Chemical

BRCA1 causes ovarian cancer through indirect, biochemical route

Mutated BRCA1 genes cause ovarian cancer indirectly, by interfering with the biochemical signals one ovarian cell sends to another, according to a team of researchers led by scientists at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Their work is being published in the March 29 issue of the journal Current Biology.</p...

Study shows nanoshells ideal as chemical nanosensors

'Nanoshells' enhance sensitivity to chemicaldetection by factor of 10 billionNew research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy ofScience finds that tailored nanoparticles known as nanoshells canenhance chemical sensing by as much as 10 billion times. That makesthem about 10,000 times more effective at Raman scattering thantraditional methods. Whenmolecules and materi...

MSI releases 'moleculizer' - a new approach to simulation of intracellular biochemical networks

Dr. Roger Brent, President and Director of Research at the the release of a new approach to simulation of intracellularbiochemical networks in the January 2005 edition of NatureBiotechnology.The research article, entit...

Researchers discover chemical compounds that affect plant growth

A team of biologists from the University of California, Riverside has used chemical genomics to identify novel compounds that affect the ability of plants to alter their direction of growth in response to gravity, a phenomenon known as gravitropism. The researchers screened a library of 10,000 small molecules, the practice is known as chemical genomics, to identify those that could positiv...

Chemicals in tattoo inks need closer scrutiny

As tattoos have grown in popularity, so have complaints of adverse side effects associated with both their application and removal. A new study, done by chemistry students at Northern Arizona University, looked at the chemical composition of a variety of tattoo inks to better understand their potential health risks. The findings, presented today at the 229th national meeting of the Americ...

Harmful chemicals may reprogram gene response to estrogen

New research shows that exposure to harmful chemicals and drugs during critical developmental periods early in life may actually "reprogram" the way certain genes respond to the female hormone estrogen. This genetic reprogramming may determine whether people with a genetic predisposition for a disease actually develop the disease. The new research shows that when rats with a genetic predis...

Disease diagnosis, biodefense among UH chemical research projects

With 33 presentations of original research that showcase applications ranging from early-stage disease diagnosis to fuel cells and batteries, the University of Houston will be well represented at the 229th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), March 13 to 17 in San Diego. Founded in 1876, the ACS is a nonprofit, scientific and educational organization and the largest sci...

Roots Engage in Underground Chemical Warfare

In addition to providing physical support and taking in nutrients, plant roots secrete a wide variety of compounds that affect other nearby roots, as well as insects and microbes. But because it goes on unseen, bactericidal root activity has not been extensively investigated—until now. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of garden-variety cabbage, Jorge Vivanco and co-workers a...

NYU and MSKCC research provides model for understanding chemically induced cancer initiation

A team from the chemistry and biology departments of New York University, in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), has uncovered a conformational switch--a change in shape in a carcinogen-damaged DNA site--in tumor suppressor genes altered by a known cancer-causing chemical found in cigarette smoke. This finding may open new horizons for understanding the initiation o...

Could microbes solve Russia's chemical weapons conundrum?

One of nature's most versatile microorganisms ?a bacterium called Pseudomonas putida ?could help mop up the toxic by-products caused by the destruction of the chemical weapon mustard, write Russian researchers in Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jctb) this month. At 40,000 tonnes, Russia houses the world's largest stockpile of chemical wa...

Two chemicals boost immune cells' ability to fight HIV without gene therapy

A UCLA AIDS Institute study has discovered that two chemical compounds may help the immune systems of HIV-infected persons fight the disease without invasive gene therapy. Presented March 5 at the 2005 Palm Springs Symposium on HIV/AIDS, the new research demonstrates that the new chemicals activate telomerase -- a protein that boosts immune cells' ability to divide, enabling them to continue dest...

Chemical Engineer Kao Explores Antibiotic Synthesis With DNA Chips

Ask Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Camilla Kao to describe a bacterium, and she'll compare it to a factory capable of producing antibiotics, immunosuppressants and anti-cancer drugs that no chemist can synthesize. Bacteria normally produce antibiotics to inhibit other bacterial strains competing for resources. Pharmaceutical companies exploit this property to manufacture drugs, but t...

Environmental chemical cocktail may sabotage sperm

New research has shown that combinations of chemicals found in everyday products and food have subtle but potentially damaging effects on sperm fertility. Professor Lynn Fraser told the 21st annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday), that her previous research had shown that certain chemicals known to mimic the female sex hormone, oes...

