Life Sciences

Scientists with the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA were able to produce from human embryonic stem cells a highly pure, large quantity of functioning neurons that will allow them to create models of and study diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, prefrontal dementia and schizophrenia. Researchers previously had been able to produce neurons - the impulse-conducting cells in the brain and spinal cord - from human embryonic stem cells. However, the percentage of neurons in the cell culture was not high and the neurons were difficult to isolate from the other cells. UCLA…

Many common diseases exhibit gender bias and gender differences have been observed in the development of high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart (cardiovascular) disease. Previous studies have reported that gender may affect vascular physiology and the body’s response to some types of blood pressure medications. Although gender is usually accounted for in association studies, newer research has focused on identifying autosomal (not on the X or Y chromosomes) genes that contribute differentially to complex traits (blood pressure) or diseases (hypertension). In a new study, researchers…

University of Queensland researchers have identified microbial remains in some of the oldest preserved organic matter on Earth, confirmed to be 3.5 billion years-old. The UQ team, led by School of Physical Sciences scientists Dr Miryam Glikson and Associate Professor Sue Golding as well as Associate Professor Lindsay Sly from the School of Molecular & Microbial Sciences, are the first to conclusively confirm the nature and source of the organic material. “What we have found is the first visual confirmation of primitive microbial communities in what is considered to be the best preserved…

With the finding that fever is produced by the action of a hormone on a specific site in the brain, scientists have answered a key question as to how this adaptive function helps to protect the body during bacterial infection and other types of illness. Reported by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the study results appear today in Nature Neuroscience’s Advance Online Publication. “This study shows how the brain produces fever responses during infections,” explains senior author Clifford Saper, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Neurology at BIDMC and James…

If you take a strip of paper, twist one end by 180° and then stick the two ends together to form a ring, the result is called a Möbius strip, a geometric shape with only one surface and one edge. You can prove this by making a line along the strip with a pencil: Without lifting the pencil you get back to your starting point in the end—with the whole strip marked: at each point, both sides of the strip are marked by the line. Ring-shaped aromatic molecules can also have a topology like that of the Möbius strip, with only one side. Polish researchers have now made a porphyrin-like ring that…

Scientists from the Animal Ecology and Cell Biology Institute of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover were able to develop a many-headed jellyfish when Cnox genes were deactivated. These genes are closely related to the Hox genes of the “higher” animals and are responsible for forming the body along the main body axis, from the anterior to the posterior. Multiple-headed animals were recognized as a rare developmental anomaly of unknown origin in various animals. Now for the first time, having many heads is shown to be an inducible and reproducible development when a single…

In the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, a team of researchers have discovered a new genus and species of chlorophyll-producing bacterium that transforms light into chemical energy. The discovery is described in a paper written by Don Bryant of Penn State University and David M. Ward of Montana State University. Yellowstone National Park is a tourist's wonderland because of its wildlife, mountains, geysers and hot springs. But the park is also a scientific reservoir that harbors what may be the world's largest diversity of thermophilic (heat-loving) microorganisms. Discovered in…

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have uncovered an important naturally occurring mechanism in the body where "bad" cells that cause blockages in our blood vessels are kept under strict growth control, while "good" cells that keep our blood vessels free of clots and growths are left unaffected. The discovery is expected to benefit those who will need heart coronary bypass surgery, an angioplasty - the mechanical widening of a narrowed or totally blocked blood vessel - or will undergo haemodialysis. Professor Levon Khachigian, from UNSW’s Centre for Vascular Research, who…

A typical human mouth teems with as many as 700 different species of microbes. A handful of these have been specifically implicated in promoting gum disease, dental cavities, and bad breath, but for the most part, the make-up of this complex ecosystem and its impact on human health remain largely unexplored. A new device created by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers, however, may make some of the most reclusive members of this and other microscopic communities much more accessible for laboratory study. The vast majority of microbes are notoriously resistant to growing in…

There are lots of things that brain cells need to survive. Add to that list microRNAs. New research from Rockefeller University shows that neurons that cannot produce microRNAs, tiny single strands of RNA that regulate the expression of genes, slowly die in a manner similar to what is seen in such human neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Although no one has yet found microRNAs to be involved in any disease, their study in mice shows that these tiny snippets of RNA are essential for survival of mature neurons. “This research tells us that microRNAs are needed…