growing

Wisconsin scientists grow critical nerve cells

...row time frame, it was also critical to expose the growing stem cells to an array of complex chemical cocktai...owth factors and hormones - that provide the exact growing conditions needed to steer the cells down the correct developmental pathway. "You need to teach the ...

University of Manchester makes made-to-measure skin and bones a reality using inkjet printers

...hichare a few millimetres thick, which is fine for growing artificial skin,but if you wanted to grow cartilage, for instance, it would beimpossible," Professor Derby says.The key to the advance which Professor Derby and his team have made isthe innovative way in which they are able to pre-determine the size ...

Growth in the sea comes down to a struggle for iron

...g ingredient. And he went further than that. Since growing plants absorb carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhous...jected iron into the water and were monitoring the growing phytoplankton patch, roughly six by eight kilometers in size. "The patch changed quickly and consta...

Newly-discovered class of genes determines ?and restricts ?stem cell fate

...ere able to orchestrate complex events while never growing old." Epstein thinks that this concept may also be important for understanding the cell of origin for a number of tumors. Pax3 is known to be involved in some tumors, which adds evidence to the stem-cell origin for some cancers. This theory proposes...

Plants, animals share molecular growth mechanisms

... APR 2/3, which in turn triggers formation of new, growing actin filaments. Because some genes have survived through time as multicellular life evolved, they have been conserved in both plants and animals, Szymanski said. So, some of the plant proteins that comprise the ARP2/3 and the WAVE complexes are int...

A much-needed shot in the arm for HIV vaccine development

...andidatepipeline, improvements in animal models, a growing database fromclinical trials, and the availability of new quantitative laboratorytools that make comparisons among vaccine studies feasible." What isneeded, they argue, is a way of tying all of these opportunitiestogether, and their plan provides a m...

U-M scientist to talk about tissue engineering at AAAS

...n the broadest sense, tissue engineering refers to growing human tissue through artificial means. Typically it involves harvesting a small sample of cells, treating them in the lab, then reintroducing the cells into a damaged area, like a jaw bone damaged too badly to simply heal on its own. A tiny scaffold...

The transparent organism: EMBLEM and Carl Zeiss give labs a unique look at life

...technology as an ideal approach for satisfying the growing demand in highly resolved image information from living organisms. The products based on this technology will form a perfect match with our lines of confocal and multiphoton 3D-imaging systems," says Dr. Simon. The agreement between EMBL and Carl Ze...

The secret lives of whales

...ean teeming with whales. It also shows a steadily growing population, with drastic declines only showing up in recent history. “Whales have shown remarkable resilience to cataclysmic events - until the last one ?which is us,?says Palumbi. “Ice ages, sea level change and even loss of local food sources did n...

Female sex hormones play a vital role in defense against sexually transmitted diseases

...ion in vaccinated mice. "These studies add to the growing evidence that we need to promote more gender-specific medical approaches in future," she said. "We have to increase awareness in both the medical community as well as the public regarding sexually transmitted diseases and women." Extending these fin...

Mouse brain tumors mimic those in human genetic disorder

... pathway gliomas associated withNF1 typically stop growing after a few years. Moreover, they almostalways occur in children ?these tumors generally start growing inchildren younger than 5 years old and usually do not progress after age10. A similar pattern occur...

BRCA1 causes ovarian cancer through indirect, biochemical route

...emical signal that stops the epithelial cells from growing out of control. When that chemical signal disappea...pithelial cells don't get the message, and keep on growing and dividing. The result: ovarian cancer. This finding is actually good news for scientists and phy...

Scientists discover the cellular roots of graying hair

Few things about growing older are asinevitable and obvious as “going gray,?yet scientists have been unableto explain the precise cause of this usually unwelcome transformation.In a report posted today on the Web site of the journal Science,researchers from Dana-Farber Cance...

Fundamental Finding Yields Insight into Stem Cells, Cancer; Opens Door to Drug Discovery

Few things about growing older are asinevitable and obvious as “going gray,?yet scientists have been unableto explain the precise cause of this usually unwelcome transformation.In a report posted today on the Web site of the journal Science,researchers from Dana-Farber Cance...

Weizmann Institute scientists develop a new approach for directing treatment to metastasized prostate cancer in the bones.

Few things about growing older are asinevitable and obvious as “going gray,?yet scientists have been unableto explain the precise cause of this usually unwelcome transformation.In a report posted today on the Web site of the journal Science,researchers from Dana-Farber Cance...

