Tag: "wisconsin" at biology news

Wisconsin scientists grow critical nerve cells

After years of trial and error, scientists have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to become spinal motor neurons, critical nervous system pathways that relay messages from the brain to the rest of the body. .. . .Motor neurons transmit messages from the brain and spinal cord, dictating almost every movement in...

Wisconsin researchers identify sleep gene

Zeroing in on the core cellular mechanisms of sleep, researchers at University of Wisconsin Medical School have identified for the first time a single gene mutation that has a powerful effect on the amount of time fruit flies sleep. .. . Reporte...

Wisconsin scientists discover a master key to microbes' pathogenic lifestyles

For some microbes, the transformation from a benign lifestyle in the soil to that of a potentially deadly human pathogen is just a breath away. . .. But how these usually bucolic fungi undergo such a transformation to become serious pathogens has always been a puz...

Wisconsin scientists find a way to make human collagen in the lab

Of all of the materials that make up our bodies, nothing is more ubiquitous than collagen. . .. In medicine, collagen from animals, principally cows, is used to rebuild tissue destroyed by burns and wounds. Commonly, it is employed in plastic surgery to augment...

Wisconsin scientists grow two new stem cell lines in animal cell-free culture

Scientists working at the WiCell Research Institute, a private laboratory affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have developed a precisely defined stem cell culture system free of animal cells and used it to derived two new human embryonic stem cell . .. Successfully growing living...