Biosingularity

The stimulus bill was conceived as a way to jumpstart the economy with ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure and construction projects. At agencies such as the NSF and the Department of Energy’s (DoE) office of science, however, much of the money will be spent on grants, and details are emerging this week of how those grants will be [...]

The February, 2009 issue of the American Association for Cancer Research journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention published the discovery of researchers from the University of California, San Diego, the University of Arizona, and other research centers of a positive effect of high carotenoid intake on recurrence-free survival in breast cancer patients. Carotenoids, such as [...]

Postmenopausal women who take multivitamins appear to have the same risk of most common cancers, cardiovascular disease or dying of any cause as women who do not take multivitamin supplements, according to a report in the February 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

A simple, chemical materials model may lead to a better understanding of the structure and organization of the cell according to a Penn State researcher. “Cells are interesting because they show organization even at the level of the cytoplasm, and while it is thought to be important for cell functions, it is not always clear [...]

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of California, San Diego have developed a set of molecular tools that provide important insight into the complex genomes of multicellular organisms. The strategy promises to clarify the longstanding mystery of the role played by vast [...]

The heart tissue is created by induced pluripotency, which genetically reprograms adult cells into a near-embryonic state, capable of becoming almost any cell type. Video: University of Wisconsin

Researchers at Canada’s largest children’s rehabilitation hospital have developed a technique that uses infrared light brain imaging to decode preference – with the goal of ultimately opening the world of choice to children who can’t speak or move. In a study published this month in The Journal of Neural Engineering, Bloorview scientists demonstrate the ability [...]

Amanda Kitts lost her left arm in a car accident three years ago, but these days she plays football with her 12-year-old son, and changes diapers and bearhugs children at the three Kiddie Cottage day care centers she owns in Knoxville, Tenn. Ms. Kitts, 40, does this all with a new kind of artificial arm [...]

Atomic-force microscopy could advance osteoarthritis drug development. Osteoarthritis, which affects about 14 million people in the United States alone, occurs when cartilage between joints degrades and disappears, leaving joint bones to grind painfully against each other. Therapies can alleviate some of the pain, and some patients undergo joint replacements, but there is no cure. Now [...]

The shapes of some of the tiniest cellular structures are coming into sharper focus at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Farm Research Campus, where scientists have developed a new imaging technology that produces the best three-dimensional resolution ever seen with an optical microscope. With this new tool, scientists can pinpoint fluorescent labels in their [...]

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have uncovered the Transformer like properties of molecules responsible for carrying and depositing proteins to their correct locations within cells. The research could eventually lead to novel treatments for diseases that result from flaws in protein delivery as well as the development of new types of antibiotics.

A team of researchers led by Rutgers’ Samuel Gunderson has developed a novel gene silencing platform with very significant improvements over existing RNAi approaches. This may enable the development and discovery of a new class of drugs to treat a wide array of diseases. Critical to the technology is the approach this team took to [...]

A net with large holes won’t catch small fish. Likewise, the microscopic fibers in the protective mucus coatings of the eyes, lungs, stomach or reproductive system naturally bundle together and allow the tiniest disease-causing bugs, allergens or pollutants to slip by. But Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a way to chemically shrink the holes in [...]

In research scheduled for presentation at the 11th International Symposium on Amino Acids, to be held in August, 2009 in Vienna, Austria, scientists at Texas A & M University have shown that the amino acid arginine helps reduce fat gain in obese rats, a finding that may prove to be useful against human obesity.

It’s a commonly held belief that information from the outside world impinges upon our brains through our senses to cause perception, then action. But this reasonable assumption now appears to be false. >>>>> Article in SEED magazine

New imaging probes show whether cancer drugs will work. Devising the right chemotherapy regimen as soon as possible can spare cancer patients from painful side effects and increase their chances of survival. Two new imaging contrast agents could help by showing doctors whether a drug will reach the target tumor before it is administered. >>> [...]

A team of researchers are reporting the ongoing emergence of a new species of fruit fly–and the sequential development of a new species of wasp–in the February 6 issue of the journal Science. Jeff Feder, a University of Notre Dame biologist, and his colleagues say the introduction of apples to America almost 400 years ago [...]

A University of Iowa study is apparently the first to make a connection between a rare, hereditary premature aging disease and cell damage that comes from smoking. The study results point to possible therapeutic targets for smoking-related diseases. The investigation found that a key protein that is lost in Werner’s syndrome is decreased in smokers [...]

The bacterium behind one of mankind’s deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) move closer to answering the decades-old question of what controls the switching on and off of genes that carry out all of life’s [...]

Fascinating documentary about a toddler born with eight limbs and believed by some to be the reincarnation of the multi-limbed Hindu goddess Lakshmi(correction.) She is set to undergo a 40-hour operation to remove half of her limbs. Lakshmi Tatma was born joined to a ‘parasitic twin’ and will go under the knife at the hands [...]

Women who carry mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have a dramatically increased risk of developing breast cancer: a 36 to 85 percent chance of developing the disease during their lifetime, which is three to five times greater than the average risk rate. Ken Offit, chief of the clinical genetics service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering [...]

