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Elusive viral ‘machine’ architecture finally rendered

By Guest PostOctober 24, 2014Sciencealissa mittnik, architecture, biologists, black politicians, blacks in office, brown university, cells, chromosome, claudius stroehle, cosimo posth, DNA, e coli, fatma haron, heimat im plural, judy cha, re migration, silke meyer, trevon logan, tuerkische migration

Biologists have worked with the lambda virus as a model system for more than 50 years but they’ve never had an overarching picture of the molecular machines that allow it to insert or remove DNA from the cells that it infects. Now they can, thanks to an advance that highlights the intriguingly intricate way the virus accomplishes its genetic manipulations.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — For half a century biologists have studied the way that the lambda virus parks DNA in the chromosome of a host E. coli bacterium and later extracts it as a model reaction of genetic recombination. But for all that time, they could never produce an overall depiction of the protein-DNA machines that carry out the work. In a pair of back-to-back papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists produce those long-sought renderings and describe how they figured out what they should look like. (more…)

Watching HIV Bud from Cells

By Guest PostJune 29, 2014Healthai, ai applications, andreas hiltbrunner, barbara grosz, cell membrane, cells, cornelia klose, dynamic processes, eberhard schaefer, entwicklung von sprache, lichtrezeptor, mari gingery, mary horvitz, messen, normal function, pflanze, photorezeptor proteine, phytochrome, schaedelknochen, thermosensor, tuebinger wissenschaftler, university of utah

Study Shows Last-Minute Role of Protein Named ALIX

University of Utah researchers devised a way to watch newly forming AIDS virus particles emerging or “budding” from infected human cells without interfering with the process. The method shows a protein named ALIX gets involved during the final stages of virus replication, not earlier, as was believed previously. (more…)

Mysteries of neuroscience

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2014Healthbiological reason, bipolar illness, brain mechanism, cells, cmhc, cnru, depression, feedback, information, john krystal, known unknowns, mental illnesses, mysteries of neuroscience, nerve cells, network, new millennium, schizophrenia, symptom, three pound universe, world wide web

What we don’t know: Neuroscience research at CMHC

The third floor of the CMHC houses the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit (CNRU), an inpatient and outpatient research facility. It’s an honor to be asked to start a dialogue with you about what we do on the CNRU. Over the next few months, I’d like to introduce you to the scientists and clinicians and their teams that work on the CNRU. Today I’d like to introduce you to some of the things we do on the 3^rd floor.

Just as others in the building, my CNRU colleagues and I come to work to tackle the problems addressed on the other floors of the CMHC: the debilitating symptoms of mental illness including depression, hallucinations, delusions, drug addiction and anxiety to name a few. (more…)

Discovery spotlights key role of mystery RNA modification in cells

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2014Sciencecell differentiation, cells, chuan he, demethylation, deoxyribonucleic acid, diabetes, discovery, DNA, exact function, healthy cells, infertility, key role, m6a, messenger ribonucleic acid, methyl, methylation, mrna, mrna in question, mystery, n6 methyladenosine, neurobiology, obesity, organic compounds, parameter, peking university, proteins, regulating mrna lifetime, rna modification, san diego, sequence, university of california, university of chicago, xiao wang, ythdf2

Researchers had known for several decades that a certain chemical modification exists on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), which is essential to the flow of genetic information. But only recently did experiments at the University of Chicago show that one major function of this modification governs the longevity and decay of RNA, a process critical to the development of healthy cells.

