Life Sciences and Chemistry

Purdue scientists have made an important biological molecule “swing,” in work that might clarify the process by which proteins fold as well as lead to new approaches to drug development and computer memory.

Using lasers to initiate and probe the folding process, a group including chemist Timothy Zwier have precisely determined the energies needed to twist tryptamine, a molecule with several flexible “hinges” that bears a close resemblance to an amino acid, the basis of proteins. Understandin

Procedure requires no immune suppression drugs

An experimental cross-species transplant to treat diabetes has passed an early test in rats with better-than-expected results, suggesting the innovative approach might halt type 1 diabetes while greatly reducing the risk of rejection.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis set up control and experimental groups of rats with diabetes. The experimental group received embryonic pig pancreas cell transpl

NHGRI-supported centers also to target more insects, worms and fungi

The Large-Scale Sequencing Research Network this year will begin sequencing the genomes of more than a dozen new model organisms, including the first marsupial to have its DNA deciphered. The research network, supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is part of an effort to further advance understanding of the human genome.

The effort

Provides new look at conservation of threatened coral species

An international research team has identified a family of corals found only in the Atlantic Ocean-a first for such classifications in that ocean-in a study that could transform how corals are viewed and classified. The scientists, who will publish their results in the Feb. 26 issue of the journal Nature, say the findings are also important for future decisions about coral conservation and the preservation of threatened biod

Scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a protein that blocks HIV replication in monkey cells. Humans have a similar protein, although it is not as effective at stopping HIV, say the researchers whose work is published in this week’s issue of Nature. The team, headed by Joseph Sodroski, M.D., is supported by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

“Identification of this HIV-blocking factor opens new avenues for intervening in the ear

A single gene has been discovered that helps plants cope with stressful situations such as disease or poor environments – according to a report published in Nature, 26 February 2004.

Scientists at the universities of Bristol and Oxford isolated and characterised the gene called OXI1 from thale cress, a common roadside weed. OXI1 boosts the plant’s ability to stop fungal infection from spreading, and helps roots to grow despite poor conditions.

Dr Claire Grierson from Bristol