Choice Of Neurotransmitter Influenced By Electrical Activity In Developing BrainCascades of genetic signals determine which neurotransmitter a brain cell will ultimately use to communicate with other cells. Now a pair of reports from biologists at the University of California, San Diego, have shown for the first time that electrical activity in these developing neurons can alter their chemical fate - and change an animal's behavior - by tweaking this genetic program...
What Are Proteins? What Is A Protein? How Much Protein Do I Need?Proteins are large molecules consisting of amino acids which our bodies and the cells in our bodies need to function properly. Our body structures, functions, the regulation of the body's cells, tissues and organs cannot exist without proteins. Our muscles, skin, bones and many other parts of the body contain significant amounts of protein. Protein accounts for 20% of total body weight...
Biology, Computer Science Combine Efforts To Fight CancerThe University of Houston (UH) received a $2.4 million grant to fund the most promising young cancer researchers who are working at the cutting-edge of a new multidisciplinary approach to fighting cancer. The award is part of the latest round of grant disbursements from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), which oversees the state's new billion-dollar war on cancer...
Water Purification Using NanotechnologyNanotechnology refers to a broad range of tools, techniques and applications that simply involve particles on the approximate size scale of a few to hundreds of nanometers in diameter. Particles of this size have some unique physicochemical and surface properties that lend themselves to novel uses...
Treating Severe Pain With Sea Snail SalivaScientists have developed a new version of a medication, first isolated from the saliva of sea snails, that could be taken in pill form to relieve the most severe forms of pain as effectively as morphine but without risking addiction. An article on the topic appears in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine...
Research On Enzyme For Activating Promising Disease-Fighters Co-Authored By Middle School StudentsGrown-ups aren't the only ones making exciting scientific discoveries these days. Two middle school students from Wisconsin joined a team of scientists who are reporting the first glimpse of the innermost structure of a key bacterial enzyme. It helps activate certain antibiotics and anti-cancer agents so that those substances do their job. Their study appears in ACS' weekly journal Biochemistry...
The Mysterious Workings Of The Cholera Bacteria Revealed By Rensselaer ProfessorResearchers have found that an enzyme in the bacteria that causes cholera uses a previously unknown mechanism in providing the bacteria with energy. Because the enzyme is not found in most other organisms, including humans, the finding offers insights into how drugs might be created to kill the bacteria without harming humans...
Polymer Passage Takes TimePolymer strands wriggle their way through nanometer-sized pores in a membrane to get from here to there and do their jobs. New theoretical research by Rice University scientists quantifies precisely how long the journey takes...
Genetic Architecture And The Evolution Of RNA VirusesIn biology and genetics, the concept of epistasis is what gives rise to the whole being more (or less) than the sum of its parts. The quantitative effect of a given mutation upon the traits of an organism has the potential to depend strongly upon the gene versions present in other parts of the genome, or even other mutations co-occurring in that gene...
Spider Silk Produced In Metabolically Engineered BacteriumResearchers have long envied spiders' ability to manufacture silk that is light-weighted while as strong and tough as steel or Kevlar. Indeed, finer than human hair, five times stronger by weight than steel, and three times tougher than the top quality man-made fiber Kevlar, spider dragline silk is an ideal material for numerous applications...
Peer-Reviewed Journal Publishes Findings By Viral Genetics' Lead ScientistResearch co-authored by Viral Genetics, Inc., (Pink Sheets: VRAL) lead scientist Dr. M. Karen Newell has been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Leukocyte Biology (JLB). Newell's article identifies a potential mechanism that promotes chronic inflammation, a characteristic of most autoimmune diseases. Viral Genetics has been pursing treatments for Lyme Disease and HIV/AIDS...
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