Skin in Biological News

New stem cell research could reduce number of animal experiments

... specialised cells and tissues such as neurones or skin cells. Whilst previously most stem cells were ... Stem cells (iPS cells) which are made from skin cells from adults. Dr Subramanian has been ... Dr Subramanian will be making iPS cells from the skin cells of patients suffering from ALS to study the ...

Study links virus to some cases of common skin cancer

... A virus discovered last year in a rare form of skin cancer has also been found in people with the second most common form of skin cancer among Americans, according to researchers ... cell carcinoma (SCC), a highly curable form of skin cancer that is expected to affect more than ...

Reprogramming human cells without inserting genes

... or reprogram, fully-differentiated cells like skin cells, back to a more pluripotent state. Called ... cell genes, including OCT4 and SOX2, into human skin cells. Those genes began expressing proteins that changed the skin cells back to a more pluripotent state. This ...

Nanodiamonds deliver insulin for wound healing

... of a condition typically found at a wound site -- skin pH levels can reach very basic levels during the ... pH to the basic levels commonly observed in the skin during severe burns, the researchers confirmed ... by acting as a growth hormone. It encourages skin cells to proliferate and divide, restores blood ...

Skin-like tissue developed from human embryonic stem cells

... complex, multilayer tissues that mimic human skin and the oral mucosa (the moist tissue that lines ... a practical therapy to help with diseases of the skin and mouth," said Jonathan Garlick, DDS, PhD, ... to produce functional tissues to treat oral and skin conditions, like the early stages of cancer and ...

Study characterizes eczema patients most at risk for dangerous viral infections

... vaccinations, and point to defects in the skin barrier and antimicrobial-protein production as ... to staphylococcus and other infections of the skin and eye." A subset of the estimated 6 million ... are susceptible to widespread infections of their skin by herpes simplex and vaccinia viruses. The ...

NIH expands Human Microbiome Project; funds sequencing centers and disease projects

... This study will assess whether changes in the skin microbiome may contribute to psoriasis, an inflammatory skin disease. Gregory A. Buck, Ph.D., Virginia ... study is to examine the association between the skin microbiome and acne. Zhiheng Pei, M.D., ...

Urban myth disproved: Fingerprints do not improve grip friction

... that fingerprints increase friction between the skin and whatever we grab onto has been around for ... that instead of behaving like a normal solid, the skin was behaving like rubber, where the friction is ... area between the two surfaces. To check that skin behaves more like rubber than a normal solid, the ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- June 3, 2009

... toxic substances, known to exist in the skin of poison frogs of the family Dendrobatidae. ... eating them. Western Colombian natives have used skin extracts from another group of frogs, unrelated ... The scientists analyzed alkaloids from the skin of 13 of the more than 25 species of the genus ...

Genetically corrected blood cells obtained from skin cells from Fanconi anemia patients

... resulted in the generation of blood cells from skin cells of patients with a genetic disease known as ... to correct the genetic defect in patient-specific skin cells by converting them into cells similar to ... potential of generating tissues using the very skin of those affected with these genetic diseases. ...

100 reasons to change the way we think about genetics

... kinds of cells in our bodies provide an example. skin cells and brain cells have different forms and ... must be mechanismsother than DNAthat make sure skin cells stay skin cells when they divide. Only recently, ...

Skin color clue to nicotine dependence

... concentrations of melanin -- the color pigment in skin and hair -- may be placing darker pigmented ... tissues of smokers with greater amounts of skin pigmentation. "The point of the study is that, ... linking tobacco use, nicotine exposure, and skin pigmentation, the researchers recruited 150 adult ...

Scientists shed light on inner workings of human embryonic stem cells

... of years the discovery of induced pluripotent skin cells. "You can take a cell, a skin cell, or possibly any cell of the body, and ... and you get them to express themselves in the skin cells; that's how you can restore the embryonic ...

