Body | Page 3717 | Science Codex

Researchers get a first look at the mechanics of membrane proteins

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In two new studies, researchers provide the first detailed view of the elaborate chemical and mechanical interactions that allow the ribosome – the cell's protein-building machinery – to insert a growing protein into the cellular membrane.

The first study, in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, gives an atom-by-atom snapshot of a pivotal stage in the insertion process: the moment just after the ribosome docks to a channel in the membrane and the newly forming protein winds its way into the membrane where it will reside.

Polarized microscopy technique shows new details of how proteins are arranged

Whether you're talking about genes, or neurons, or the workings of a virus, at the most fundamental level, biology is a matter of proteins. So understanding what protein complexes look like and how they operate is the key to figuring out what makes cells tick. By harnessing the unique properties of polarized light, Rockefeller scientists have now developed a new technique that can help deduce the orientation of specific proteins within the cell.

La Jolla Institute identifies new therapeutic target for asthma, COPD and other lung disorders

SAN DIEGO – (April 17, 2011) – Michael Croft, Ph.D., a researcher at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology, has discovered a molecule's previously unknown role as a major trigger for airway remodeling, which impairs lung function, making the molecule a promising therapeutic target for chronic asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and several other lung conditions. A scientific paper on Dr. Croft's finding was published online today in the prestigious journal, Nature Medicine.

Low-cost molecular medicine should be included in modern eye physicians' tool kit

Dr. Richer, speaking at his 4th annual Nutrition & The Eye conference, April 16-17, hosted by the College of Optometry at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, says molecular medicine is beginning to provide hope for patients with declining sight when all other therapies have been exhausted. "These nutritional molecules have begun to be rigorously studied around the world in cardiology , cancer research and some human studies", Dr Richer reported.

New patient guidelines for heart devices

DETROIT – A series of new guidelines for cardiac specialists has been developed to determine when heart failure patients should receive a mechanical heart-pumping device.

Wistar researchers follow a path to a potential therapy for NF2, a rare tumor disorder

PHILADELPHIA – (April 15, 2011) – The proteins that provide cells with a sense of personal space could lead to a therapeutic target for Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2), an inherited cancer disorder, according to researchers at The Wistar Institute. Their findings, which appear in the April 12 issue of the journal Cancer Cell, could have profound implications for NF2 and related cancers, such as mesothelioma.

Non-cardiac surgery: Safe for patients with heart device

DETROIT – Non-cardiac surgery can be performed safely in patients with a heart device typically implanted into patients waiting for a transplant, according to a study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

The left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is a mechanical pump implanted in the chest to help a weakened heart pump blood.

Secrets of a precision protein machine

On the lagging strand, however, the one-way street runs in the opposite direction, so replication has to be done in many little discrete fragments assembled "backwards," each started by an RNA primer. Called Okazaki fragments, these are only about 100 nucleotides long in humans, and some 50 million of them are added to the lagging strand during a human cell's replication.

Jefferson researchers unlock key to personalized cancer medicine using tumor metabolism

PHILADELPHIA—Identifying gene mutations in cancer patients to predict clinical outcome has been the cornerstone of cancer research for nearly three decades, but now researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have invented a new approach that instead links cancer cell metabolism with poor clinical outcome. This approach can now be applied to virtually any type of human cancer cell.

NIH researchers complete whole-exome sequencing of skin cancer

A team led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health is the first to systematically survey the landscape of the melanoma genome, the DNA code of the deadliest form of skin cancer. The researchers have made surprising new discoveries using whole-exome sequencing, an approach that decodes the 1-2 percent of the genome that contains protein-coding genes. The study appears in the April 15, 2011, early online issue of Nature Genetics.

Molecular messages from the antennae

Genetic analysis of the Manduca sexta antennae closes a gap in the search after the insect's odor-directed behavior: The release of stress-induced odor molecules by tobacco plants is well studied, as is the pollination of the flowers by the moths. "But how does the plant odor – metaphorically speaking − end up in the insect's brain?" asks Bill Hansson, director of the Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology founded in 2006 at the Max Planck Institute.

Experimental drug inhibits cell signaling pathway and slows ovarian cancer growth

An experimental drug that blocks two points of a crucial cancer cell signaling pathway inhibits the growth of ovarian cancer cells and significantly increases survival in an ovarian cancer mouse model, a study at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.

Childhood eczema and hay fever leads to adult allergic asthma

Children who have eczema, particularly when occurring with hay fever, are nine times more likely to develop allergic asthma in their 40s, a new study reveals.

The study was conducted by the University of Melbourne, the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Menzies Research Institute and Monash University.

Nationwide study finds US meat and poultry is widely contaminated

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — April 15, 2011 — Drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases, are present in meat and poultry from U.S. grocery stores at unexpectedly high rates, according to a nationwide study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

Safety of stored blood among chief concerns for transfusion medicine community

In light of recent studies that suggest the use of stored blood during transfusions may cause adverse effects in patients, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded a number of research projects to examine the safety of transfusing older red cells and the impact of stored blood on respiratory gases. These papers discussing potential adverse effects of stored blood and related concerns for oxygen delivery by transfusion are now available online in TRANSFUSION, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of AABB.