Life Sciences and Chemistry

Using a specially designed robotic microscope to study cultured cells, researchers have found evidence that abnormal protein clumps called inclusion bodies in neurons from people with Huntington’s disease (HD) prevent cell death. The finding helps to resolve a longstanding debate about the role of these inclusion bodies in HD and other disorders and may help investigators find effective treatments for these diseases. The study was funded primarily by the NIH’s National Institute of Ne

Researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), in Portugal, have taken a major step forward in understanding one of the fundamental questions in the field of developmental biology today: how the organs are placed in their correct positions in the body. In a study published in the 1st October issue of the journal Genes and Development, the scientists describe, for the first time, the role of the gene Cerl-2 (Cerberus-like-2), in setting up the asymmetric distribution of organs in the

Study suggests host environment is the critical factor in aneurysm formation

When it comes to abdominal aortic aneurysms – life-threatening bulges or weak areas in the main artery feeding blood to the lower half of the body – new research shows that it is definitely better to be female. During 2000, about 11,000 people in the United States died from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Eighty percent of these aneurysms, which doctors call AAAs for short, occur in men. Scienti

New findings explaining the complicated process by which the “energy substations” of human cells split apart and recombine may lay the groundwork for new treatment approaches to a wide range of diseases, including some cancers and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Researchers from The Johns Hopkins University’s Integrated Imaging Center; the University of California, Davis; and the California Institute of Technology collaborated on

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reveals why red blood cells from people with sickle cell disease are stickier than healthy red cells, pointing the way to potential new treatments for sickle cell disease. The study shows that a protein found on the surface of immature red blood cells, or reticulocytes, is responsible for those cells’ adhesion to blood vessel walls.

Reticulocytes are found at considerably higher levels in the blood of sickle

Understanding how the body’s immune system recognises and responds to microorganisms can be a major step in the development of new therapies against infectious diseases. Towards this aim, a paper just released in the October issue of Embo reports1 discusses the process used by mammals to respond to bacteria such as Helicobacter pylori, Listeria monocytogenes and Streptococcus pneumoniae which are responsible for ulcers, Listeriosis and pneumonia, respectively.
In order to protect aga