Study links couples’ hostility and gut bacteria, inflammation in bloodstream
Married people who fight nastily are more likely to suffer from leaky guts – a problem that unleashes bacteria into the blood and can drive up disease-causing inflammation, new research suggests. (more…)
A study by UCLA researchers reveals the cellular basis for how the hormone estrogen protects against damage to the central nervous system in women with multiple sclerosis, or MS. The researchers found that estrogen treatment exerts positive effects on two types of cells during disease — immune cells in the brain as well as cells called oligodendrocytes. (more…)
In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of scientists shows how mutations in the gene GPT2 lead to a rare developmental and potentially degenerative brain disease. (more…)
As we age, the function and regenerative abilities of skeletal muscles deteriorate, which means it is difficult for the elderly to recover from injury or surgery. New work from Carnegie’s Michelle Rozo, Liangji Li, and Chen-Ming Fan demonstrates that a protein called b1-integrin is crucial for muscle regeneration. Their findings, published by Nature Medicine, provide a promising target for therapeutic intervention to combat muscle aging or disease. (more…)
A potential new approach to treat systemic amyloidosis, invented at UCL and being developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), marks the start of a successful and innovative academic-industry collaboration. (more…)
UCLA researchers are first to directly measure division of cardiomyocytes
Researchers from UCLA’s Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research are the first to directly measure the division of heart muscle cells, proving that while such division is very rare, it does occur.
The study, conducted by assistant professor of cardiology Dr. Reza Ardehali and colleagues, resolves a recent controversy over whether the heart muscle has the power to regenerate itself. The findings are also important for future research that could lead to the regeneration of heart tissue to repair damage caused by disease or heart attack. (more…)
Carla Spence is graduating with a Ph.D in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Delaware in Summer 2014. She entered graduate school after receiving her B.S. in biology from the same University. She loves spending her leisure time with her husband, Sean, 2 years old son Trent, and her 8 months old daughter Callia.
Recently we spoke with Miss Spence to know more about her research, especially regarding the study published in BMC Plant Biology (doi:10.1186/1471-2229-14-130) and also about why it is important, how life as a research scientist is, and so on. So let’s go ahead:
Q. Let us start with your research topic. What is your research area? Will you please tell us a bit more on this? What did you find?
Carla Spence: The focus of this project is using natural soil microbes to increase the resistance of rice to blast disease. Rice blast is caused by the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. We isolated bacteria from the rice rhizosphere, which is the soil surrounding the roots, and found one bacterium, EA105, which can drastically inhibit the growth of M. oryzae. What’s more interesting is that rice roots can be treated with EA105 and this triggers a defense response in the plant called Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR) which makes the rice plants more resistant to M. oryzae infection. EA105 can protect rice from M. oryzae without physically coming into contact with the fungus. (more…)
ANN ARBOR — The sponginess of the environment where human embryonic stem cells are growing affects the type of specialized cells they eventually become, a University of Michigan study shows.
The researchers coaxed human embryonic stem cells to turn into working spinal cord cells more efficiently by growing the cells on a soft, utrafine carpet made of a key ingredient in Silly Putty. Their study is published online at Nature Materials on April 13. (more…)
