A new study co-authored by Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute senior scientist, Elizabeth Theil, Ph.D., is the first to show that partial copies of DNA called mRNA (or messenger RNA) morph into specific three dimensional shapes when it combines with a protein regulator called IRP1. This discovery is incredibly important to researchers who design medications based on the specific characteristics of a disease.
Study shows our brains are meant to handle variable tasks, not repetitive ones. The study of Stanford University is published in Neuron.
You don’t need to sign up for pricey wine appreciation classes to parse the subtle difference between the black cherry bouquet of a pinot noir and the black currant scent of a cabernet sauvignon. Just pour yourself a couple glasses and sniff. Your brain will quickly help you become a modest oenophile. It’s up to you if you want to drink the lesson plan.
Approximately six per cent of human and chimp genes are unique to those species, report scientists from the University of Bristol and three other institutions.
A link between obesity and the microbial communities living in our guts is suggested by new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings indicate that our gut microbes are biomarkers, mediators and potential therapeutic targets in the war against the worldwide obesity epidemic.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a group of novel genes that are critical in organ development.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have pinpointed a key regulatory protein that translates blood flow into gene expression. The investigators showed that in a model of mouse embryonic development a transcription factor called Klf2, which resides in cells that line blood vessels, is activated by rapid, pulsed blood flow. Understanding Klf2’s role in blood vessel and muscle biology could help with fighting atherosclerosis.
Engineers are designing new high-tech medical tools to equip the operating room of the future, in an effort to help doctors treat patients more safely and effectively and allow them to perform surgical tasks that are nearly impossible today.
A Northwestern University study uses a new strategy to show precisely how paying attention alters brain activity. Digging deep to summon that extra ounce of attention engages a symphony of brain activity that comes to your rescue as millions of neurons work together to make the music of a vivid conscious experience. Think of a conductor stepping in to control a large set of unruly musicians in an orchestra so that they can all play together.
A different approach to treating urinary tract infections (UTIs) could defeat the bacteria that cause the infections without directly killing them, a strategy that could help slow the growth of antibiotic-resistant infections. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been working to create pharmaceuticals that essentially “defang” the bacteria by preventing them from assembling pili, microscopic hairs that enable the bacteria to invade host cells.