The chemical modification on mRNA in question is called N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A). A recent study by UChicago scientists reveals how the m⁶A modification on mRNA could affect the half-life of mRNA that in turn regulates cellular protein quantities. That discovery could provide fundamental insights into healthy functioning and disorders such as obesity, diabetes and infertility. (more…)

Nobels explained

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2013Sciencealfred nobel, alice munro, alzheimer, andrew brett, ann manser, arieh warshel, building blocks, cells, chemical weapons, chemistry on computer, civil war, cold war, complex chemical systems, computational model, contemporary short story, conventional weapons, doug doren, elizabeth m shiller, eugene f fama, francois englert, frederick bereskin, fundamental particle, higgs field, immune diseases, ise lab, james e rothman, kenneth van golen, lars peter hansen, literature prize, martin karplus, master, matter particles, medicine, michael levitt, nobel prizes, nobels explained, opcw, origin of mass, particle physics, peter w higgs, physiology, randy w schekman, riksbank prize, robert j shiller, russia, sandeep patel, siobhan carroll, standard model, stephen barr, stockpile, stuart kaufman, subatomic particles, syrian government, thomas c suedhof, transport system, university of delaware, US, vesicle traffic, weapons

UD faculty members discuss 2013 prize-winners at annual symposium

Today’s chemists might work at a computer as often as in a laboratory, medical researchers studying conditions such as diabetes rely on understanding how cells carry and deposit materials within the body, and average investors in the market increasingly buy index funds to average out the short-term ups and downs of individual stocks.

The discoveries that led to these changes are among the work that was honored by this year’s Nobel Prizes. (more…)

More intestinal cells can absorb larger particles

By Guest PostAugust 22, 2013Sciencea peter morello, absorb, brown university, cells, daniel cho, edith mathiowitz, endocytosis in cells, enterocytes, finding in rats, insulin, intestinal cells, joshua reineke, larger particles, m, microfold, microspheres, phagocytosis, protein drugs, wayne state university, yu ting dingle

A new study reports that the small intestine uses more cells than scientists had realized to absorb microspheres large enough to contain therapeutic protein drugs, such as insulin. The finding in rats, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is potentially good news for developing a means for oral delivery of such drugs.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The small intestine employs more cells and mechanisms than scientists previously thought to absorb relatively large particles, such as those that could encapsulate protein-based therapeutics like insulin, according to a new study. The findings, published the week of Aug. 5, 2013, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, open another window for drug makers to increase absorption of medicines taken by mouth. (more…)

Boosting ‘cellular garbage disposal’ can delay the aging process, UCLA biologists report

By Guest PostJune 3, 2013Healthaging, aging research, alzheimer, anil rana, cardiovascular disease, cells, cellular garbage disposal, cellular machinery, david walker, diabetes, disease in humans, healthy life span, like symptoms, membrane structure, mitochondria, nervous system, neurodegenerative diseases, opposite effect, parkin gene, parkinsons disease, postdoctoral scholar, toxic, ucla biologists, vital functions

UCLA life scientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson’s disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, they say, could have important implications for aging and disease in humans.

The gene, called parkin, serves at least two vital functions: It marks damaged proteins so that cells can discard them before they become toxic, and it is believed to play a key role in the removal of damaged mitochondria from cells. (more…)

‘Dark Oxidants’ Form Away from Sunlight in Lake and Ocean Depths, Underground Soils

By Guest PostMay 19, 2013Environmentamounts of superoxide, antioxidants, away from sunlight, bacteria, beneath the seafloor, bettina voelker, blueberries, breathing oxygen, cancer, cells, chantal mendes, chemistry of oceans, colleen hansel, dark chocolate, dark environments, dark oxidants, dark places, death in microorganisms, deborah bronk, environmental oxidants, harvard university, hazardous, Health, hole, humans, julia diaz, lake, national science foundation, neurotoxin mercury, nsf, ocean depths, oceanographic institution, oxidants, peter andeer, premature aging, san francisco, source of superoxide, tong zhang, toxic chemicals, underground soils, woods

New findings overturn understanding of light-dependent environmental oxidants

Breathing oxygen… can be hazardous to your health?

Indeed, our bodies aren’t perfect. They make mistakes, among them producing toxic chemicals, called oxidants, in cells. We fight these oxidants naturally, and by eating foods rich in antioxidants such as blueberries and dark chocolate.

All forms of life that breathe oxygen—even ones that can’t be seen with the naked eye, such as bacteria—must fight oxidants to live. (more…)

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