AMES, Iowa - Bone is one of nature's surprising "building materials." Pound-for-pound it's stronger than steel, tough yet resilient. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have identified the composition that gives bone its outstanding properties and the important role citrate plays, work that may help science better understand and treat or prevent bone diseases such as osteoporosis.
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HOUSTON (June 8, 2011) – Many roads can lead to the same place, often crossing over one another and sometimes passing the same landmarks.
A new treatment for colon cancer that combines a chemotherapy agent approved to treat breast cancer and a cancer-fighting antibody is ready for clinical trials, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
More than 150,000 cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed each year, and about 50,000 people die from colorectal cancer yearly. Currently there are limited chemotherapy treatments for colorectal cancer with little that has been in the pipeline in recent years.
Jellyfish can be a nuisance to bathers and boaters in the Chesapeake Bay on the United States' East Coast and many other places along the world's coasts.
A new study by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) shows that jellyfish also have a more significant impact, drastically altering marine food webs by shunting food energy toward bacteria.
PHILADELPHIA — Electrical engineers have long been toying with the idea of designing biological molecules that can be directly integrated into electronic circuits. University of Pennsylvania researchers have developed a way to form these structures so they can operate in open-air environments, and, more important, have developed a new microscope technique that can measure the electrical properties of these and similar devices.
College Park, Md. (June 08, 2011) – A team of scientists has developed a way to coax tumor cells in the lab to grow into 3-D spheres. Their discovery takes advantage of an earlier technique of producing spherical cavities in a common polymer and promises more accurate tests of new cancer therapies.
As team leader Michael R. King, Ph.D., of Cornell University explains, "Sometimes engineering research tends to be a case of a hammer looking for a nail. We knew our previous discovery was new and it was cool. And now we know it's useful."
The recent field of invasion biology faces a new challenge as 19 eminent ecologists issue a call to "end the bias against non-native species" in the journal Nature.
Often called aliens, hitchhikers or invasives, some scientists say that non-native species could just as easily be coined "abductees" whose transport links to activities by humans.
Wildlife face many threats with spreading urbanization, including habitat loss and inbreeding when populations become fragmented and isolated. It doesn't help that there is a billion-dollar international industry dedicated to the illegal trafficking of wild animals or wild animal parts.
The Conservation Genetics Lab at the University of Arizona is working to conserve and protect wild animals around the world.
"Our work here deals with using genetics for wildlife conservation," said Ashwin Naidu, a doctoral candidate in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Trees are often viewed as individuals that compete with one another for access to limited resources. But could trees in stressed environments actually benefit from positive, facultative interactions? The authors of a new paper suggest that might be the case for certain tree species—and that it may take the form of root grafting.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a gene and a novel signaling pathway, both critical for making the first hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in developing vertebrate embryos. The discovery has implications for developing stem cell-based therapies for diseases like leukemia and congenital blood disorders.
June 8, 2011 — (Bronx, NY) — Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have identified a key player in the spread of breast cancer. The findings, published today in the online edition of Nature, identify a critical molecule that helps cancer spread beyond the primary tumor. The research highlights a potential new strategy against metastatic disease. The study's senior author is Jeffrey Pollard, Ph.D., professor of developmental and molecular biology and of obstetrics & gynecology and women's health at Einstein.
Scientists at Rockefeller University and The Scripps Research Institute have developed the first genetically humanized mouse model for hepatitis C, an achievement that will enable researchers to test molecules that block entry of the hepatitis C virus into cells as well as potential vaccine candidates. The finding is reported in the June 9 issue of the journal Nature.
An international team of scientists, with Spanish participation, has shed light on cannibalism and infanticide carried out by primates, documenting these acts for the first time in the moustached tamarin (Saguinus mystax). The mothers, which cannot raise their infants without help from male group members, commit infanticide in order to prevent the subsequent death of their offspring if they are stressed and in competition with other females.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are devastating developmental disorders characterized by altered social interactions and behavior. Although genetic risks are known to contribute to the development of ASDs, the genetic causes of the disease are not well understood. Now, three papers published by Cell Press in the June 9 issue of the journal Neuron provide new insight into the diversity of the genetic abnormalities that contribute to autism and represent a step towards the future design of treatments specifically targeted to different kinds of autism.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Vaccines that save lives by preventing disease have been around for centuries. Now, new vaccines that treat cancer are being developed, but how they will be combined with existing treatments is not clear.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System recommend that a national strategy be developed for bringing therapeutic cancer vaccines to patient care, so that cancers with less effective treatment options are priority targets.