Early in Biological News

Cancer's distinctive pattern of gene expression could aid early screening and prevention

AUGUSTA, Ga. Distinctive patterns of genes turned off or left on in healthy versus cancerous cells could enable early screening for many common cancers and maybe help avoid them, Medical College of Georgia scientists say. Researchers are comparing chemical alterations, called DNA methylatio...

PNNL scientist garners early career presidential award

RICHLAND, Wash. -- A computational mathematician at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award honors his research on subsurface flow that addresses past and future energy needs...

2 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists receive Presidential Early Career Award

SEATTLE President Obama today announced that two Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center investigators have been awarded the nation's highest honor for scientists at the beginning of their independent research careers. Basic scientist Harmit Singh Malik, Ph.D., and cancer-prevention researcher Ulr...

Explosive growth of life on Earth fueled by early greening of planet

TEMPE, Ariz. Earth's 4.5-billion-year history is filled with several turning points when temperatures changed dramatically, asteroids bombarded the planet and life forms came and disappeared. But one of the biggest moments in Earth's lifetime is the Cambrian explosion of life, roughly 540 million...

First direct evidence of substantial fish consumption by early modern humans in China

Freshwater fish are an important part of the diet of many peoples around the world, but it has been unclear when fish became an important part of the year-round diet for early humans. A new study by an international team of researchers, including Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., professor of anthropolog...

Complications early in pregnancy or in previous pregnancies adversely affect existing or subsequent pregnancies

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Complications in early pregnancy or in previous pregnancies can predict the likelihood of further problems in current or subsequent pregnancies, according to research carried out by an international group of experts. Their findings will help clinicians to predict mor...

Study shows Chronix technology using serum DNA can identify early presence of disease

San Jose, California, June 23, 2009 Chronix Biomedical today reported that a new study in a peer-reviewed journal further confirms the potential diagnostic and prognostic utility of using circulating fragments of DNA to detect early stage disease. These DNA fragments, referred to as serum DNA, a...

Major breakthrough in early detection and prevention of AMD

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 15, 2009) A team of researchers led by Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati at the University of Kentucky has discovered a biological marker for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in older adults. The marker, a receptor known as CCR3, show...

New early detection studies of lung cancer in non-smokers launched today

Government and private sector cancer scientists today launched a research partnership to find biomarkers for lung cancer that develops in people who have never smoked. The research studies are designed to create a better understanding of the biology of lung cancer and to develop a test to detect e...

Personalized treatment for early lung cancer

Cancer vaccines and targeted therapies are beginning to offer new treatment options following surgery for patients with early stages of lung cancer, experts said at the first European Multidisciplinary Conference in Thoracic Oncology (EMCTO) in Lugano, Switzerland (1-3 May 2009). "Personalizing...

Google Earth aids discovery of early African mammal fossils

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A limestone countertop, a practiced eye and Google Earth all played roles in the discovery of a trove of fossils that may shed light on the origins of African wildlife. The circuitous and serendipitous story, featuring University of Michigan paleontologists Philip Gingerich, ...

Two innovative University of Texas at Austin biologists become HHMI Early Career Scientists

AUSTIN, Texas Two University of Texas at Austin biologists join 50 of the nation's best early career science faculty to focus on their boldest and potentially transformative research ideas with support from a new initiative from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). As Early Career Scien...

Two Hutchinson Center researchers named HHMI Early Career Scientists

SEATTLE The Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute today announced that two researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are among 50 scientists nationwide to be appointed HHMI Early Career Scientists. Harmit Singh Malik, Ph.D., an associate member of the Center's Basic Sciences Div...

Peter Baumann named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist

Stowers Institute Associate Investigator Peter Baumann, Ph.D., has been named an Early Career Scientist with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). HHMI appointments are among the most competitive and highly sought distinctions in biomedical research. Dr. Baumann and his team will contin...

Whitehead member Peter Reddien named HHMI Early Career Scientist

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 26, 2009) The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has awarded Whitehead Member Peter Reddien an Early Career Scientist appointment, a six-year funded position that allows him to his pursue innovative biomedical research. "I am thrilled to receive the HHMI Early Caree...

Deep-sea rocks point to early oxygen on Earth

Red jasper cored from layers 3.46 billion years old suggests that not only did the oceans contain abundant oxygen then, but that the atmosphere was as oxygen rich as it is today, according to geologists. This jasper or hematite-rich chert formed in ways similar to the way this rock forms around...

Study to evaluate success of parental involvement in early childhood education

New classrooms will open this fall in the Houston area with an added element: the parents will be students as well. The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $2.6 million, four-year grant to The University of Texas Health Science Center's Children's Learning Institute (CLI) to combine two...

International study identifies gene variants associated with early heart attack

The largest study ever completed of genetic factors associated with heart attacks has identified nine genetic regions three not previously described that appear to increase the risk for early-onset myocardial infarction. The report from the Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium, based on in...

Plant soybean early to increase yield

MADISON, WI, February 2, 2009 -- Over the past decade, two-thirds of Indiana growers have shifted to planting their soybean crop earlier because they believe that earlier planting increases yield. Planting date is probably one of the most important yet least expensive management decisions that sig...

JCI online early table of contents: Jan. 19, 2009

EDITOR'S PICK: Fetal heath affected by mother's diet In the United States, there has been a recent dramatic rise in the number of children classified as obese and diagnosed with obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). One factor thought ...

