Life Sciences and Chemistry

Contrary to long-held scientific views that the number of oocytes (eggs) in the ovaries of most mammals is fixed at birth, scientists report that new oocyte-containing follicles continue to develop in the ovaries of adult mice. The research suggests that these new oocytes come from stem cells located in the ovary. The study, supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the National Institutes of Health, was conducted by Jonathan L. Tilly, Ph.D., and colleagues at Massachusetts General H

Scientists have identified a gene in mice that is necessary for normal brain development and may contribute to the most common form of primary brain tumors in children.

Dr. Valeri Vasioukhin and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have discovered that a gene known as “lethal giant larvae 1” (a.k.a. Lgl1) plays a critical role in shaping cell behavior during embryonic brain development. Lgl1 was initially identified in the fruit fly Drosophila, where it regulates cell po

Scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and the Montreal Proteomics Network at McGill University have published the most complete picture to date of the components of the molecular machinery that controls the entry of nutrients and other molecules into cells. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS), Dr. Peter McPherson and colleagues used proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins, to identify the protein complement of clathrin-coat

The new technique provide support for cartilage cells as they regenerate new cartilage tissue

Duke biomedical engineers have developed a technique to use a natural polymer to fill in and protect cartilage wounds within joints, and to provide supportive scaffolding for new cartilage growth. Their advance offers a potential solution for a central problem in generating new cartilage: providing a support for cartilage cells as they regenerate cartilage tissue.

In tests on rabbit

Common scientific wisdom is that inherited disease results when a mutated protein communicates a defective message in the cell. That does not explain how similar mutations in proteins result in different severities of diseases.

The answer may be found in the messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid), said Dr. James Lupski, professor of molecular and human genetics and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and colleagues in a report that appears online in Nature Genetics on March 8, 2004.

OHSU researchers show brain anatomy, hormone production may be cause

Researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine have confirmed that a male sheep’s preference for same-sex partners has biological underpinnings.

A study published in the February issue of the journal Endocrinology demonstrates that not only are certain groups of cells different between genders in a part of the sheep brain controlling sexual behavior, but brain anatomy and horm