Berkeley Lab Researchers Find New Evidence on How Cholesterol Gets Moved from HDLs to LDLs
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have found new evidence to explain how cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediates the transfer of cholesterol from “good” high density lipoproteins (HDLs) to “bad” low density lipoproteins (LDLs). These findings point the way to the design of safer, more effective next generation CETP inhibitors that could help prevent the development of heart disease.(more…)
It’s a researcher’s dream: a simple, noninvasive test to detect life-threatening cancer, heart disease, or other maladies while they’re still treatable.
A team of University of Minnesota researchers is in hot pursuit of that goal, using one of the simplest means imaginable: testing spit. They’ve discovered that conditions such as breast and oral cancer leak certain proteins into saliva, and if detected, such proteins can be “biomarkers” for the disease.(more…)
*The high resolution of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Gang Ren*
When Gang Ren whirls the controls of his cryo-electron microscope, he compares it to fine-tuning the gearshift and brakes of a racing bicycle. But this machine at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is a bit more complex. It costs nearly $1.5 million, operates at the frigid temperature of liquid nitrogen, and it is allowing scientists to see what no one has seen before.
At the Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab’s acclaimed nanotechnology research center, Ren has pushed his Zeiss Libra 120 Cryo-Tem microscope to resolutions never envisioned by its German manufacturers, producing detailed snapshots of individual molecules. Today, he and his colleague Lei Zhang are reporting the first 3-D images of an individual protein ever obtained with enough clarity to determine its structure. (more…)
An international team of researchers has discovered 13 new regions of the genome associated with the timing of menopause.
These genes shed light on the biological pathways involved in reproductive lifespan and will provide insights into conditions connected to menopause, such as breast cancer and heart disease.
Menopause is a major hormonal change that affects most women when they are in their early 50s. The timing of menopause can have a huge impact on fertility, as well as influencing the risk of a range of common diseases such as breast cancer. It has been known for some time that genetic factors influenced the onset of menopause, however until recently very few genes had been identified.
In the new study, published in the journal Nature Genetics on 22 January 2012, Dr Anna Murray, University of Exeter, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD) Dr John Perry, PCMD and WTCHG, University of Oxford, and dozens of international collaborators, examined the genomes of over 50,000 women. They identified 13 novel gene regions associated with menopause onset, and confirmed four previously identified. Most of the 17 regions include genes related to DNA damage/repair or the immune system, whilst others are linked to hormonal regulation. (more…)
Yale School of Medicine researchers have discovered that a variant of a gene linked to heart disease also increases the risk of deadly aneurysms of blood vessels in the brain. The discovery of this link raises hopes for new treatments for intracranial aneurysms, which affect more than a half million people worldwide annually.
“Existing drugs already target this common pathway and, in the future, could help treat or prevent aneurysms in people who are at risk,” said Murat Gunel, professor of neurosurgery, genetics and neurobiology and senior author of the study, published the week of Nov. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)
Small bypass vessels which act as a ‘back-up system’ for the heart’s main arteries play a significant role in reducing the mortality of patients with coronary artery disease, according to new research. (more…)
We are what our father ate before we were born! An international team of researchers has found that a father’s diet while growing up can affect his offspring’s future health.
Researchers, who specifically looked at the effects of paternal diet in their study, have discovered that a father’s lifestyle can be passed down to next generation because it “reprogrammes” his genes. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— High blood lipids are a big risk factor for developing heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. Approximately one of every six adult Americans has high blood cholesterol and about every 25 seconds, an American will have a heart attack, and nearly one every minute will die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (more…)
