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Emory Eye Center Implants Its First Retinal Chips In Patients With Retinitis Pigmentosa

An expanded clinical trial conducted by Optobionics Corporation involving the implantation of a retina mircrochip has allowed Emory Eye Center and the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research & Development Center to implant the device in several patients. The patients all have retinitis pigmentosa with moderate-to-severe vision loss. Three centers in the United States have been chosen...

Plant hemoglobins: Oxygen handlers critical for nitrogen fixation

Hemoglobins, key components of our blood, are ancient proteins with well-known roles in oxygen transport and respiration in animals. Hemoglobins are also present in plants and bacteria, but until now the physiological role of plant hemoglobins has been unclear. A group of researchers reveal this week that one such mysterious plant hemoglobin serves to assist in the fixation of nitrogen in the roo...

NIAID Initiates Trial of Experimental Avian Flu Vaccine

Fast-track recruitment has begun for a trial to investigate the safety of a vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today. Sites in Rochester, NY, Baltimore and Los Angeles will enroll a total of 450 healthy adults. The clinical sites are part of the NIAID-sponsored V...

The BIOS Initiative - open source biotechnology is born

In a publication today in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature, a team at CAMBIA in Canberra unveils the 'kernel' of the world's first 'explicit open source' biotechnolog...

Research Using Mouse Models Reveals A Novel Key Player In The Initiation Of Colon Cancer

Gastric and colorectal cancers account for more than 1 million deaths worldwide every year and several research groups have been working to identify the molecular events that result in the initiation and progression of these tumors. It has been established that interfering with the function of one gene, called Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) has a profound effect on the cells lining the innermos...

Kinovate Life Sciences Launches Nittophase?High Performance Solid Support For Oligonucleatide Synthesis

Kinovate Life Sciences, Inc, a provider of tools for oligonucleotide synthesis and gene delivery, announced today that it will officially launch its new NittoPhase?solid support for oligonucleotide synthesis at the TIDES meeting commencing in Boston on May 1st. The joint development of this solid phase support product was announced on November 8th, 2004 by Kinovate’s sole shareholder, Nitto Denko...

New Insights Into HIV Immunity Suggest Alternative Approach to Vaccines

New insights by Duke University Medical Center researchers as to how HIV evades the human immune system may offer a new approach for developing HIV vaccines. The findings suggest some HIV vaccines may have failed because they induce a class of antibodies that a patient's own immune system is programmed to destroy. The Duke team discovered that certain broadly protective antibodies, which...

DuPont's first biologically derived polymer receives global recognition

DuPont's newest polymer innovation, the first DuPont polymer derived from a biological source, has been recognized by the China State Intellectual Property Office and China Central Television (CCTV) as "Most Visionary Innovation" at a recent award ceremony. will receive the 2005 "New Technologies in Re...

Not-for-profit publishers call NIH public access rule a missed opportunity

The final National Institutes of Health (NIH) rule on Enhanced Public Access to NIH Research Information is wasteful of federal research dollars and a missed opportunity to take advantage of...

Alaskan puzzles, monitoring provide insight about North Pacific salmon runs

The University of Washington Alaska Salmon Program, the world's longest-running effort to monitor salmon and their ecosystems, has received nearly $2.4 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to expand its sampling scope and sophistication. The Alaska-based program has applications for Pacific salmon all along the West Coast, providing insights into the fluctuating fortunes of s...

Alzheimer's cognitive decline slowed

PET scans and cognitive tests have suggested that Alzheimer's disease patients with genetically modified tissue inserted directly into their brains show a reduction in the rate of cognitive decline and increased metabolic activity in the brain, according to a study published in the April 24, 2005 online issue of the journal Nature Medicine by researchers at the University of California, San Diego...

Anammox bacteria produce nitrogen gas in oceans' snackbar

Thirty to fifty percent of the global conversion of nutrients to nitrogen gas occurs in these areas. In 'The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States (PNAS)' of Tuesday 19 April, researchers from Bremen and Nijmegen state that this conversion is not carried out by denitrifying bacteria, as was believed for decades, but by anammox bacteria. Nitrogen compounds act as fert...

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...

PHACCS, an online tool for estimating the structure and diversity of uncultured viral communities using metagenomic information

In the March 3 issue of Nature, Johns Hopkins researchers report that two proteins best known for very different activities actually come together to turn the liver into a sugar-producing factory when food is scarce. Because the liver's production of sugar is a damaging problem in people with diabetes, the proteins' interaction might be a target for future drugs to fight the disease, the research...