U-M scientists find genes that control growth of common skin cancer

...eaguesturned Gli2 off, the BCC tumor cells stopped growing and wereeliminated by a programmed cell death process. These results areconsistent with previous work from other labs studying differentHh-associated tumors, “but we were very surprised to see that sometumor cells persisted after shutting down Gli2 e...

Genetically modified natural killer immune cells attack, kill leukemia cells

...ls. The researchers then genetically modified the growing NK cells so they carried on their surface an artificial receptor that made them particularly aggressive and effective killers that attacked only leukemic cells. A receptor is a protein that binds to a specific target molecule. The artificial receptor...

Placenta Is A Rich Source Of Blood Stem Cells

...seases, and in patients receiving transplants, but growing them in quantity is difficult. The cells don't multiply readily in the laboratory, so they must be harvested from bone marrow by needle aspiration, a painful procedure, or coaxed into the blood and then collected. Both methods yield only a limited nu...

Nanogen Issued Patent for Electronic Microarray With Memory

...ronic microarray cartridge. "This addition to our growing intellectual property portfolio illustrates our ability to develop differentiated advanced diagnostic products that add value to the company and to research and clinical laboratory customers," said Howard C. Birndorf, Nanogen chairman of the board an...

Scientists discover unique microbe in California's largest lake

...an water, but cannot survive there unless they are growing inor on another organism."I think it is likely that this microbe is descended from symbioticrelatives who got to the Salton Sea as hitchhikers in water containingsport fish that were introduced from the ocean many years ago," Woodexplains.She says th...

New protein discovered by Hebrew University researchers

...in developing medicinal applications in therapidly growing field of nanobiotechnology.SP-1 nanocapsules will be capable of delivering cell-destroying drugsspecifically to certain types of solid cancer tumors. The protein'stiny structure enables this carrier to penetrate specifically intotumors without harmin...

The death of a very special chimpanzee

...in developing medicinal applications in therapidly growing field of nanobiotechnology.SP-1 nanocapsules will be capable of delivering cell-destroying drugsspecifically to certain types of solid cancer tumors. The protein'stiny structure enables this carrier to penetrate specifically intotumors without harmin...

Circles Of DNA Might Help Predict Success Of Stem Cell Transplantation

...in those original T cells get "diluted" within the growing army of these immune cells. This proves that high levels of sjTREC in blood means that a large number of stem cells have been converted to parent T cells--each of which targets a specific foreign substance, according to Rupert Handgretinger, M.D., Ph...

UCLA scientists transform HIV into cancer-seeking missile

...rom taking effect and allows the tumor to continue growing unchecked." In order to track the carrier's journey, the scientists added luciferase ?the protein that makes fireflies glow ?to the AIDS virus. They injected the camouflaged HIV into a vein in the mouse's tail and used a special optical camera to wa...

The BIOS Initiative - open source biotechnology is born

... and how they function. "These tools are seeding a growing movement ?the BIOS Initiative ?that will enable researchers, even in the poorest countries in the world, to be partners in the choice and development of the crop improvement technologies best suited to their own priorities", says Richard Jefferson, f...

Novel ultrafast laser detection of cancer cells also may improve understanding of stem cells

...nt, non-functioning state. Apparently, the rapidly growing cancer cells derive energy from an alternative source such as free glucose in the cell." Fortunately, the mitochondrion is nearly the same size as the light wavelength of about 800 nanometers, a frequency otherwise little absorbed by the body. Becau...

Tiny scaffolding allows stem cells to become working fat cells

.... This discovery offers hope of a new approach to growing fat tissue for use in breast reconstruction surger...cross, and provide tensile strength to support the growing tissue," Kniss said. The researchers then "seeded" that scaffolding with cells called pre-adipocyte...

RNA project to create language for scientists worldwide

...ease and the development of organisms. The rapidly growing body of knowledge has created the need for researchers to develop a shared vocabulary and system for describing, cataloging and comparing their findings. An international team of RNA scientists, known as the RNA Ontology Consortium, has now been for...

South America's vast pantanal wetland may become next everglades, UNU experts warn

... of the world's most bio-diverse ecosystems, is at growing risk from intensive peripheral agricultural, industrial and urban development ?problems expected to be compounded by climate change, United Nations University experts warn. Covering more than 165,000 square kilometers ?an area roughly equal to Flori...

Scientists discover that host cell lipids facilitate bacterial movement

...iversity of Florida College of Medicine. "Here the growing actin filaments push the bacterium against the membrane, forming long membrane projections called filopodia. These filopodia push into adjacent cells and are ingested by them. The bacteria then enter the new cell and begin the cycle anew. Essentially...

