coat

Tiny particles could solve billion-dollar problem

...onsists of a gold nanoparticle covered with a thin coat of palladium atoms. As metal particles get progressively smaller, a higher percentage of the atoms in the particle are found on the surface of the particle instead of being locked away inside the metal where they cannot interact with other chemicals...

UCLA scientists transform HIV into cancer-seeking missile

.... Second, the scientists stripped off HIV's viral coat and redressed it in the outer suit of the Sindbis virus, which normally infects insects and birds. By altering the Sindbis coat, they reprogrammed the AIDS virus, which ordinarily infects T-cells, to hunt down and attach to P-glycoproteins -- molecul...

New Insights Into HIV Immunity Suggest Alternative Approach to Vaccines

...because certain proteins on HIV's protective outer coat trigger only short-lived, self-reactive antibodies...ne system because these seemingly vulnerable outer coat proteins activate self-reactive antibodies. "The fundamental problem in all of HIV vaccine research...

Hirsute Or Hairless? Two Proteins May Spell The Difference

...t nu, would quickly succumb in the wild—its winter coat consists of little more than a ridge of fur down the midback and tail—and needs special care to thrive as a pet. Hairless animals in the lab, on the other hand, can be very instructive. Understanding how hair develops sheds light on the fundamental p...

Molecule that usually protects infection-fighting cells may cause plaque deposits inside arteries

...cells might also contribute to fatty buildups that coat arteries and lead to heart disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found. The molecule, called apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage or AIM, inhibits cell death in macrophages, which circulate in the bloodstream and help the body fend o...

To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs

... harmful and beneficial. In one role, biofilms can coat plant roots and symbiotically aid ecological processes such as nitrogen fixation. But at the darker end of the scale, biofilms can form infection-inducing layers on implanted medical devices and cause deadly lung infections in cystic fibrosis patient...

A New Species of Monkey is Discovered in Tanzania: The First in Africa for More Than 20 Years

...peratures frequently drop below freezing; its long coat is probably an adaptation to the cold. The taxonomic name of the species, Lophocebus kipunji, recognizes the monkey’s local Kinyakyusa name (pronounced kip-oon-jee) used by a few hunters around Mt. Rungwe. The highland mangabey is extremely rare and ...

Purdue researchers use enzyme to clip 'DNA wires'

...aduate student Dorjderem Nyamjav were the first to coat DNA with magnetic particles two years ago. Kinsella and Ivanisevic are the first to show that the BamH1 enzyme cuts DNA wires. "We weren't sure the enzyme would be able to recognize the DNA sequence covered with particles," Kinsella said. "We though...

Deep thinking: Scientists sequence a cold-loving marine microbe

...nty of extracellular polysaccharides (sugars) that coat cell membranes. Aside from its cellular outerwear, C. psychrerythraea generates a range of potential cold-protective compounds. One example is a family of polyesters, known as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) compounds, that may also boost reserves of nit...

Can our genes tell the story of our divergence?

...illion to 6 million years ago, we shed our hirsute coat and heavy brow, mastered bipedal locomotion, and acquired a knack for abstract thought while our next of kin learned to use tools, and developed the skills to construct tree-bound nests high above the forest floor. We differ by just a tad over 1% at ...

Gene therapy advance treats hemophilia in mouse models

...es in the mice, the team took the disabled protein coat from the baculovirus Autographa californica and pu...n the liver cells because the modified baculovirus coat serves as a "key" that fits into the "lock," or receptor. The percentage of liver cells that took up...

Duke Experiments Boost Radiation's Cancer-Killing Effects

...that therapy, said Moeller. "Just as putting on a coat and gloves in the middle of summer would yield no benefit and could actually cause harm, blocking HIF-1 at the wrong time and place produces no benefit," said Moeller. "But blocking HIF-1 in the right environment can dramatically inhibit the growth o...

IBM Transforms the Art of Scientific Expeditions

...that therapy, said Moeller. "Just as putting on a coat and gloves in the middle of summer would yield no benefit and could actually cause harm, blocking HIF-1 at the wrong time and place produces no benefit," said Moeller. "But blocking HIF-1 in the right environment can dramatically inhibit the growth o...

