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Tag: "elusive" at biology news

Wisconsin scientists grow critical nerve cells

...ls into motor neurons, says Zhang. The goal proved elusive even in simpler vertebrates such as mice, whose embryonic stem cells have been available to scientists for decades. One reason scientists have had difficulty making motor neurons, Zhang believes, may be that they are one of the earliest neural struc...

Scripps scientists find potential for catastrophic shifts in Pacific ecosystems

...ndom wiggles in oceanographic time series has been elusive until this study. The biological shifts are more than random wiggles. On the contrary, and to their surprise, the researchers found that some key physical characteristics of the North Pacific, such as sea surface temperature (which were suspected to...

Searching the depths of the straits of Florida for disease cures

...cave systems, and abundant sea life, including the elusive whale shark. Harbor Branch scientists are attracted most to its steep topography between about 300 and 3,000 feet, which suggests that they will find the rocky walls that most commonly foster diverse deep-water ecosystems. The Cay Sal Bank is locate...

Whole genome promoter mapping - Human Genome Project v2.0?

...he human genome, their control sequences have been elusive until now. "Promoters are a type of genetic switch that turn gene expression on or off. If we know where the promoters are, we can study how the genetic switches work in a cell, and investigate their connection to human diseases," said Dr. Ren, who i...

Small worm yields big clue on muscle receptor action

...iversity of Illinois at Chicago have identified an elusive subunit of a neurotransmitter receptor found in both humans and the much-studied laboratory nematode C. elegans which may open new pathways of research on muscle function. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine binds to two different nicotinic receptors...

Scientists track stealth DNA elements in primate evolution

...origin and sequence composition. What has remained elusive to scientists, however, are the actual mechanisms by which these elements persist and propagate over time to influence human evolution. In an attempt to understand these mechanisms, Dr. Batzer and his colleagues examined a subfamily of Alu elements ...

DNA from feathers tells tale of eagle fidelity

...ool to help conservation biologists study rare and elusive birds of prey. The researchers used a technique called DNA fingerprinting to help them genetically "tag" individuals in the population without capture, said Jamie Rudnick, the paper's first author and a graduate student who conducted the study as pa...

Natural selection at single gene demonstrated

Biologists seeking elusive proof of natural selection at the single-gene level have a powerful new tool at their disposal. Chris Toomajian, postdoctoral researcher in molecular and computational biology in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, led a group that sought...

Testes to incubate stem cells

...ons. Once the researchers learned to isolate these elusive sperm-producing cells from bull calfs, they transplanted them into mouse testes. Despite the foreign surroundings, the bovine cells survived for long periods, up to three months, although they failed to fully develop into sperm, said de Rooij. "Our ...

Afghanistan to protect wildlife and wild lands

...e the ibex, the Persian leopard, gazelles, and the elusive snow leopard. Specifically, five areas being considered by this project for protected area status include the Pamir-I-Buzurg, Little Pamir, and the Waghjir Valley--all located in the high Pamirs in an area called the Wakhan Corridor--and Bande Amir ...

Brighter future for giant panda?

...nt panda is one of the world's most endangered and elusive species. It is found only in a restricted mountain...nce on bamboos found only in these mountains. This elusive nature has shielded important knowledge needed to save it from extinction, until now. Understandin...

Vaccine shown effective against chancroid

...iable chancroid bacteria. An HIV vaccine has been elusive in part because the virus constantly varies its surface molecules, making it an ever-changing target. But H. ducreyi, unlike other sexually transmitted bacteria, doesn't have such a protective mechanism. The current study and other studies suggest ...

How many genes does it take to learn? Lessons from sea slugs

...Aplysia neuronal genes are shedding light on these elusive processes. In 2000, senior author Eric Kandel, M.D., of Columbia University in New York shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work using Aplysia as a model of how memories are formed in the human brain. Despite its simple nervou...

Taking 'chips' to the next level of gene hunting

...logies that can be used to help identify otherwise elusive disease-causing mutations in the 97 percent of the genome long believed to be "junk." A variety of DNA microarray technology, one of the two new chips, called the TIP-chip (transposable element insertion point) can locate in the genome where so-call...

Engineered yeast speeds ethanol production

...ficient enough. Boosting efficiency has been an elusive goal, but the researchers, led by Hal Alper, a postdoctoral associate in the laboratories of MIT chemical engineering professor Gregory Stephanopoulos and Whitehead Member Gerald Fink, took a new approach. The team targeted two proteins that belo...

Ocean sampling yields environmental sources of coral symbionts

...g different ocean locations for the presence of an elusive but critical group of algae, researchers have gained new insight into the dwelling places of the symbiotic organisms that reef corals need for survival. The symbiosis between special algal species and reef corals is the foundation of a highly produc...

Satellites shed light on global warming

...ite instruments have played in understanding these elusive waves. He pointed out that although they were theorised to have existed as far back as the 1930s, it was not until the advent of the satellite-borne radar altimeter that oceanographers were able to offer proof of their existence by mapping the sea su...

Can engineered immune cells stop AIDS?

...hers are still working on ways to manipulate these elusive bone marrow cells and get them to generate "designer immune cells." Another problem seems to be making sure lentiviral vectors target only hematopoietic stem cells, and not other types of cells, to achieve the desired targeted delivery. With a gro...

Discovery of an HIV inhibitor in human blood points to new drug class

...1, the researchers noted. However, it had remained elusive which circulating natural compounds are most effective in controlling viral replication in the body. In the new study, the researchers sifted through a comprehensive library of small peptides that had been filtered from the blood of patients with ...

Bats prey on nocturnally migrating songbirds

...e case. But how to study the foraging habits of an elusive predator that chases its favourite prey several hundreds if not thousands of metres above the ground in total darkness? To elucidate the mysterious habits of giant noctule bats, an ambitious investigation led by young scientist Ana Popa-Lisseanu, ...

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