Dirty snow causes early runoff in Cascades, Rockies

RICHLAND, Wash. -- Soot from pollution causes winter snowpacks to warm, shrink and warm some more. This continuous cycle sends snowmelt streaming down mountains as much as a month early, a new study finds. How pollution affects a mountain range's natural water reservoirs is important for water res...

Genetic variation may lead to early cardiovascular disease

Researchers from Duke University Medical Center have identified a variation in a particular gene that increases susceptibility to early coronary artery disease. For years, scientists have known that the devastating, early-onset form of the disease was inherited, but they knew little about the gene...

Newly found enzymes may play early role in cancer

SALT LAKE CITYResearchers have discovered two enzymes that, when combined, could be involved in the earliest stages of cancer. Manipulating these enzymes genetically might lead to targeted therapies aimed at slowing or preventing the onset of tumors. "We could conceivably reactivate a complet...

Haag honored with Presidential Early Career Scientists Award

Washington, DC U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) Fisheries Research Biologist Wendell Haag, Ph.D., received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers during a ceremony today at the White House. Haag was among the nearly 70 scientists and engineers receivin...

Water in the early universe

This release is available in German . A research group led by graduate student Violette Impellizzeri from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy has used the 100 m Effelsberg radio telescope to detect water at the greatest distance from Earth so far. The water vapour was discovered i...

Study: Did early climate impact divert a new glacial age?

SAN FRANCISCO The common wisdom is that the invention of the steam engine and the advent of the coal-fueled industrial age marked the beginning of human influence on global climate. But gathering physical evidence, backed by powerful simulations on the world's most advanced computer climate mo...

Baby talk: The roots of the early vocabulary in infants' learning from speech

Although babies typically start talking around 12 months of age, their brains actually begin processing certain aspects of language much earlier, so that by the time they start talking, babies actually already know hundreds of words. While studying language acquisition in infants can be a challeng...

Global Viral Forecasting Initiative receives $11M to implement pandemic early warning system

The Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI), a nonprofit research initiative dedicated to preventing pandemics, has received $11 million dollars from Google.org and The Skoll Foundation. The support, which includes $5.5 million dollars from each organization, represents the largest grant to dat...

Reproducing early and often is the key to rapid evolution in plants

New Haven, Conn. Yale researchers have harnessed the power of 21st century computing to confirm an idea first proposed in 1916 that plants with rapid reproductive cycles evolve faster. Their findings appear in the October 3rd edition of Science . "Our study has profound consequence for the u...

Stevens strengthens Dominican Republic's Early Warning System for Inundations

HOBOKEN, N.J. Stevens Institute of Technology's Center for Maritime Systems began a project to strengthen the Early Warning System (EWS) for Inundations in the Dominican Republic. The project is focused on developing the technology of DR's EWS and providing the most up-to-date equipment to improv...

Stem cells may solve mystery of early pregnancy breast cancer protection

The answer to why an early pregnancy seems to protect against breast cancer could rest with a decrease in stem cells found after animals have given birth, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Stem Cell. Women who have chil...

A home early warning system for cardiac patients

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in Europe and early diagnosis is essential to save lives. Monitoring the heart's rhythm and electrical activity in real time using an electrocardiogram (ECG) provides vital information about abnormalities and gives clues to the nature of a problem. S...

Air-purifying church windows early nanotechnology

Stained glass windows that are painted with gold purify the air when they are lit up by sunlight, a team of Queensland University of Technology experts have discovered. Associate Professor Zhu Huai Yong, from QUT's School of Physical and Chemical Sciences said that glaziers in medieval forges w...

Clemson bioengineer wins prestigious Early Career Award

CLEMSON Ning Zhang, assistant professor of bioengineering at Clemson University and the CU-MUSC Bioengineering Program, has received the prestigious 2008 Early Career Translational Research Award from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. The foundation judged Zhang's research on an injectable hy...

Newly discovered molecular switch helps decide cell type in early embryo development

CINCINNATI Researchers have discovered a central molecular switch in fruit fly embryos that opens new avenues for studying the causes of birth defects and cancer in humans. Writing about their study in the Aug. 12 Developmental Cell, scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center d...

Multiple Sclerosis: new MRI contrast medium enables early diagnosis in animal model

In an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), neuroradiologists and neurologists of the University hospitals of Heidelberg and Wrzburg have been able to visualize inflammatory tissue damage, most of which had remained unrecognized up to now, with the aid of a new contrast medium, Gadofluorine M, ...

Alcohol binges early in pregnancy increase risk of infant oral clefts

A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that pregnant women who binge drink early in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral clefts. The researchers f...

Study: Future snowmelt in West twice as early as expected; threatens ecosystems and water reserves

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - According to a new study, global warming could lead to larger changes in snowmelt in the western United States than was previously thought, possibly increasing wildfire risk and creating new water management challenges for agriculture, ecosystems and urban populations. Re...

Embryo biopsy does not affect early growth and risk of congenital malformations in PGD/PGS babies

This release is also available in Spanish . Barcelona, Spain: A study of 70 singleton babies born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis and screening has shown that the procedure does not adversely affect their early growth and risk of congenital malformations. The lead researcher, ...

Researchers link early stem cell mutation to autism

La Jolla, Calif., June 30, 2008--In a breakthrough scientific study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have shown that neural stem cell development may be linked to Autism. The study demonstrated that m...