Quantum dots provide a faster, more sensitive method for detecting respiratory viral infections

...olecular structures that are unique to the virus's coat and the cells that it infects. In a paper appearin...SV virus infects lung cells, it leaves part of its coat on the cell's surface. Quantum dots have been linked to antibodies keyed to structures unique to RSV...

New technique could alter field of mouse genetics

...fluorescent protein and an enzyme that changes the coat color of a white mouse to grey or black. The transposon acts as a genetic beacon, so researchers can easily track its location without having to sequence the entire genome, as can happen with the chemical mutagen technique. In three months, the two ...

Drug resistant avian influenza viruses more common in Southeast Asia than North America

...smembrane domain-the part of M2 located within the coat of the influenza virus. The M2 protein is an ion ...his influx of protons allows the virus to shed its coat after it enters a cell-an essential step in the replication of the virus. Amantadine inhibits the fu...

Scientists develop nanotech-laser treatment that kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue

...itamin known as folate. The researchers decided to coat the nanotubes with folate molecules, which would only be attracted to diseased cells with folate receptors. The experiment worked as predicted. Most of the folate-coated nanotubes ended up inside cancer cells, bypassing the normal cells--like Trojan...

Scientists seek to unwrap the sweet mystery of the sugar coat on bacteria

...atterns of glowing dots and determine which sugars coat the bacteria. The microarray technique worked fast enough that the researchers were able to see the sugar coating change over time in the neonatal meningitis strain of E. coli. "Over time, the lectins lost their ability to see these bacteria," says...

Wrinkled membranes create novel drug-delivery system

...b and colleagues at Illinois are exploring ways to coat the capsules with the nanoparticles. When exposed to a magnetic field, the nanoparticles would cool down and remove heat from the capsules. The capsules would then wrinkle and release the drug. ...

Outsmarting the smartie bug

...nvolved. The polysaccharide capsule forms a sugary coat around the bacterium and changing the structure of...hanging its colour. "The bug has a polysaccharide coat which can take any one of 90 different forms, known as serotypes," said Stephen Bentley, leader of t...

Berkeley researchers lay groundwork for cell version of DNA chip

...NA containing a specific nucleotide sequence, then coat cells with single-stranded DNA that contains a complementary sequence," said Chandra, who is a member of both the Francis and Bertozzi research groups. Francis holds a joint appointment with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and the UC Berk...

Researchers use mass spectrometry to detect norovirus particles

...tic particles, or peptides, belonging to the viral coat protein, the virus can be positively identified by matching the results to entries in genetic databases. In the Hopkins study, the researchers analyzed a stool sample treated with virus-like particles, which closely resemble norovirus but are noninf...

Ancient ants arose 140-168 million years ago

...tic particles, or peptides, belonging to the viral coat protein, the virus can be positively identified by matching the results to entries in genetic databases. In the Hopkins study, the researchers analyzed a stool sample treated with virus-like particles, which closely resemble norovirus but are noninf...

The loss of a protein favors lung tumor growth

... the protein αCP4 appears in the tissue cells that coat the normal lung, and which, nevertheless, are lost in the first phases of lung cancer as well as in 67% percent of the tumors observed. The new Doctor in Biochemistry extracted various cellular lines of different types of lung tumors and introduced ...

How plants avoid feeling the burn

...r innovations included developing a new insulating coat of polyethylene for the probe tip of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM), which is used to measure the electron flow across single molecules. Also, the chemical ends of the carotenoids had to be modified so they could chemically stick to the STM pr...

Smooth sailing: 'cruise ship virus' tackled by UH, Baylor College of Medicine

...ntibody for other pathogens, then we can use it to coat the retroreflectors," Ruchhoeft said. "If we're successful in detecting the Norwalk virus, it opens up the possibility of creating a similar diagnostic tool for a variety of other infectious diseases." ...

Bedsores and bald hides: Novel roles revealed for a 'scaffolding' protein

...ice lacking the K17 protein fail to grow a healthy coat of body hair during the first week after birth. It...air follicle die too soon, which results in a thin coat of fragile hair, a condition resembling alopecia or thinning, balding hair. That the hair is fragile...

