Press monitoring
How Invading Bacteria Can Integrate Captured DNA Into Own Genetic Makeup
11.6.2009 | Press monitoring
Researchers at Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have discovered how certain types of bacteria integrate the DNA that they have captured from invading enemies into their own genetic makeup to increase their chances of survival. To be more accurate, the genetic material isn't really captured as much as it...
Promising Antimicrobial Attacks Virus, Stimulates Immune System
10.6.2009 | Press monitoring
A promising antimicrobial agent already known to kill bacteria can also kill viruses and stimulate the innate immune system, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. In a paper appearing online June 4 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Michael Howell, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and his colleagues demonstrated that...
Hitting Where It Hurts: Exploiting Cancer Cell 'Addiction' May Lead To New Therapies
8.6.2009 | Press monitoring
A new study uncovers a gene expression signature that reliably identifies cancer cells whose survival is dependent on a common signaling pathway, even when the cells contain multiple other genetic abnormalities. The research, published by Cell Press in the June 2nd issue of the journal Cancer Cell, identifies critical molecular vulnerabilities,...
Saved by junk DNA
7.6.2009 | Press monitoring
VIB researchers linked to K.U.Leuven and Harvard University show that stretches of DNA previously believed to be useless ‘junk’ DNA play a vital role in the evolution of our genome. They found that unstable pieces of junk DNA help tuning gene activity and enable organisms to quickly adapt to changes in their environments. The results will be...
Discoveries Upend Traditional Thinking About How Plants Make Certain Compounds
6.6.2009 | Press monitoring
Michigan State University plant scientists have identified two new genes and two new enzymes in tomato plants. Those findings led them to discover that the plants were making monoterpenes, compounds that help give tomato leaves their distinctive smell, in a way that flies in the face of accepted thought.
Scientists Devise Accelerated Method To Determine Infectious Prion Strains
5.6.2009 | Press monitoring
Current tests to identify specific strains of infectious prions, which cause a range of transmissible diseases (such as mad cow) in animals and humans, can take anywhere from six months to a year to yield results – a time-lag that may put human populations at risk.
Model for new generation of blood vessels challenged
4.6.2009 | Press monitoring
In-growth and new generation of blood vessels, which must take place if a wound is to heal or a tumor is to grow, have been thought to occur through a branching and further growth of a vessel against a chemical gradient of growth factors. Now a research team at Uppsala University and its University Hospital has shown that mechanical forces are...
Slicing chromosomes leads to new insights into cell division
3.6.2009 | Press monitoring
By using ultrafast laser pulses to slice off pieces of chromosomes and observe how the chromosomes behave, biomedical engineers at the University of Michigan have gained pivotal insights into mitosis, the process of cell division. Their findings could help scientists better understand genetic diseases, aging and cancer. Cells in plants,...
Antibiotic Multi-resistance: Why Bacteria Are So Effective
3.6.2009 | Press monitoring
In an article published in Science, teams from the Institut Pasteurand the University of Limoges, associated with the CNRS and Inserm, decipher for the first time the molecular mechanism that enables bacteria to acquire multi-resistance to antibiotics, and that even allows them to adapt this resistance to their environment. This discovery...
Unexpected Bacterial Diversity On Human Skin; New Approaches For Treating, Preventing Skin Diseases
2.6.2009 | Press monitoring
The health of our skin — one of the body's first lines of defense against illness and injury — depends upon the delicate balance between our own cells and the millions of bacteria and other one-celled microbes that live on its surface. To better understand this balance, National Institutes of Health researchers have set out to explore the skin's...