Chemical 'band-aid' prevents heart failure in mice with muscular dystrophy

A common chemical used in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries can repair damage to cardiac muscle cell membranes and prevent heart failure in mice with the genetic mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School. The mutation in the dystrophin gene causes the progressive deterioration of skeletal muscles see...

Digging in the dirt for life's biochemical foundations

It seems a mighty feat for a microscopic fungus built from threadlike filaments. But collectively, these spindly mushroom relatives help move several billion tons of nutrients out of the soil and into plants each year. Now, new Michigan State University-supported research on the movement of nitrogen brings into sharper focus this underground process at the root of nearly all of Earth's food chain...

Biotechnology's newest chemical tool

Exploiting biology's own chemical toolbox, researchers have developed a new technique that will allow them to modify specific sequences within a DNA molecule. The approach will not only help reveal the impact of biochemical alterations to DNA, but could have far-reaching implications for DNA-based medical diagnosis and nanobiotechnology. Combining chemistry with biotechnology, Saulius Kl...

Biotechnology's newest chemical tool

Funded by the Future and Emerging Technologies initiative of the IST programme, the CYBERHAND project aims to hard wire this hand into the nervous system, allowing sensory feedback from the hand to reach the brain, and instructions to come from the brain to control the hand, at least in part. Coordinated by Professor Paolo Dario with Professor Maria Chiara Carrozza leading the development...

Chemical compound inhibits tumor growth, size in new mouse study

Penn State food scientists have shown that the amount of health-linked polyphenols present during roasting or baking influences the toasty aroma developed by oats and might be used to limit the generation of off-flavors in oat products. Polyphenols are a large family of naturally occurring plant components that have been associated with a wide variety of health benefits. Flavonoids and so...

Sea slug mixes chemical defense before firing at predators

When threatened by predators, sea slugs defend themselves by ejecting a potent inky secretion into the water consisting of hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and several types of acids. A team of researchers with the Atlanta-based Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) has found that this secretion is produced from normally inert chemicals stored separately in two glands. The discovery, published in th...

Bacteria that cause tooth decay able to survive without important biochemical pathway

Leave it to the bacteria that cause tooth decay to be able to live without something all cells were thought to require. Scientists have long believed a certain biochemical pathway involved in the folding and delivery of proteins to cell membranes is essential for survival. Now University of Florida researchers have discovered that Streptococcus mutans, the decay-causing organism that thri...

UCR environmental scientists propose chemical solution to cleaning California's Salton Sea

UC Riverside scientists are able to improve water quality by 90 percent in the rivers flowing into the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California, by using two kinds of water-treatment chemicals that remove phosphorus and silt from the river water. The researchers investigated the use of alum, a type of salt that has been used to treat phosphorus-rich lakes for decades. They also cleaned...

T-rays: New imaging technology spotlighted by American Chemical Society

T-ray sensing and imaging technology, which can spot cracks in space shuttle foam, see biological agents through a sealed envelope and detect tumors without harmful radiation, was the focus of a recent symposium at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Charles A....

Chemical warfare agent detection technology used to treat lung disease

A new technique based on the same technology used to detect chemical warfare agents and explosives is being employed by scientists at The University of Manchester to treat hospital patients with lung disease. The microDMx<supe...

Pittsburgh researchers discover that certain chemicals in the blood may indicate brain injury

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh have found that increased levels of certain proteins in the blood or spinal fluid may signal brain injury in infants with vomiting, fussiness and several other common symptoms. Infants with shaken baby syndrome (SBS) ?the most common cause of severe traumatic brain injuries in young children ?are often misdiagnosed because doctors rarely re...

Chemical guidance of T cells leads to immunologic memory and long-term immunity

In the latest issue of the journal Nature, scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) describe a new understanding about how long-term immunity works--findings that may lead to new ways of thinking about how to enhance certain immune responses and how to improve vaccines. Led by immunologist Ronald Germain, M.D...

Chemical signaling helps regulate sensory map formation in the brain

Researchers from the University of Chicago have uncovered an important mechanism used by the developing brain to pattern nerve connections in the part of the brain that interprets visual signals. In the process, they have provided the first experimental evidence for a decades-old model of how nerve cells establish distant connections in a way that can consistently relay spatial information....

Chemical in many air fresheners may reduce lung function

New research shows that a chemical compound found in many air fresheners, toilet bowl cleaners, mothballs and other deodorizing products, may be harmful to the lungs. Human population studies at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a part of the National Institutes of Health, found that exposure to a volatile organic compound (VOC), called 1,4 dichlorobenzene (1,4 DCB)...

