Build

Timing is everything: First step in protein building revealed

Timing is everything, it seems, even inscience. A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has unraveled the firststep in translating genetic information in order to build a protein,only to find that it's not one step but two.In a series of experiments, the scientists found that when yeast'sprotein-building machinery recognizes the starting line for a gene'sinstructions, it first alters its str...

Signaling protein builds bigger, better bones in mice

In a new study, researchers present a “cautionary tale?about what may go wrong when using the fledgling science of proteomics to devise a diagnostic test for cancer. In the February 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center detail why an experimental test intended to identify early ovarian cancer from a...

Harnessing microbes, one by one, to build a better nanoworld

Applied Biosystems (NYSE:ABI), an Applera Corporation business, today announced the introduction of the Applied Biosystems Advanced Gene Expression Service Provider Program, a new program for service providers who are interested in accessing Applied Biosystems comprehensive solution for gene expression analysis, including the highly sensitive Expression Array System for whole genome analysis and...

What's really making you sick? Plant pathologists offer the science behind Sick Building Syndrome

Science-based identification of mold and other causes of Sick Building Syndrome may improve its management, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS). Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) refers to a situation in which building occupants experience health problems while inside a particular building. Human health issues typically associated with SBS range from allerg...

Building a human kinase gene repository

Using the human genome sequence annotation, high-throughput cloning methodologies, and automation, a group at the Harvard Institute of Proteomics lead by Leonardo Brizuela (Harvard Medical School lecturer on biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology) mined public databases to collect the sequence information of all identified human kinase genes and have built a gene repository for this gene...

Structure-building cell signals also may influence learning and memory

A Burnham Institute study has found that one of the cell's largest families of signaling molecules, called ephrins, which are known to regulate the development of nerve cells, also controls nerve cells' ability to engulf critical chemicals and proteins for learning and memory. These findings, the first to link these molecular semaphores to this important nerve cell function, appear in the May iss...

Building a protein name dictionary from full text: a machine learning term extraction approach

The majority of information in the biological literature resides in full text articles, instead of abstracts. Yet, abstracts remain the focus of many publicly available literature data mining tools. Most literature mining tools rely on pre-existing lexicons of biological names, often extracted from curated gene or protein databases. This is a limitation, because such databases have low coverage o...

Building a better mouse model of lung cancer: FHIT counts

Scientists have identified some of the very earliest genetic changes involved in the development of lung cancer and have incorporated them into a new strain of mouse that develops the disease in much the same way that humans do. The discoveries, reported in the August 1 issue of Cancer Research, open the door to the possibility of new, targeted treatments that could be offered at the very...

Carnegie Mellon scientists create PNA molecule with potential to build nanodevices

No matter how healthy a life one leads, no person has managed to live much longer than a century. Even though the advances of the modern age may have extended the average human life span, it is clear there are genetic limits to longevity. One prominent theory of aging lays the blame on the accumulation of damage done to DNA and proteins by “free radicals,?highly reactive molecules produced by the...

Scientist uses form to explain function of key building blocks of life

University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemists have developed an approach that allows them to measure with unprecedented accuracy the strengths of hydrogen bonds in a protein. The scientists were then able to predict the function of different versions of the protein based on structural information, a novel outcome that was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</...

Mouse study: New muscle-building agent beats all previous ones

The Johns Hopkins scientists who first created "mighty mice" have developed, with pharmaceutical company Wyeth and the biotechnology firm MetaMorphix, an agent that's more effective at increasing muscle mass in mice than a related potential treatment for muscular dystrophy now in clinical trials. The new agent is a version of a cellular docking point for the muscle-limiting protein myostat...

University of Utah to help build bionic arm

University of Utah researchers will receive up to $10.3 million to help develop a new prosthetic arm that would work, feel and look like a real arm. The Utah work is a key part of a U.S. Department of Defense contract worth up to $55 million to develop the new device for soldiers and potentially others whose arms were amputated. "Imagine an artificial arm that moves naturally in response t...

UC San Diego partners with Venter Institute to build marine microbial genomics cyberinfrastructure

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) will build a state-of-the-art computational resource and develop software tools to decipher the genetic code of communities of microbial life in the world's oceans. The new resource will help scientists understand how microbes function in their natural ecosystems, enable studies on the effect humans are having on the environmen...

Intensive statin therapy may partially reverse plaque build-up in arteries

A study presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 55th Annual Scientific Session demonstrates, for the first time, that very intensive cholesterol lowering with a statin drug can regress (partially reverse) the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries. This finding has never before been observed in a study using statin drugs, the most commonly used cholesterol lowering tr...

The giant protein titin helps build muscles

Imagine grabbing two snakes by the tail so that they can't wriggle off in opposite directions. Scientists at the Hamburg Outstation of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and collaborators from King's College in London have now discovered that something similar happens to a protein that is crucial in the formation of muscle tissue. Their work appears in the current issue of the journ...

