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Water in cells behaves in complex and intricate ways

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Sciencealbert einstein, biological action, cell machinery, charles brooks, computer simulation, dexter, distance, kevin kubarych, liquid, manhattan, phenomenon, picosecond timescale, protein, protein surface, proteins are hydrophobic, quantum entanglement, spooky action, university of michigan, water in cells

ANN ARBOR — In a sort of biological “spooky action at a distance,” water in a cell slows down in the tightest confines between proteins and develops the ability to affect other proteins much farther away, University of Michigan researchers have discovered.

On a fundamental level, the findings show some of the complex and unexpected ways that water behaves inside cells. In a practical sense, they could provide insights into how and why proteins clump together in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Understanding how proteins aggregate could help researchers figure out how to prevent them from doing so. (more…)

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria turns immune system against itself

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2013Healthadenosine synthase a, adsa gene, antibiotic resistant strain, bloodstream, dado, deoxyadenosine, destroy, DNA, dominique m missiakas, human function, immune defense mechanism, immune system, kevin jiang, macrophage, mrsa, mutation, nets, neutrophil extracellular traps, nuc, olaf schneewind, protein, s. aureus, staphylococcal nuclease, staphylococcus aureus bacteria, university of chicago, vilasack thammavongsa, white blood cells

Around 20 percent of all humans are persistently colonized with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, a leading cause of skin infections and one of the major sources of hospital-acquired infections, including the antibiotic-resistant strain MRSA.

University of Chicago scientists have recently discovered one of the keys to the immense success of S. aureus—the ability to hijack a primary human immune defense mechanism and use it to destroy white blood cells. The study was published Nov. 15 in Science. (more…)

Spider Venom Reveals New Secret

By Guest PostAugust 31, 2013Natureaffect, brown recluse spider, cell membranes, chemical product, clark college, cyclic molecule, cyclical chemical product, daniel lajoie, genus loxosceles, greta binford, humans, loxosceles laeta, matthew cordes, north, phospholipid molecules, plastic surgeon, portland, protein, south america, species of loxosceles, spider bite, spider venom, syndrome, tissue damage, tissue suicide, toxin, united states, university of arizona, vahe bandarian

Venom of the brown recluse spider causes a reaction in the body that is different from what researchers previously thought, a discovery that could lead to development of new treatments for spider bites.

University of Arizona researchers led a team that has discovered that venom of spiders in the genus Loxosceles, which contains about 100 spider species including the brown recluse, produces a different chemical product in the human body than scientists believed.

The finding has implications for understanding how these spider bites affect humans and for the development of possible treatments for the bites. (more…)

Pistil leads pollen in life-and-death dance

By Guest PostJuly 17, 2013Nature, Sciencealexander leydon, biomolecular tango, brown university, cross breeding, female ovule, fertilization, flowers, karolina woroniecka, kristin beale, life on earth, male pollen tube, mark johnson, pistil, pollination, protein, reproduce, reproductive system, sex lives, sperm carrying pollen, stigma, thionin

Pollination, essential to much of life on earth, requires the explosive death of the male pollen tube in the female ovule. In new research, Brown University scientists describe the genetic and regulatory factors that compel the male’s role in the process. Finding a way to tweak that performance could expand crop cross-breeding possibilities.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Millions of times on a spring day there is a dramatic biomolecular tango where the flower, rather than adorning a dancer’s teeth, is the performer. In this dance, the female pistil leads, the male pollen tubes follow, and at the finish, the tubes explode and die. A new paper in Current Biology describes the genetically prescribed dance steps of the pollen tube and how their expression destines the tube for self-sacrifice, allowing flowering plants to reproduce. (more…)

Bold Move Forward in Molecular Analyses

By Guest PostMay 21, 2013Scienceabsolute scale, berkeley lab, cell biology, concentration, control, data collection, dataset, john tainer, macromolecules, molecular analyses, molecular machines, nanoparticle, neutrons, protein, robert rambo, sans, sas, sas analysis, sas based statistic, saxs, small angle scattering, solution, structural state, volume of correlation

Berkeley Lab Researchers Develop New Metrics for X-ray and Neutron Analysis of Flexible Macromolecules

A dramatic leap forward in the ability of scientists to study the structural states of macromolecules such as proteins and nanoparticles in solution has been achieved by a pair of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The researchers have developed a new set of metrics for analyzing data acquired via small angle scattering (SAS) experiments with X-rays (SAXS) or neutrons (SANS). Among other advantages, this will reduce the time required to collect data by up to 20 times.

“SAS is the only technique that provides a complete snapshot of the thermodynamic state of macromolecules in a single image,” says Robert Rambo, a scientist with Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division, who developed the new SAS metrics along with John Tainer of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division and the Scripps Research Institute. (more…)

One-two punch could be key in treating blindness

By Guest PostMay 1, 2013Scienceachromatopsia, andras komaromy, blindness, central nervous system, cntf, fido, humans, michigan state university, model disease, molecular therapy, most younger dogs, photoreceptors, protein, treatment, university of miami, veterinary ophthalmologist

Researchers have discovered that using two kinds of therapy in tandem may be a knockout combo against inherited disorders that cause blindness. While their study focused on man’s best friend, the treatment could help restore vision in people, too.

Published in the journal Molecular Therapy, the study builds on earlier work by Michigan State University veterinary ophthalmologist András Komáromy and colleagues. In 2010, they restored day vision in dogs suffering from achromatopsia, an inherited form of total color blindness, by replacing the mutant gene associated with the condition. (more…)

A new approach to spinal muscular atrophy?

By Guest PostMay 1, 2013Healthals drug, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, anne hart, boston, brown university, caenorhabditis elegans worm, children hospital, doctors for riluzole, maria dimitriadi, model of sma, neuromuscular disease, new therapy, normal cells, protein, riluzole, sk2 channels, sk2 potassium channels, sma treatment, smn, spinal muscular atrophy, survival motor neuron, united states, worm neurons

Spinal muscular atrophy is a debilitating neuromuscular disease that in its most severe form is the leading genetic cause of infant death. By experimenting with an ALS drug in two very different animal models, researchers at Brown University and Boston Children’s Hospital have identified a new potential mechanism for developing an SMA treatment.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — There is no specific drug to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a family of motor neuron diseases that in its most severe form is the leading genetic cause of infant death in the United States and affects one in 6,000 people overall. But a new multispecies study involving a drug that treats amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has pinpointed a mechanism of SMA that drug developers might be able to exploit for a new therapy. (more…)

Study Shows How Vitamin E Can Help Prevent Cancer

By Guest PostMarch 30, 2013Healthakt, anti cancer effect, anti cancer property, cancer cell survival, cancer prevention, chemical analysis, ching shih chen, enzyme, formulation, gujarat, hao chieh chiu, India, mutation, naval kapuriya, optimize, phlpp1, prevent cancer, protein, pten gene, saurashtra university, tocopherols, treatment, tumor cell death, vitamin e

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have identified an elusive anti-cancer property of vitamin E that has long been presumed to exist, but difficult to find.

Many animal studies have suggested that vitamin E could prevent cancer, but human clinical trials following up on those findings have not shown the same benefits. (more…)

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