Bee mites suppress bee immunity, open door for viruses and bacteria

A non-native bee mite is causing the dramatic and sudden collapse of bee colonies across the country, but Penn State researchers believe they have found the combination of factors that triggers colony deaths which includes suppression of the bee immune system by the mites. The Varroa destructor mite is a honey bee parasite that feeds much like a tick on the body of a bee. The mites are ab...

Community MRSA is re-emergence of 1950s pandemic, study suggests

An early type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that caused a global epidemic of infections in the 1950s has re-emerged as one of the community-acquired MRSA 'superbugs', according to a study published in The Lancet tomorrow (Saturday 2 April 2005). This "re-equipping and re-emergence" of a clone that caused a pandemic 40-50 years ago could mean that community acquired MRSA will spread fast...

Research on antibiotics receives historical recognition

Research leading to the discovery of streptomycin ?the first effective pharmaceutical treatment for tuberculosis ?will be designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark at Rutgers University in a special ceremony in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on May 24. The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, sponsors the landmarks program. Beginning in the 1930s, Selman Wa...

Green catalyst destroys pesticides and munitions toxins, finds Carnegie Mellon University

Results reported at American Chemical Society meetingA chemical catalyst developed at Carnegie Mellon University completely destroys dangerous nitrophenols in laboratory tests, according to Arani Chanda, a doctoral student who is presenting his findings on Sunday, Aug. 28, at the 230th meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, D.C. (Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemi...

New insight into autoimmune disease: Bacterial infections promote recognition of self-glycolipids

The immune system is a complex and powerful weapon that provides protection against bacteria and viruses that, if left unchecked, would wreak havoc throughout the human body. The ability of the immune system to recognize the body's own tissues is essential, but sometimes the immune system loses the ability to distinguish "self" from potentially harmful invaders. This can lead to autoimmune diseas...

Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative funds Yale project

Yale has been offered $17 million from the Grand Challenges in Global health initiative to genetically engineer mice with immune systems similar enough to humans to aid in testing the safety and effectiveness of potential vaccines. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Yale project will be headed by Richard A. Flavell, M.D., Sterling Professor and Chair of Immunobiology at...

High-dose flu vaccines appear to safely boost immunity in elderly

High-dose influenza vaccines may increase elderly patients' immune response without significant adverse effects, offering this vulnerable population additional protection against the flu, according to an article in the May 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Vaccines containing inactivated influenza virus have been available for 50 years to prevent...

MERIS monitoring tracks planetary photosynthesis levels

Daily multispectral observations from Envisat's MERIS sensor are being combined with a sophisticated processing algorithm and powerful Grid computing to reveal global photosynthesis activity on land. This permits researchers to trace the state of health of terrestrial plant cover, identifying areas under stress and assessing damage from drought or fires. An algorithm developed by the Europ...

Researchers predict infinite genomes

TIGR scientists probe new pan-genome But scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) have come to a startling conclusion. Armed with the powerful tools of comparative g...

Marine bacterium suspected to play role in global carbon and nitrogen cycles

Scientists successfully grow 'dwarf belonging to the sea' in laboratoryScientists are now revisiting, and perhaps revising, their thinking about how Archaea, an ancient kingdom of single-celled microorganisms, are involved in maintaining the global balance of nitrogen and carbon. Researchers have discovered the first Archaea known to oxidize ammonia for energy and metabolize carbon dioxide by su...

Several minute intermediate stage in virus-cell fusion discovered; opportunity for drug development

To ignite a life-threatening infection in the body, a virus such as HIV invades body cells by first merging, or fusing, with the cell's outer membrane. Once inside the cell, the invading microbe's genetic material takes over, turning the 'host' cell into a factory to produce more copies of the virus, which then spill out to invade other cells in the body. Scientists had assumed that once a...

A Father’s Day Gift: Free DNA Paternity Testing

Vast genetic resources ?"blue gold" on the international deep sea floor ?need protection from unfettered commercial exploitation, warns a new report from the Japan-based United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Increasingly recognized as important to humankind for their potential medical and other uses, deep sea resources are now more accessible and vulnerable th...