UF Researchers Map Bacterial Proteins That Cause Tooth Loss

...en it’s vacationing in a Petri dish. “An organism growing in a lab isn’t causing disease,?Lamont said. “It’s an organism that’s in your gums, your lungs, your heart valves, your arteries causing disease.?/p> The next step will be to expose P. gingivalis to other oral pathogens to determine what interact...

UCSD team discovers specialized, rare heart stem cells in newborns

...d be expanded into millions of progenitor cells by growing them on a layer of neighboring heart cells called fibroblasts. Published in the February 10, 2005 issue of the journal Nature, the research identified the isl1+ progenitor cells in the tissue of newborn rats and mice, and then in heart tissue taken ...

World's largest rainforest drying experiment completes first phase

...asuring 4 to 10 inches in diameter, simply stopped growing during the end of the dry season of 2000, following the first period of rainfall exclusion, as the trees of similar size continued to grow in the "control" forest plot. The trees slow down the amount of water that they lose from their leaves by closi...

Family trees of ancient bacteria reveal evolutionary moves

...t they made UV-absorbing pigments ?or find ways of growing under sediments to avoid the light." To study the evolution of Cyanobacteria, Blank drew up a backbone tree using multiple genes from whole genome sequences. Additional species were added to the tree using ribosomal RNA genes. Morphological characte...

Rush Physicians Using Gene Therapy For Heart Patients With Moderate To Severe Chest Pains Who Do Not Benefit From Other Treatments

...s the painful symptoms of angina. "The process of growing new blood vessels, or angiogenesis, should occur over the course of four to eight weeks following the procedure which is done in the cardiac catheterization lab at Rush," said Dr. Gary L. Schaer, the principal investigator of the trial at Rush and di...

Wiley announces publication of Databasing the Brain

...cations. Expertly edited by two pioneers in this growing discipline, the text covers the basic principles and specific applications across a range of problems in brain research. Extensively illustrated throughout, this book discusses the state-of-the-art informatic tools and models and how they are being a...

Breast-Cancer Risk Linked to Exposure to Traffic Emissions at Menarche, First Birth

...ofessions is first author on the study. "There is growing evidence that there may be times in a woman's life when exposures to potential carcinogens may be critical for breast-cancer initiation and development," said Nie. "Our study findings support the hypothesis that exposures in early life contribute to ...

Rats infected as newborns grew up vulnerable to memory problems during an immune challenge

...ogical Association (APA). The findings fit into a growing body of evidence that even a one-time infection can potentially permanently change physiological systems, a phenomenon called "perinatal programming." Understanding how infection in newborns can disrupt memory in immune-challenged adults may help s...

Genetically modified rice in China benefits farmers' health, study finds

Farmers growing genetically modified rice in field trials in China...ing any identifiable health effects on the farmers growing the genetically modified rice strains. They examined data from field trials involving two genetical...

Potential treatments for neurofibromatosis

... occurs in infants and young children, with tumors growing on major nerves, such as the sciatic nerve that connects the spinal cord with the leg and foot muscles. The tumors can interfere with the function of the brain and other organs, or prevent patients from walking. "Those are particularly tough problem...

Live fast, die young true for forests too

..." In productive forests, such as tropical forests growing on rich soils, the rates of both "deposits" (tree ...ess productive forests, such as coniferous forests growing at high latitudes, the same changes could take more than a century to occur. Another implication of...

Camera Traps Catch Eye of the Tiger

...ral habitat is converted to commercial plantations growing pulp wood and palm oil trees." This is the first time WWF has used camera traps to study tigers in Indonesia. In July 2004, field staff began handing out questionnaires to find out if local people had seen any tigers. Scientists then conducted a tra...

New online portal merges vast data on Gulf of Maine ecosystem

...cosystem and its species. For decades, a vast and growing storehouse of knowledge about the Gulf of Maine has been out of reach for most scientists and researchers. Although research capacity has grown by leaps and bounds as a result of computer and sensor technology, valuable collections of biological, oce...

Researchers devise way to mass-produce embryonic stem cells

...ir undifferentiated state. The difference between growing stem cells in a flask vs. the bioreactor is that t...eactor could grow in three dimensions, while cells growing on a flat surface ?the bottom of the flask ?could not. "Cells grown on a flat surface don't act lik...

Robot-based system developed at Carnegie Mellon detects life in Chile's Atacama desert

... life. The lichens and bacteria in the samples are growing and awaiting analysis." Waggoner and his colleagues have designed a life detection system equipped to detect fluorescence signals from sparse life forms, including those that are mere millimeters in size. Their fluorescence imager, which is located ...

