10 miles out from the wellhead. An intensive study by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that microbial activity, spearheaded by a new and unclassified species, degrades oil much faster than anticipated. This degradation appears to take place without a significant level of oxygen depletion.

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Berkeley Study Shows Ozone and Nicotine a Bad Combination for Asthma

By Guest PostAugust 17, 2010Health, Scienceasthma, asthma hazard, berkeley lab, chen-lin liu, Health, hugo destaillats, indoor environments, jared smith, kevin wilson, lara gundel, mohamad sleiman, musahid ahmed, ozone, roy kaltschmidt, secondhand tobacco, smoke, thirdhand smoke, tobacco-related disease, ultraviolet light, vuv light

Another reason for including asthma on the list of potential health risks posed by secondhand tobacco smoke, especially for non-smokers, has been uncovered. Furthermore, the practice of using ozone to remove the smell of tobacco smoke from indoor environments, including hotel rooms and the interiors of vehicles, is probably a bad idea.

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For the First Time Ever, Scientists Watch an Atom’s Electrons Moving in Real Time

By Guest PostAugust 7, 20106 commentsScienceabdallah azzeer, atom, attosecond absorption spectroscopy, berkeley lab, electron motion, electrons, eleftherios goulielmakis, garching, graham fleming, krypton atom, laser light, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, max planck institute, mpq, oscillations, quantum optics, robin santra, stephen leone, zhi-heng loh

An international team of scientists led by groups from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching, Germany, and from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley has used ultrashort flashes of laser light to directly observe the movement of an atom’s outer electrons for the first time.

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