Research developments
Research opens the possibility of temporarily reversing aging in the immune system
Public release date: 16-Aug-2011 [ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Mike Davies mike.davies@bbsrc.ac.uk 01-793-414-694 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Aug. 2, 2011 — A scientist at the Gladstone Institutes has discovered a novel way to convert human skin cells into brain cells, advancing medicine and human health by offering new hope for regenerative medicine and personalized drug discovery and development. In a paper being published online July 28 in the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell , Sheng Ding, PhD, reveals efficient and robust methods for transforming adult skin cells into neurons that are capable of transmitting brain signals, marking one of the first documented experiments for transforming an adult human's skin cells into functioning brain cells. "This work could have important ramifications for patients and families who suffer at the hands of neurodegenerative diseases such Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease," said Lennart Mucke, MD, who directs neurological research at Gladstone. "Dr.
Scientist converts human skin cells into functional brain cells
Public release date: 19-Jun-2011 [ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: David Cameron david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu 617-432-0441 Harvard Medical School Boston, MA (June 19, 2011)—Mitochondria, those battery-pack organelles that fuel the energy of almost every living cell, have an insatiable appetite for calcium. Whether in a dish or a living organism, the mitochondria of most organisms eagerly absorb this chemical compound. Because calcium levels link to many essential biological processes—not to mention conditions such as neurological disease and diabetes—scientists have been working for half a century to identify the molecular pathway that enables these processes.
50-year search for calcium channel ends
Scientists develop a fatty 'kryptonite' to defeat multidrug-resistant 'Super bugs'
Public release date: 16-Jun-2011 [ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Cody Mooneyhan cmooneyhan@faseb.org 301-634-7104 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Pulseless Artificial Heart Never Misses a Beat | Gadget Lab
55 year old Craig Lewis lived for a month without a heartbeat or a pulse. If you had listened to his chest, you would heard silence. If you had hooked him up to an electrocardiograph, you wouldn’t have heard the familiar beep, beep, beep. You would have seen a flat line. Lewis heart was replaced with a pair of pulseless pumps. Cobbled together from existing ventricular-assist implants and “a moderate amount of homemade stuff,” by Dr.
Outbreak is new form of E. coli
2 June 2011 Last updated at 16:13 GMT By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News A leading microbiologist has warned the E. coli outbreak may worsen The E. coli outbreak in Germany is a new form of the bacterium, researchers and public health experts believe. It can cause the deadly complication - haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS) - affecting the blood and kidneys.
Public release date: 27-May-2011 [ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Kate Cox kate.cox@warwick.ac.uk 44-024-765-74255 University of Warwick Scientists from the University of Warwick have discovered why a newly found form of cholesterol seems to be 'ultra-bad', leading to increased risk of heart disease. The discovery could lead to new treatments to prevent heart disease particularly in people with type 2 diabetes and the elderly.
Super-sticky 'ultra-bad' cholesterol revealed in people at high risk of heart disease
Bacteria 'linked' to Parkinson's disease
22 May 2011 Last updated at 19:03 ET Could this bacterium cause Parkinson's disease? The bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers have been linked to Parkinson's disease, according to researchers in the US. Mice infected with Helicobacter pylori went onto develop Parkinson's like symptoms. The study, presented at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, argues that infection could play "a significant role". The charity Parkinson's UK said the results should be treated with caution.
15 May 2011 Last updated at 13:04 ET People can be bitten by 700 malaria-infected mosquitoes a year in some countries The malaria parasite can ensure it keeps a host body all to itself by preventing further malarial infections, according to international researchers. The parasite initially reproduces in the liver and moves into the blood. A study on mice, published in Nature Medicine, showed the parasite can trigger iron deficiency in the liver and therefore prevent more infections.
Malaria blocks 'super-infection'
Paralysed man can stand and move his legs again
19 May 2011 Last updated at 19:42 ET By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News Mr Summers: ''The moment I stood up, I was in disbelief'' A US man who was paralysed from the chest down after being hit by a car is now able to stand with electrical stimulation of his spinal cord. Rob Summers, from Oregon, said standing on his own was "the most amazing feeling". He can voluntarily move his toes, hips, knees and ankles and also walk on a treadmill while being supported, according to research in the Lancet .
Synthetic Biology
In a genetic research first, Mayo Clinic turns zebrafish genes off and on
Public release date: 8-May-2011 [ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Robert Nellis newsbureau@mayo.edu 507-284-5005 Mayo Clinic ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have designed a new tool for identifying protein function from genetic code.The discovery adds another piece to the growing body of evidence that humans, much like the rest of the animal kingdom, know more from their noses than previously thought. "We know that for animals, chemosignals are actually the most used signals to communicate, whereas with humans, we think chemosensation is not really used," said study leader Wen Zhou, a psychologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. "But based on our experiences, they are still influenced by these cues, even if they don't explicitly know it." In a recent experiment, subjects who smelled possible pheromones from the opposite sex were more likely to interpret ambiguous human figures as that sex—even when the participants didn't know they were smelling anything. Pheromones—chemicals that can communicate sexual information—are widespread in the animal world, and some research suggests humans use them unconsciously as well. (See "Lesbians Respond Differently to 'Human Pheromones,' Study Says." )
Women Can Sniff Out Men Without Knowing—And Vice Versa
Columbia engineers patch a heart
Public release date: 6-May-2011 [ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Holly Evarts holly@engineering.columbia.edu 212-854-3206 Columbia University Researchers at Columbia Engineering have established a new method to patch a damaged heart using a tissue-engineering platform that enables heart tissue to repair itself. This breakthrough, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/04/19/1104619108.long , is an important step forward in combating cardiovascular disease, one of the most serious health problems of our day. Led by Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the researchers developed a novel cell therapy to treat myocardial infarction (heart damage that follows a heart attack).Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology in Germany oversee a skin-making process controlled by robots. They currently produce 5,000 penny-sized disks of tissue every month, at around $72 per unit. It is hoped that in the future there will be many similar factories, mass-producing skin at a low cost for use in clinical testing and transplants in humans. With robots and computers controlling the process, this maintains a sterile and climate-controlled environment for the skin to be developed, reducing the risk of contamination. Successfully engineered tissue for humans has been achieved but it is very costly and labor-intensive.