Insects and mammals share common fat-building pathway, study suggests

When it comes to gaining fat, insects and mammals may have something in common, researchers report in the Jan. 11, 2006, Cell Metabolism. The study finds that the so-called hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway--an ancient suite of genes involved in determining the fates of many cell types--might also play an important role in fat formation in both flies and mice. The findings are the first to show a c...

Jefferson researchers building a better rabies vaccine

In an unexpected discovery, scientists at Jefferson Medical College have found that a tiny change in a rabies virus protein can turn a "safe" virus extremely deadly. The finding has enabled the researchers to refine a vaccine they previously created against rabies in wildlife, making it safer and more effective. "We have identified a molecular mechanism involved in making the rabies virus...

Anemone genes reveal versatile building blocks for body plans

The same set of genes responsible for establishing the bilateral body axes in animals as diverse as flies and frogs have been found to play an unexpected role in patterning an animal with a different body plan--a simple sea anemone. Sea anemones, along with corals and jellyfish, are members of the phylum Cnidaria, and they possess a radial body plan that is distinct from the familiar bila...

MIT researchers build tiny batteries with viruses

MIT scientists have harnessed the construction talents of tiny viruses to build ultra-small "nanowire" structures for use in very thin lithium-ion batteries. The goal of the work, led by MIT Professors Angela Belcher, Paula Hammond...

New MRI technique quickly builds 3-D images of knees

A faster magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data-acquisition technique will cut the time many patients spend in a cramped magnetic resonance scanner, yet deliver more precise 3-D images of their bodies. Developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the faster technique will enable clinics to image more patients - particularly the burgeoning group of older adults with osteoarthritis-rela...

'LEGO-Like' building blocks to halt cell growth wins Hebrew University prize

A method for delivery of drugs to targeted cells through the design of specific molecular structures called SIB (Small Integrated Building Blocks) has won a prestigious scientific prize for a Ph.D. student in organic chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalemite Nir Qvit, 34, will be one of those receiving the Kaye Innovation Award on June 13, during the 69th meeting of the...

K-Staters design and build a low-cost remote sensing tool for environmental studies

A Kansas State University research team is prototyping a small, inexpensive remote-control plane as a sensing tool, also known as an unmanned aerial vehicle, to collect environmental data. The team plans to test it over the Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan this summer. If the sensing tool performs as the team hopes, it will be made available to climate scientists, who would...

Orange, grapefruit juice for breakfast builds bones in rats

It may sound like Saturday cartoons: a strong-boned rat that can't be broken. But a couple of Texas researchers say the real hero is citrus juice. Orange and grapefruit juice regularly given to lab rats prevented osteoporosis, long considered an unavoidable aging disease in which bones become more likely to break, according to a study by Texas A&M University's Vegetable and Fruit Impro...

Buildup of damaged DNA in cells drives aging

The accumulation of genetic damage in our cells is a major contributor to how we age, according to a study being published today in the journal Nature by an international group of researchers. The study found that mice completely lacking a critical gene for repairing damaged DNA grow old rapidly and have physical, genetic and hormonal profiles very similar to mice that grow old naturally. Further...

Protein folding: Building a strong foundation

Like a 1950's Detroit automaker, it appears that nature prefers to build its proteins around a solid, sturdy chassis. The findings appear in...

Study shows enzyme builds neurotransmitters via newly discovered pathway

The study, which was directed by Scripps Research Professor Benjamin Cravatt, Ph.D., is being published in the September 8 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry. The new study describes a pathway-different than the one previously suggested-for the biosynthesis of neurotransmitter lipids, N-acyl ethanolamines (NAEs), which include the endogenous cannabinoid ("endocannabinoid") ananda...

Bacteria could steady buildings against earthquakes

Soil bacteria could be used to help steady buildings against earthquakes, according to researchers at UC Davis. The microbes can literally convert loose, sandy soil into rock. When a major earthquake strikes, deep, sandy soils can turn to liquid, with disastrous consequences for buildings sitting on them. Currently, civil engineers can inject chemicals into the soil to bind loose grains to...

Protein sensor for fatty acid buildup in mitochondria

Just as homes have smoke detectors, cells have an enzyme that responds to a buildup of fatty acids by triggering the production of a key molecule in the biochemical pathway that breaks down these fatty acids, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This breakdown of fatty acids, in turn, provides the cell energy while reducing the chance that excess fatty acids will a...

Lithium builds gray matter in bipolar brains, UCLA study shows

Neuroscientists at UCLA have shown that lithium, long the standard treatment for bipolar disorder, increases the amount of gray matter in the brains of patients with the illness. Carrie Bearden, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at U...

Blood sugar's manufacture limited by building blocks' supply

Researchers have discovered a factor that controls blood sugar's manufacture in a novel way: by limiting the supply of its building blocks. The findings are reported in the April issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press. The study found that mice deficient for KLF15, a member of the so-called Krüppel-like family of transcription factors, become severely lacking in the...