news from the lab


Category

Life Sciences


Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 23.05
Multiple research teams unable to confirm high-profile Alzheimer’s study
Teams of highly respected Alzheimer's researchers failed to replicate what appeared to be breakthrough results for the treatment of this brain disease when they were published last year in the journal Science .

Earth Sciences - Life Sciences - 23.05
Small, speedy plant-eater extends knowledge of dinosaur ecosystems
Dinosaurs are often thought of as large, fierce animals, but new research highlights a previously overlooked diversity of small dinosaurs. - In the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology , a team of palaeontologists from the University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and University of Calgary have described a new dinosaur, the smallest plant-eating dinosaur species known from Canada: Albertadromeus syntarsus.

Environmental Sciences - Life Sciences - 22.05
Thinking ‘big’ may not be best approach to saving large-river fish
The fate of the blue catfish and more than 60 other species of large-river specialist fishes depends on conservation of suitable habitat and connectivity between the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 22.05
Brain can be trained in compassion, study shows
Until now, little was scientifically known about the human potential to cultivate compassion — the emotional state of caring for people who are suffering in a way that motivates altruistic behavior.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 21.05
Discoveries could change shape of battle against viruses
Discoveries could change shape of battle against viruses
UAlberta medical researchers discover new ways to target, develop and design drugs to prevent and treat viral infection. - Researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a new drug target, developed a new drug and identified a new way to design drugs—all of which could be a winning combination in the battle against viruses.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 21.05
Keeping Stem Cells Strong
Keeping Stem Cells Strong
When infections occur in the body, stem cells in the blood often jump into action by multiplying and differentiating into mature immune cells that can fight off illness. But repeated infections and inflammation can deplete these cell populations, potentially leading to the development of serious blood conditions such as cancer.

Life Sciences - 21.05
Potential brain ’switch’ for new behavior
ANN ARBOR-You're standing near an airport luggage carousel and your bag emerges on the conveyor belt, prompting you to spring into action. How does your brain make the shift from passively waiting to taking action when your bag appears? - A new study from investigators at the University of Michigan and Eli Lilly may reveal the brain's "switch" for new behavior.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 20.05
Leading explanations for whooping cough’s resurgence don’t stand up to scrutiny
ANN ARBOR-Whooping cough has exploded in the United States and some other developed countries in recent decades, and many experts suspect ineffective childhood vaccines for the alarming resurgence. - Some say the vaccine wears off quicker than public health officials had previously believed.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 16.05
Article in 'Science' says returning genetic incidental findings without patient consent violates basic rights
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (05/16/2013) —Informed consent is the backbone of patient care. Genetic testing has long required patient consent and patients have had a "right not to know" the results.

Life Sciences - Microtechnics/Electroengineering - 15.05
Evolution shapes new rules for ant behavior, Stanford research finds
Biologist Deborah M. Gordon's decades-long study of the collective behavior of harvester ant colonies has provided a rare real-time look at natural selection at work. - In ancient Greece, the city-states that waited until their own harvest was in before attacking and destroying a rival community's crops often experienced better long-term success.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 14.05
Study IDs key protein for cell death
Findings may offer a new way to kill cancer cells by forcing them into an alternative programmed-death pathway. - When cells suffer too much DNA damage, they are usually forced to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 14.05
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
Posted under: Engineering , Health and Medicine , News Releases , Research , Science , Technology - It's a familiar scenario - a patient receives a medical implant and days later, the body attacks the artificial valve or device, causing complications to an already compromised system.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 14.05
DNA analysis unearths origins of Minoans, the first major European civilization
Posted under: Health and Medicine , News Releases , Research , Science , Social Science , Technology , UW and the Community - DNA analysis is unearthing the origins of the Minoans, who some 5,000 years ago established the first advanced Bronze Age civilization in present-day Crete.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 13.05
Penn Medicine Researchers Identify Four New Genetic Risk Factors for Testicular Cancer
A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 13.05
Akiko Iwasaki named HHMI investigator
Yale immunobiologist Akiko Iwasaki has been selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator, one of the most prestigious designations in biomedical science. - She was one of 27 of the nation's top researchers to receive this honor, which recognizes their work and gives them the support necessary to move their research forward in new directions.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 12.05
Non-inherited mutations account for many heart defects, Yale researchers find
Non-inherited mutations account for many heart defects, Yale researchers find
New mutations that are absent in parents but appear in their offspring account for at least 10% of severe congenital heart disease, reveals a massive genomics study led by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 10.05
UCLA stem cell researchers move toward treatment for rare genetic nerve disease
Led by Dr. Peiyee Lee and Dr. Richard Gatti, researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have used induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to advance disease-in-a-dish modeling of a rare genetic disorder, ataxia telangiectasia (A-T).

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 9.05
Chuan He named Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute on May 9 announced the selection of Chuan He , professor in chemistry and the current director of the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics at the University of Chicago, as a new HHMI investigator.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 9.05
Helping the youngest stroke sufferers get a leg up
Helping the youngest stroke sufferers get a leg up
UAlberta researchers receive more than $1M for provincewide physiotherapy study after small pilot shows improved leg mobility. - Toddlers who suffered a stroke as babies are learning how to walk thanks to research being conducted at the University of Alberta.