Hopkins researchers develop new tool to watch real-time chemical activity in cells

Attempts to identify potential drugs that interfere with the action of one particular enzyme linked to heart disease and similar health problems led scientists at Johns Hopkins to create a new tool and new experimental approach that allow them to see multiple, real-time chemical reactions in living cells. Their report on the work is published July 21 in the journal ACS Chemical Biology. <p...

Pleasure and pain: Study shows brain's 'pleasure chemical' is involved in response to pain too

For years, the brain chemical dopamine has been thought of as the brain's "pleasure chemical," sending signals between brain cells in a way that rewards a person or animal for one activity or another. More recently, research has shown that certain drugs like cocaine and heroin amplify this effect ?an action that may lie at the heart of drug addiction. Now, a new study from the University...

A natural chemical found in strawberries boosts memory in healthy mice

Mothers have long exhorted their children to eat their fruit and vegetables. But once kids are beyond mom's watchful eye, the hated greens often go the way of Barbie dolls and power rangers. Now, there's another reason to reach for colorful fruits past adolescence. Fisetin, a naturally occurring flavonoid commonly found in strawberries and other fruits and vegetables, stimulates signaling...

Chemical tests of cell growth enter third dimension

Ohio State University researchers have developed two new technologies for measuring cell growth in the laboratory. The first patent-pending technology provides a way for researchers to easily tell if cancer cells in the laboratory are responding to an anti-cancer drug. The second -- because it tests several sets of cells at once -- allows for the simultaneous testing of different dosages,...

A silent pandemic: Industrial chemicals are impairing the brain development of children worldwide

Fetal and early childhood exposures to industrial chemicals in the environment can damage the developing brain and can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs)--autism, attention deficit disorder (ADHD), and mental retardation. Still, there has been insufficient research done to identify the individual chemicals that can cause injury to the developing brains of children. In a new revie...

Chemicals in brown algae may protect against skin cancer

Substances extracted from a marine seaweed may protect against skin cancer caused by too much sun, new research suggests. UVB radiation in sunlight is thought responsible f...

New sensor detects gaseous chemical weapon surrogates in 45 seconds

Using lasers and tuning forks, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a chemical weapon agent sensing technique that promises to meet or exceed current and emerging defense and homeland security chemical detection requirements. The technique, called Quartz Laser Photo-Acoustic Sensing, or "QPAS," is now ready for prototyping and field testing. PNNL, a Departm...

Chemical switch triggers critical cell activities

The freeze-frame image of a molecular relay race, in which one enzyme passes off a protein like a baton to another enzyme, has solved a key mystery to how cells control some vital functions, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A report on this work appears in the January 14 advanced online publication issue of Nature. The St. Jude discovery explains how a...

Scripps research team discovers a chemical pathway that causes mice to overeat and gain weight

The Scripps Research team, led by neuroscientists Manuel Sanchez-Alavez and Tamas Bartfai, discovered that mice genetically altered to lack a molecule known as the EP3 receptor tend to be more active during their normal sleep cycle and to eat more. In the study, this led to weight increases of up to 30 percent relative to mice with the receptors. The EP3 receptor is one of four types of r...

Bisexual fruit flies show new role for neurochemical

Fruit flies' ability to discern one sex from another may depend on the number of receptors on the surface of nerve cells, and the number of receptors is controlled by levels of a ubiquitous brain chemical, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have found. Everything from the ability to concentrate, perceive and learn to debilitating illnesses such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,...

Scientists uncover link between ocean's chemical processes and microscopic floating plants

Scientists have discovered that increased levels of ocean acidity and carbon dioxide concentrations have resulted in unexpected changes in oceanic chemical processes. Their research results are published in the March 7, 2007, issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Oliver Wingenter of New Mexico Tech and his colleagues conducted a month-long field experiment. The researchers sim...

Enhancing activity of marijuana-like chemicals in brain helps treat

Marijuana-like chemicals in the brain may point to a treatment for the debilitating condition of Parkinson's disease. In a study to be published in the Feb. 8 issue of Nature, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine report that endocannabinoids, naturally occurring chemicals found in the brain that are similar to the active compounds in marijuana and hashish, helped trig...

Beyond the DNA: Chemical signatures reveal genetic switches in the genome

Investigators from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have made a breakthrough in identifying functional elements in the human genome, according to a report published online today in Nature Genetics. While the DNA sequence can identify genes (the 'what') within the genome, it cannot answer the more fundamen...