Scientists have discovered a gene that when mutated causes obesity by dampening the body’s ability to burn energy while leaving appetite unaffected. The new research could potentially lead to new pharmacologic approaches to treating obesity in humans that do not target the brain, according to study senior author Yi Zhang, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and [...]

In the February, 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings,  a study found that men between the ages of 40 and 49 who experience erectile dysfunction (ED) have a significantly higher risk of developing heart disease compared to those not affected by the condition.

With the support of NASA, Google and a broad range of technology thought leaders and entrepreneurs, a new university will launch in Silicon Valley this summer with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges.” Singularity University (SU) (www.singularityu.org) will open its doors in June 2009 on the NASA [...]

A variation in the gene FOXO3A has a positive effect on the life expectancy of humans, and is found much more often in people living to 100 and beyond – moreover, this appears to be true worldwide. A research group in the Faculty of Medicine at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel (CAU) has now confirmed this [...]

For couples who can’t seem to get pregnant, one of the more common causes is egg or sperm quality: sperm that never make it to the egg or that can’t fertilize it once they’re there, and eggs that resist fertilization or implantation in the uterine wall. Now, for the first time, scientists have turned adult [...]

A tiny molecule found in most plant-based foods douses the flames before damaging lesions can form in the colon, according to a study by Texas AgriLife Research scientist Dr. Nancy Turner. Even better, the compound can be obtained easily by eating vegetables and fruit rather than by taking expensive prescriptions or supplements, Turner said. The [...]

Brown University biomedical engineers can now grow and assemble living microtissues into complex three-dimensional structures in a way that will advance the field of tissue engineering and may eventually reduce the need for certain kinds of animal research. The team, led by Brown professor Jeffrey Morgan, successfully used clusters of cells grown in a 3-D [...]

Whether condoms or abstinence, most efforts to prevent sexually transmitted diseases have a common logic: keep the pathogen out of your body altogether. While this approach is certainly reasonable enough, it doesn’t help the countless people worldwide who, for a number of reasons, are not in a position to control their sexual circumstances. Now, Harvard [...]

A transcription factor known to drive the formation of fibroblasts during development also promotes their ability to invade and remodel surrounding tissues, report Rowe et al. in the February 9, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

Ed Vul is a graduate student in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Intitute of Technology. He’s also the lead author of a recent paper, “Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience,” which explored the high correlations between measures of personality or emotionality in the individual—such as the experience of fear, or the [...]

Abnormal heart rhythms – arrhythmias – are killers. They strike without warning, causing sudden cardiac death, which accounts for about 10 percent of all deaths in the United States. Vanderbilt investigators have discovered a new molecular mechanism associated with arrhythmias. Their findings, reported in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, could lead to novel arrhythmia treatments.

A new brain imaging study illustrates what happens to memories as time goes by. The study, in the January 28 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, shows that distinct brain structures are involved in recalling recent and older events. The findings support earlier studies of memory-impaired patients with damage limited to the hippocampus. These patients [...]

Researchers have created a precise biosensor for detecting blood glucose and potentially many other biological molecules by using hollow structures called single-wall carbon nanotubes anchored to gold-coated “nanocubes.” The device resembles a tiny cube-shaped tetherball. Each tetherball is a sensor and is anchored to electronic circuitry by a nanotube, which acts as both a tether [...]

Like guards controlling access to a gated community, nuclear pore complexes are communication channels that regulate the passage of proteins and RNA to and from a cell’s nucleus. Recent studies by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies offer new insights about the pores’ lifespan and how their longevity affects their function. Their findings, [...]

Three billion years ago, a “new” amino acid was added to the alphabet of 20 that commonly make up proteins in organisms today. Now researchers at Yale and the University of Tokyo have demonstrated how this rare amino acid — and, by example, other amino acids — made its way into the menu for protein [...]

A research team including Serge Rivest of University Laval’s Faculty of Medicine has demonstrated the existence of a type of cells that limits brain damage after a stroke. The study was recently published in the online version of Nature Medicine. Laboratory experiments showed that three days after a stroke, the affected area of the brain [...]

Is it possible to share a pain that you observe in another but have never actually experienced yourself? A new study uses a sophisticated brain-imaging technique to try and answer this question. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 29th issue of the journal Neuron, provides insight into brain mechanisms involved in empathy.

New kinds of bioelectrodes will help researchers study beating hearts and brain trauma. The cells of the heart can be stretched by as much as 100 percent with every beat. But traditional platforms for studying cells are static, limiting researchers’ ability to study these cells in a realistic way in the lab. Now researchers at [...]

In a study published by Nature Biotechnology online on February 1, 2009, Mount Sinai Hospital researchers have unveiled a new technology tool that analyzes breast cancer tumours to determine a patient’s best treatment options. The tool can predict with more than 80 per cent accuracy a patient’s chance of recovering from breast cancer.

A research team at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has uncovered a vast new class of previously unrecognized mammalian genes that do not encode proteins, but instead function as long RNA molecules. Their findings, presented in the February 1st advance online issue of the journal Nature, demonstrate [...]