Carnegie Mellon cyLab researchers work to develop new red tide monitoring

Carnegie Mellon CyLab computer scientist Yang Cai is working with NASA's Earth-Sun System Technology Office (ESTO), the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop new software for detecting and tracking toxic algae plaguing North American waters. "We are developing software that will monitor dangerous algae and various bioch...

Brain networks change according to cognitive task

Using a newly released method to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Northwestern University researchers have demonstrated that the interconnections between different parts of the brain are dynamic and not static. This and other findings answer longstanding debates about how brain networks operate to solve different cognitive tasks. They are presented in the current (June 1) iss...

Firefly protein lets researchers monitor molecule linked to cancer

Scientists have used a glowing protein from fireflies to observe the activity of a molecule that is an important target for new drugs to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases and several other disorders. The target molecule, known as IKK (for IKappa kinase), regulates processes that can trigger dramatic changes in cellular physiology. Scientists have linked these changes to many different diso...

Short-term Bio Sensors Monitor From Afar

A new study reveals critical molecular events in the origin of fat cells. The findings are central to understanding chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, as fat cells produce hormones critical for metabolic control, the researchers said. The study finds that a hormonal cocktail routinely used in the lab induces a key genetic switch in the transition from fat-cell precursors to fu...

Bronx Zoo bears are new Samsonite gorillas

Grizzly bears give bear canister for campers a real testIn a scene reminiscent of the famous Samsonite luggage commercial when a gorilla puts the product's durability to the test, grizzly bears at the Bronx Zoo gave a bear-proof food canister designed for backpackers a real beating, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). But in spite of their best efforts, the bears could not open...

Hand sanitizer gel works

Randomized trial finds reduced spread of GI infections in families with children in day careUsing an alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel significantly reduces the spread of gastrointestinal infections in the home, according to a study in the September issue of Pediatrics. In a study of 292 Greater Boston families -- half of which were given hand sanitizer -- those that used the gel had a 59 percent...

Tropical dry forests receive international recognition

When most people think of tropical forests, rainforests immediately come to mind. But they are not the only kind under threat--the tropical dry forest is in as much danger as its popular cousin yet its grave situation continues to be ignored. Dr. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa is hoping to change that. Sanchez-Azofeifa is the director of the newly formed TROPI-DRY, a research network on tropica...

Yale participates in global human genome initiative

Yale is a founding member of the Genome-Wide RNAi Global Initiative, an alliance of top international biomedical research centers formed to speed scientific and medical discoveries that target genes of the entire human genome. The initiative is sponsored by , manufacturer of the first complete human genome siRNA library, or compilation of sho...

Software might revolutionize glucose monitoring in critically ill patients

Researchers have developed a new computerized system to easilymonitor the levels of glucose in the blood of patients in intensivecare. A study published today in the open access journal BMC MedicalInformatics and Decision Making reports that GRIP, a computersoftware that assists in the monitoring of glucose levels incritically ill patients, saves nurses time and effort and is moreefficient...

'Perception' gene tracked humanity's evolution, scientists say

A gene thought to influence perception and susceptibility to drug dependence is expressed more readily in human beings than in other primates, and this difference coincides with the evolution of our species, say scientists at Indiana University Bloomington and three other academic institutions. Their report appears in the December issue of Public Library of Science Biology. The gene encod...

Navigating the brain for sense of direction as paradigm for higher cognitive functions

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...

Scientists directly view immune cells interacting to avert autoimmunity

Using a new form of microscopy to penetrate living lymph nodes, UCSF scientists have for the first time viewed immune cells at work, helping clarify how T cells control autoimmunity. The technique, known as two-photon laser-scanning microscopy, was able to focus deep within the lymph node of a diabetic mouse, allowing the researchers to show that immune cells known as T regulatory, or Tre...

HIV accessory protein disables host immunity via receptor-protein intermediary

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that an HIV-1 accessory protein called Vpr destroys the host cell's ability to survive by binding to a host receptor. This, in turn, keeps an important enzyme from activating the cell's immune system. These findings refine an earlier understanding of Vpr HIV pathogenesis and imply new approaches to treating AIDS, inflamma...

Light activated anticancer drug targeted to DNA using cisplatin like sub-units

One of the most effective chemotherapy drugs against cancer is cisplatin because it attaches to cancer DNA and disrupts repair. However, it also kills healthy tissue. Many scientists are creating alternative drugs or cisplatin analogs in attempts to find treatments without side effects. One approach to analog development is light activated drugs, or photodynamic therapy (PDT). Now a Virginia Tech...