Bioscience Technology Online - Cell Biology

Signs of reversal of Arctic cooling in some areas

Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 16:42:50 GMT

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Parts of the Arctic have cooled clearly over the past century, but temperatures have been rising steeply since 1990 also there. This is the finding of a summer temperature reconstruction for the past 400 years produced by tree rings from...

Researchers find new translocation; weak spots in DNA lead to genetic disease

Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 12:43:15 GMT

(Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) A pediatric research team at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia continues to discover recurrent translocations -- places in which two chromosomes exchange pieces of themselves, and can lead to genetic disease and disability. Originating in...

Researchers study benefits of white button mushrooms

Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 10:43:14 GMT

(United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics) Agricultural Research Service-funded scientists have conducted an animal-model and cell-culture study showing that white button mushrooms enhanced the activity of critical cells in the body's immune system.

New lab test could identify imatinib resistance

Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 00:43:27 GMT

(American Association for Cancer Research) Scientists in Japan may have developed a way to accurately predict those patients who will resist treatment with imatinib, which is the standard of care for chronic myeloid leukemia.

SSTR2-based Reporters for Assessing Gene Transfer into Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Evaluation using an Intrathoracic Mouse Model.

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 18:47:01 GMT

Purpose: The most common cause of cancer-related deaths in North America is lung cancer, of which, 85% is due to non-small cell (NSCLC). Gene therapy is a promising approach, but has been hindered by lack of methods for localizing and quantifying gene expression...

Molecular mechanism triggering Parkinson's disease identified in Stanford study

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 14:09:16 GMT

(Stanford University Medical Center) Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a molecular pathway responsible for the death of key nerve cells whose loss causes Parkinson's disease. This discovery not only may explain how a genetic mutation linked to...

Electrical activity in developing brain influences choice of neurotransmitter

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 12:42:25 GMT

(University of California - San Diego) Cascades 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...

Huntington's disease discovery provides new hope for treatment

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 09:42:48 GMT

(University of Melbourne) Australian scientists have identified the behavior of the mutant protein "huntingtin" which leads to the fatal Huntington's disease providing potential targets to treat the disease, a University of Melbourne study reveals.

Mitochondrial Ca(2+) sequestration and precipitation revisited.

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 07:47:31 GMT

The ability of mitochondria to sequester and retain divalent cations in the form of precipitates consisting of organic and inorganic moieties has been known for decades. Of these cations, Ca(2+) has emerged as a major player in both signal transduction and cell...

Gp91phox (NOX2) in classically activated microglia exacerbates traumatic brain injury.

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 05:47:18 GMT

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that gp91phox (NOX2), a subunit of NADPH oxidase, generates superoxide anion (O2-) and has a major causative role in traumatic brain injury (TBI). To evaluate the functional role of gp91phox and reactive oxygen species (ROS)...

Transactivation of PDGFR-beta by dopamine D4 receptor does not require PDGFR dimerization.

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 05:47:13 GMT

ABSTRACT: Growth factor-induced receptor dimerization and cross-phosphorylation are hallmarks of signal transduction via receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can activate RTKs through a process known as transactivation. The...

One molecule, many more insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes, says Pitt team

Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 00:41:47 GMT

(University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences) With a single stimulatory molecule, human insulin-producing beta cell replication can be sustained for at least four weeks in a mouse model of diabetes, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in...

Expression of a protein involved in bone resorption, Dkk1, is activated by HTLV-1 bZIP factor through its activation domain.

Tuesday, 27 Jul 2010 23:47:29 GMT

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia, a malignancy characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of virally-infected CD4+ T-cells. Hypercalcemia and bone lesions due to...

Ribosome-associated GTPases: The role of RNA for GTPase activation.

Tuesday, 27 Jul 2010 23:47:25 GMT

The GTPase super-family comprises a variety of G proteins found in all three domains of life. Although they are participating in completely different processes like signal transduction, protein biosynthesis and regulation of cell proliferation, they all share a...

Protein identified that can result in fragile bones

Tuesday, 27 Jul 2010 10:41:42 GMT

(Medical College of Georgia) Too little of a protein called neogenin results in a smaller skeleton during development and sets the stage for a more fragile bone framework lifelong, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.

Max Planck Innovation awards license for actin marker LifeAct

Monday, 26 Jul 2010 10:42:28 GMT

(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society, awards an exclusive license for LifeAct to ibidi GmbH, a provider of cell analysis products, located in Martinsried near Munich. The novel peptide allows for actin, an...