Life Sciences - 9.05
Research in the news: Shedding light on mental illness, one brain synapse at a time
Yale researchers used light to probe the actions of the neurotransmitter GABA on single synapses along the branches of a neuron. The work provides new insight into the interactions of excitatory and inhibitory activity in brain cells - processes that appear to be disrupted in disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 9.05
U-M’s Yamashita named Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator
U-M's Yamashita named Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator
ANN ARBOR-Yukiko Yamashita of the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute is one of 27 biomedical researchers named today as Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. - HHMI provides flexible support on renewable five-year appointments to allow scientists to move their research in creative new directions.

Life Sciences - 8.05
Hit a 95 mph baseball? Scientists pinpoint how we see it coming
Hit a 95 mph baseball? Scientists pinpoint how we see it coming
How does San Francisco Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval swat a 95 mph fastball, or tennis icon Venus Williams see the oncoming ball, let alone return her sister Serena's 120 mph serves? For the first time, vision scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have pinpointed how the brain tracks fast-moving objects.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 7.05
Possible trigger for spread of head and neck cancer cells
Very little has been known about the epigenetic events — developmental and environmental factors affecting genes — that occur prior to the invasive growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and their spread to other parts of the body, or metastasis.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 5.05
Divide and define: Clues to understanding how stem cells produce different kinds of cells
Divide and define: Clues to understanding how stem cells produce different kinds
ANN ARBOR-The human body contains trillions of cells, all derived from a single cell, or zygote, made by the fusion of an egg and a sperm. That single cell contains all the genetic information needed to develop into a human, and passes identical copies of that information to each new cell as it divides into the many diverse types of cells that make up a complex organism like a human being.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 3.05
Study Maps Cancer's Metabolic Paths and Potential for Drugs to Starve Tumors
“Global mapping of cancer gene expression changes to the human metabolic network; increased enzymatic expression across tumors is shown in red and decreased in blue,” said Dr. Vitkup (who provided the image).

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 2.05
Book: A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults
YaleNews features works recently or soon to be published by members of the University community. Descriptions are based on material provided by the publishers. Authors of new books may forward publishers' book descriptions to us by email.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 2.05
Berkeley Lab Discoveries Open New Hope for MMP Cancer Therapies
Berkeley Lab Discoveries Open New Hope for MMP Cancer Therapies
New evidence supports earlier findings that cancer therapy drugs based on a family of enzymes called metalloproteinases (MMPs) failed in clinical trials because they were aimed at the wrong target. Berkeley Lab researchers who previously demonstrated that MMP14 interacts with a partner to promote mammary invasion and - under abnormal conditions – tumors through a mechanism distinct from catalytic activity, have now shown that MMP3 can also promote tumors but via interaction with a different partner.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 2.05
Calories draw people to food, like it or not
People like food because it contains calories they need to survive. However, researchers from The John B Pierce Laboratory and Yale have discovered an interesting twist to the basic biology story: Calories trigger responses in areas of the brain that control eating behavior independently of how much the subject likes the flavor.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 2.05
Scientists make strides toward restoring bighorn sheep in the American West
Penn State postdoctoral fellow Raina Plowright and Princeton professor Andrew Dobson study the impacts of pneumonia on bighorn sheep. - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - As pneumonia continues to limit recovery of the once nearly extinct bighorn sheep population in the western United States, a research team including scientists from Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has made key discoveries that lead to a better understanding of the disease and how it might be more effectively controlled.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 1.05
Brain scans reveal which alcoholics at greatest risk of relapse
Even the most experienced counselors have difficultly spotting a recovering alcoholic in danger of relapse. Brain imaging scans might do a better job, new Yale research suggests. - Alcoholics with abnormal activity in areas of the brain that control emotions and desires are eight times more likely to relapse and drink heavily than alcoholics with more normal patterns of activity or healthy individuals, according to the study published May 1 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 29.04
Comparing Proteins at a Glance
Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 25.04
Longer Days Bring ’Winter Blues’--For Rats, Not Humans
Life Sciences - Physics/Material Science - 25.04
Bold Move Forward in Molecular Analyses
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 17.04
Researchers abuzz over caffeine as cancer-cell killer
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 10.04
Neurobiology of Eating Disorders
Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 10.04
Oldest dinosaur bonebed reveals embryo development
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 7.04
Melanoma evades chemotherapy
Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 29.03
Research deciphers HIV attack plan
Life Sciences - Chemistry - 28.03
Worm research may help humans live longer
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 27.03
First test for a culprit in ’kennel cough’ now available
Earth Sciences - Life Sciences - 27.03
True colors of some fossil feathers now in doubt
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 26.03
Gene therapy may aid failing hearts
Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 26.03
Brain origins of variation in pathological anxiety
Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 25.03
Developing Our Sense of Smell
Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 21.03
More fat, less protein improves detection dogs’ sniffers
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 21.03
Study offers new way to discover HIV vaccine targets
Agronomy/Food Science - Life Sciences - 18.03
New method makes puffed rice pop with more nutrients
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 18.03
Study casts light on deadly immune response
Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 15.03
New culturing tool reveals a full genome from single cells
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 13.03
Drug Treatment Corrects Autism Symptoms in Mouse Model
Life Sciences - Environmental Sciences - 13.03
Burgess Shale worm provides crucial missing link
Life Sciences - History/Archeology - 11.03
Northeast bee population declines confirmed
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 7.03
Is this peptide a key to happiness?
Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 6.03
Origin of aggressive ovarian cancer discovered
Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 4.03
The floppy protein: When being out of shape finally pays off