Transgenic plants remove more selenium from polluted soil than wild plants, new tests show

...ed particularly tolerant of the contaminated soil, growing 80 percent as well as the GS plants planted in clean soil. Because USDA regulators are scrupulous about experiments involving genetically modified plants in the field, the researchers took great care to minimize the transfer of genes through pollen....

New Drugs For Bad Bugs: UF Approach Could Bolster Antibiotic Arsenal

...c health officials cite antibiotic resistance as a growing problem for a host of diseases, from childhood ear infections to malaria. Last year, the FDA published a report calling attention to inefficiencies in the drug and medical product development process, urging changes to make the process “more predict...

Computational Method Speeds Mapping of Cell Signaling Networks

...s the cells to perform a variety of tasks--such as growing in response to hormones, moving towards a source of nutrients, or responding to foreign invaders in the body. In all of these cases, external signals are converted into cellular messages that get passed sequentially from one molecule to another. Trac...

Nanoparticles offer new hope for detection and treatment

...demonstrated that very small human melanoma tumors growing in mice--indiscernible from the surrounding tissue...one twenty-fifth of an inch) wide. Small, rapidly growing tumors cause growth of new blood vessels, which feed the tumors. To get the particles to bind to tum...

Chemicals in tattoo inks need closer scrutiny

...ry student and lead author of the study. "With the growing popularity of tattoos among young people, it is vital that we develop a better understanding of this form of self expression." The new research ?a joint effort between Finley-Jones and Leslie Wagner as part of an undergraduate research project direc...

To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs

...n the realm of health, biofilms are at the root of growing numbers of tenacious, and sometimes fatal, hospital infections, says Blackwell. Indeed, a U.S. National Institutes of Health study last year reported that almost 80 percent of bacterial infections are in the biofilm forma. Biofilms can often constit...

Researchers make gains in understanding antibiotic resistance

...e of a "tunnel" in the ribosome, through which the growing peptide chain moves during synthesis. This tunnel is normally blocked by macrolide antibiotics. In the mutant form, the tunnel widens, which may explain why macrolide antibiotics are no longer effective. According to Steitz, insights about the ribos...

Infants With Rare Genetic Disease Saved by Cord Blood Stem Cells

...lls from damage. Moreover, the findings add to the growing body of evidence showing that cord blood can save children with other fatal "lysosomal storage diseases," each of which stems from a specific enzyme deficiency. These disorders include more than 45 rare diseases, such as Krabbe disease, Hurler syndr...

NASA study finds snow melt causes large ocean plant blooms

...e Western Arabian Sea. This mixing leads to better growing conditions for tiny, free-floating ocean plants called phytoplankton. Lead author of the study is Joaquim Goes. He is a senior researcher at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Goes and colleagues used satellite o...

Defenseless plants arm themselves with metals

...ve in soils naturally enriched in nickel, and when growing in their natural habitat, are not any more susceptible to pathogens than similar plants growing nearby. When grown in the absence of metal, however, these plants are defenseless against diseases ...

Growth in biomass could put US on road to energy independence

...mprise the land base of the U.S. has potential for growing biomass. About 33 percent of the land area is classified as forest, 26 percent as grassland, 20 percent as cropland, 13 percent as urban areas, swamps and deserts, and 8 percent as special uses such as public facilities. ### The report, titled "Bio...

Human Cells Filmed Instantly Messaging for First Time

...mprise the land base of the U.S. has potential for growing biomass. About 33 percent of the land area is classified as forest, 26 percent as grassland, 20 percent as cropland, 13 percent as urban areas, swamps and deserts, and 8 percent as special uses such as public facilities. ### The report, titled "Bio...

Genetically Modified Natural Killer Immune Cells Attack, Kill Leukemia Cells

...ls. The researchers then genetically modified the growing NK cells so they carried on their surface an artificial receptor that made them particularly aggressive and effective killers that attacked only leukemic cells. A receptor is a protein that binds to a specific target molecule. The artificial receptor...

Emergence of cancer as major cause of childhood death in developing countries is not being adequately addressed

...ors at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This growing rate of pediatric cancer is occurring as the number of children dying from infectious diseases is being reduced through the efforts of the World Health Organization and international charities, the researchers say. Health care organizations and char...

UNC launches study of liver injury caused by drugs

...elop better ways to prevent, detect and treat this growing problem," Watkins said. DILIN also may provide important insight into medical problems beyond liver injury induced by drugs, he added. "Drug-induced liver injury is an ideal model to study how genes and environment interact to produce disease in so...