Stanford scientists turn adult skin cells into muscle and vice versa

... how they are able to reprogram human adult skin cells into other cell types in order to decipher ... demonstrate their point, they transformed human skin cells into mouse muscle cells and vice versa. ... they first used a chemical treatment to fuse skin and muscle cells together, producing cells that ...

Tufted bacteria cause infection in premature babies

... Bacteria that normally reside on the skin of healthy people can cause serious infections in ... kind of staphylococcus can attach itself to the skin and quickly develop dynamic ecosystems: the ... Staphylococcus establishes itself on the child's skin and mucous membranes directly after birth. In ...

Signals from stroking have direct route to brain

... the brain that we are being slowly stroked on the skin have their own specialised nerve fibres in the ... The discovery may explain why touching the skin can relieve pain. The specialised nerve fibres in the skin are called CT nerves (C-tactile) and they travel ...

Montana State grad's work helps diagnose skin cancer without a biopsy

... reduce the number of biopsies needed to diagnose skin cancer. Suspicious spots on the skin often prompt dermatologists to remove skin samples for analysis. These procedures are ...

Skin cancer study uncovers new tumor suppressor gene

... tumor growth in melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The finding is reported today in the ... analysis of a group of enzymes implicated in skin cancer and many other types of cancer. The ... Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. In the United States and many other ...

Time (and PPAR-beta/delta) heals all wounds

... Mammalian skin requires constant maintenance, but how do skin cells know when to proliferate and at what rate? ... , Nguan Soon Tan and colleagues reveal that skin fibroblasts use a protein called ...

Synthesizing the most natural of all skin creams

... nine months soaking in the womb, a newborn's skin is smooth unlike an adult's in the bath. While ... environment, the newborn manages to develop a skin fully equipped to protect it in a cold, dry and ... the fetus and the newborn, aids in the growth of skin both before and after birth. VC provides ...

Freezing kidney cancer: Hot treatment should be new gold standard for destroying small tumors

... to pinpoint tumors and probes to penetrate the skin to deliver freezing cold directly to a diseased ... or more hollow needles are inserted through the skin directly into a tumor. Interventional ... is removed, a small bandage is placed over the skin puncture site. Cryoablation, which can also be ...

Gladstone scientists reveal that fat synthesizing enzyme is key to healthy skin and hair

... of fat in the body is also an element in healthy skin and hair. The enzyme is acyl CoA:diacylglycerol ... of retinoic acid (RA) to be greatly increased in skin and resulted in the loss of hair. Their findings ... from vitamin A (retinol) has been used to treat skin disorders, such as acne and psoriasis, and ...

Mama whales teach babies where to eat

... of 2003 through 2006, Valenzuela collected small skin samples using a punch device that doesn't harm the animals. "The skin sample is a little bigger than the size of a pencil eraser," Rowntree says. From the skin samples, Valenzuela analyzed mitochondrial DNA, ...

Beach vacations may increase future skin cancer risk in children

... malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. Melanoma rates have been rising ... Vacation histories were assessed by interview and skin exams were used to evaluate the development of ... 7 was linked to a 5 percent increase in nevi, or skin moles, less than two mm. "Daily sun exposure at ...

Advancement in tissue engineering promotes oral wound healing

... of the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, skin substitutes have been far more advanced than oral ... an autologous (same patient) full thickness skin substitute that Dr. Gibbs says is "proving to be ... explained Dr. Gibbs. "Drawbacks of using skin as an autograft material in the oral cavity ...

Missing genes link to psoriasis

... may be more likely to suffer from the chronic skin condition, psoriasis. The research, which has ... When these genes are missing this may leave skin relatively unprotected against the sequence of ... leads to the development of this uncomfortable skin disease. John Armour, Professor of Human ...

Scientists uncover new genetic variations linked to psoriasis

... the genetic basis of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that can be debilitating in some ... condition is usually characterized by red, scaly skin patches that can be itchy, painful or both. Some ... Spain and elsewhere found that the absence of two skin genes LCE3B and LCE3C increases the risk of ...