DNA to the defense

...esources to avoiding immune attack. Since the VSG coat appears to prevent access to other non-variable parasite proteins, such capacity for variation further dims hopes for an effective vaccine for affected populations in rural Africa. ...

New technology addresses female fertility preservation

...gg and sperm, resulting in babies with a different coat color, proving that the births were the result of the cultured embyros. Both male and female offspring were fertile. ...

Tweedle coat fashions stocky flies

...ces that a defective TweedleD protein in the outer coat of fly larvae makes them appear compressed. "I...in different parts of the cuticle--the tough outer coat in fly embryos and larvae. The exact function of the Tweedles is not known, but the researchers thi...

What animals can tell us about hemorrhage, organ transplants and aging

... stereotype of a scientist as a man in a white lab coat hunched over a microscope in a laboratory is far from real life. Consider the scientists who will meet at The American Physiological Society's conference, Comparative Physiology 2006: Integrating Diversity, taking place October 8-11 in Virginia Beach...

Molecular anatomy of influenza virus detailed

...from other viruses; poliovirus, for example, has a coat that is identical in each virus particle, allowing it to be studied by crystallography. The research team used electron tomography (ET) to make its discovery. ET is a novel, three-dimensional imaging method based on the same principle as the well-...

'Protecting virus' offers instant flu protection and converts flu infections into their own vaccines

... but is much less effective with influenza, as the coat of the flu virus is continually changing. Vaccina...f influenza is infecting you. This is because the coat of the virus is irrelevant to the protection process ?the effect works on the virus genes inside the...

Coated nanoparticles solve sticky drug-delivery problem

...dle, Johns Hopkins researchers have found a way to coat nanoparticles with a chemical that helps them slip... the journal article. "We thought that if we could coat a drug-delivery nanoparticle with a chemical that had these characteristics, it might not get stuck ...

Ultrathin films deliver DNA as possible gene therapy tool

...rolled release of DNA from surfaces. When used to coat implantable medical devices, the films offer a nov...gical engineering, has used his nanoscale films to coat intravascular stents, small metal-mesh cylinders inserted during medical procedures to open blocked ...

Researchers discover gene crucial for nerve cell insulation

... cells, found in the peripheral nervous system, to coat nerves with myelin. The Newly Discovered Role of EGR2 During this study, the scientists found that EGR2 produces a protein that activates several other genes necessary for myelin production. Some of these genes contain the information needed...

Why aren't humans furry? Stone-Age moms could be the answer

...uld explain why humans are the only apes lacking a coat of fur. Harris suggests that Neanderthals must have been furry in order to survive the Ice Age. Our species would have seen them as "animals" and potential prey. Harris?hypothesis continues that Neanderthals went extinct because human ancestors ate ...

Nanotextured implant materials: blending in, not fighting back

...in, a protein that helps endothelial cells quickly coat the graft. Webster and Haberstroh's next step will be to test such nanostructured implants in live animals. If the same behavior holds true for materials placed in the body, the rapid growth of endothelial cells would help the implants to integrat...

Researchers develop way to calculate speed of bacterial sex

...f conjugative gene transfer centers on biofilms, a coat formed by colonizing bacterial cells. "While scientists have studied [conjugation] in the lab, and wondered about its impact in nature, current computer models of conjugation were pretty basic," said Ginn. UC-Davis researchers set out to build ...

Brain's white matter -- More 'talkative' than once thought

...emselves around and insulate nerves with a whitish coat of protective myelin. The immature cells simply hang around and divide very slowly, waiting to be spurred into action. To learn more about OPCs that reside in the brain’s white matter, the Johns Hopkins researchers measured activity from individu...

Scientists discover rare 'gene-for-gene' interaction that helps bacteria kill their host

...kill bacteria and then encapsulate them in a dense coat of black pigment called melanin. The researchers found that Photorhabdus produces a special phenoloxidase inhibitor to protect itself against this particular defence. They identified the inhibitor as a small molecule called 1,3-dihydroxy-2-(iso...

Researchers track how spores break out of dormant state

...ic force microscopy (AFM) the alterations of spore coat and germ cell wall that accompany the transformati...g Bacillus atrophaeus spores details how the spore coat structures break down, and it shows with unprecedented resolution how the new bacterium emerges from...