The very unexpected life and death of a leukemic cell
B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an incurable disease in which cells in the bone marrow grow and survive to the point where they become abnormal and malignant (leukemic). The progression of the disease is slow and there has been a lack of information regarding the rate of production of CLL cells, and the time-course of their death. For years, doctors and scientists believed th...Unexpected lock and key mechanism found for the assembly of tumor blood vessels
A critical lock and key mechanism that allows the final step in the completion of new blood vessel formation has been identified by a University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine team in research that promises to lead to a new way to halt tumor growth by cutting off the tumor blood supply. The research team led by Judith Varner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at UC...Retina adapts to seek the unexpected, ignore the commonplace
Researchers at Harvard University have found evidence that the retina actively seeks novel features in the visual environment, dynamically adjusting its processing in order to seek the unusual while ignoring the commonplace. The scientists report in this week's issue of the journal Nature on their finding that this principle of novelty-detection operates in many visual environments. "Appar...UF scientist finds unexpected link between cat and human AIDS viruses
Emerging relationships between the two viruses could one day lead to a vaccine for human A University of Florida researcher has discovered an unexpected link between the viruses that cause feline and human AIDS: Cats vaccinated with an experimental strain of the human AIDS virus appear to be at least as well-protected against the feline version of the disease as those immunized with the v...Enzyme crystal structure reveals 'unexpected' genome repair functions
The study is being published in an advance online version of the journal Molecular Cell. The research looked at XPB helicase from an archaea, a single cell organism similar to bacteria. Helicases are enzymes that unwind or separate the strands of the nucleic acid double helix, an action that is critical to transcription and nucleotide excision repair (NER), as well as other cell processes...Study explains unexpected conductivity of nanoscale silicon
When graduate student Pengpeng Zhang successfully imaged a piece of silicon just 10 nanometers-or a millionth of a centimeter-in thickness, she and her UW-Madison co-researchers were puzzled. According to established thinking, the feat should be impossible because her microscopy method required samples that conduct electricity. "After she did it, we realized, 'Hey, this silicon layer is...