Compromised skin barrier function plays a role in psorasis development

... in the development of psoriasis, a common chronic skin disease. The research, led by GIS Human ... Dr Liu, "our finding suggests that compromised skin barrier function play a role in the development ... chronic, auto-immune and hyper-proliferative skin disease, usually characterized by red scaly ...

Feeling your words: Hearing with your face

... New Haven, Conn. The movement of facial skin and muscles around the mouth plays an important ... used a robotic device to stretch the facial skin of "listeners" in a way that would normally ... When the robot stretched the listener's facial skin upward, words sounded more like "head." With ...

UT Public Health researchers find link to severe Staph infections

... most common CA MRSA isolate and can cause severe skin infections, pneumonia, bloodstream infections and ... administered subcutaneously it protected against skin infections. Brown said, "The [vaccination] ... mice were better protected against a skin infection than against pneumonia. This in part ...

Patient-derived induced stem cells retain disease traits

... stem cells by genetically reprogramming skin cells from a patient with spinal muscular ... usually by age two. Genetic reprogramming of skin cells, first reported in late 2007 by UW-Madison ... the researchers created iPS cells from stored skin cells of a young SMA patient and his mother, who ...

Ocean fish farming harms wild fish, study says

... crabs that attach to marine fishes, eating their skin and sometimes deeper tissue. skin is important to fish because they need to keep ... than the ocean. Also, when lice puncture the skin they create an entry point for other infections. ...

Phase III data show efficacy/safety of iclaprim in patients with complicated skin infections

... drug, linezolid, in the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) caused by ... from the ASSIST-1 and ASSIST-2, (Arpida's skin ...

Stress may make you itch

... cells in your skin, resulting in inflammatory skin disease. The related report by Joachim et al., "Stress-induced Neurogenic Inflammation in Murine skin Skews Dendritic Cells towards Maturation and ... issue of The American Journal of Pathology . skin provides the first level of defense to infection, ...

Green tea may delay onset of type 1 diabetes

... in psoriasis, an autoimmune disease affecting the skin and joints, says Dr. Hsu. "Normal skin cells turn over every 30 days or so, but skin cells with psoriasis turn over every two or three ...

Parkinson's Disease Foundation announces award of $150,000

... study that examines the use of transformed adult skin cells in the treatment of Parkinson's. Scientists can now direct the skin cells of a person with Parkinson's to become ... examine the potential of iPS cells by reverting skin cells of Rhesus monkeys into iPS cells and ...

Salk researchers successfully reprogram keratinocytes attached to a single hair

... Keratinocytes form the uppermost layer of skin and produce keratin, a tough protein that is the ... cells (fibroblasts, liver and intestinal cells), skin fibroblasts were the only human cell type they ... and c-Myc into keratinocytes cultured from human skin explants. After only 10 days instead of the more ...

When particles are so small that they seep right through skin

... paper showing that nanoparticles pass through the skin of a living organism, a type of mouse commonly ... actually seep through skin, especially when the skin has been damaged. The health implications of ... accumulate around the hair follicles and in tiny skin folds. DeLouise, a chemist, points out that ...

Deadly rugby virus spreads in sumo wrestlers

... the ball out of a scrum herpes virus can cause a skin disease called "scrumpox" and it spreads through ... . "Scrumpox", or herpes gladiatorum , is a skin infection caused by the herpes virus, which can ... one of the most common and pathogenic, causing a skin disease in sumo wrestlers," said Dr Kazuo Yanagi ...

Vitiligo skin disorder could yield clues in fight against melanoma

... MAYWOOD, Ill. About 1 million Americans suffer a skin disorder called vitiligo, which causes unsightly ... treatments for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Vitiligo appears to be an auto-immune ... overdrive and kills pigment cells, which give skin its color. Loyola researcher Caroline Le Poole, ...