Non-human sugar in biotech drugs causes inflammation

Sunday, 25 Jul 2010 13:41:52 GMT

(University of California - San Diego) Researchers at the University of California -- San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that a kind of sugar molecule common to chimpanzees, gorillas and other mammals but not found in humans provokes a strong immune response in some people,...

Researchers discover how key enzyme repairs sun-damaged DNA

Sunday, 25 Jul 2010 13:41:43 GMT

(Ohio State University) Researchers have long known that humans lack a key enzyme -- one possessed by most of the animal kingdom and even plants -- that reverses severe sun damage. For the first time, researchers have witnessed how this enzyme works at the atomic level to repair...

Characterization of a novel novobiocin analogue as a putative C-terminal inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 in prostate cancer cells.

Sunday, 25 Jul 2010 09:47:45 GMT

PURPOSE: Hsp90 is important in the folding, maturation and stabilization of pro-tumorigenic client proteins and represents a viable drug target for the design of chemotherapies. Previously, we reported the development of novobiocin analogues designed to inhibit...

Long term increased expression of the short form 1b prolactin receptor in PC-3 human prostate cancer cells decreases cell growth and migration, and causes multiple changes in ...

Sunday, 25 Jul 2010 09:47:41 GMT

BACKGROUND: We have shown that treatment of human prostate cancer cells with the selective prolactin (PRL) receptor modulator, S179D PRL, inhibits growth in vitro, and the initiation and growth of xenografts in vivo. S179D PRL treatment also upregulates...

Optimization of isolation and further characterization of umbilical cord blood-derived very small embryonic/ epiblast-like stem cells (VSELs).

Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 15:51:04 GMT

Abstract Because of their small size and density, umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived very small embryonic/epiblast-like stem cells (VSELs) are usually lost at various steps of UCB preparation. Accordingly, we noticed that a significant number of these cells,...

Loss of {beta}1-integrin enhances TGF-{beta}1-induced collagen expression in epithelial cells via increased {alpha}v{beta}3-integrin and Rac1 activity.

Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 15:51:00 GMT

Transforming growth factor beta(TGF-beta) promotes tissue fibrosis via the receptor-specific Smad pathway and non-canonical pathways. We recently reported that TGF-beta1-stimulated collagen expression by cultured kidney cells requires integrin-dependent...

Cardiac pathologies in relation to Smad-dependent pathways.

Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 15:50:55 GMT

The transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily are of structurally related proteins that mediate developmental processes including cell growth, apoptosis, cellular homeostasis, tissue differentiation, morphogenesis, proliferation, and migration....

Agonist-specific Compartmentation of cGMP Action in Myometrium.

Saturday, 24 Jul 2010 05:48:07 GMT

Abstract Nitric oxide relaxes myometrium in a cGMP-independent manner. While cGMP activates its cognate kinase, this is not required for the inhibitory effect of nitric oxide. Thus, nitric oxide mediated cGMP elevation does not enjoy the same set of substrates...

RNA offers a safer way to reprogram cells

Friday, 23 Jul 2010 17:42:43 GMT

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) For the first time, MIT researchers have shown that they can deliver those same reprogramming genes using RNA, the genetic material that normally ferries instructions from DNA to the cell's protein-making machinery. This method could prove much...

Living Up to Potential

Thursday, 22 Jul 2010 15:24:17 GMT

Researchers are intrigued by the possibilities of Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in basic science and drug development, but much work remains if expectations are to be met.

NIH-funded study finds early HAART during TB treatment boosts survival rate in co-infected people

Thursday, 22 Jul 2010 14:42:35 GMT

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) A clinical trial in Cambodia has found it possible to prolong the survival of untreated HIV-infected adults with very weak immune systems and newly diagnosed tuberculosis by starting anti-HIV therapy two weeks after beginning TB...

Breakdown of bone keeps blood sugar in check, new study finds

Thursday, 22 Jul 2010 12:42:42 GMT

(Columbia University Medical Center) Researchers led by Dr. Gerard Karsenty at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered that the skeleton plays an important role in regulating blood sugar and have further illuminated how bone controls this process. The finding, published in...

Disposable Bioreactor System

Thursday, 22 Jul 2010 10:47:03 GMT

Cellexus launched the CellMaker PLUS single-use, disposable bioreactor system. The company designed the new CellMaker PLUS system specifically for efficient growth of the widest range of cell types including E.coli, pichia, algae and bacteriophage, as well as the more challenging mammalian and insect cells.

Important clue to understanding the pathogenesis of ciliary disorders

Thursday, 22 Jul 2010 09:42:15 GMT

(Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health) A research team led by Dr. Heiko Lickert of Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen has pinpointed a gene that is essential for the physiologically correct disassembly of cilia. Errors in the regulation of cilia assembly are...