Wheat disease-resistance gene identified, potential to save billions
An international team of scientists has identified a gene that can prevent some of the most significant wheat diseases—creating the potential to save more than a billion dollars in lost production in...
View ArticleResearchers pinpoint roadblocks to lab-grown stem cells' maturation
Johns Hopkins researchers report that a new study of mouse cells has revealed reasons why attempts to grow stem cells to maturity in the laboratory often fail, and provided a possible way to overcome...
View ArticleResearchers propose rapid Ebola test using nanotechnology
Just as Ebola was finally fading from the headlines, it came back in the news with shocking reports: a Scottish nurse rehospitalized nine months after beating Ebola is now suffering from meningitis...
View ArticleScientists take aim at disease-carrying 'kissing bug'
An international research team, including scientists from Simon Fraser University, hopes its study of the vector Rhodnius prolixus—also known as the "kissing bug" and a major contributor to Chagas...
View ArticleHydra can modify its genetic program
Champion of regeneration, the freshwater polyp Hydra is capable of reforming a complete individual from any fragment of its body. It is even able to remain alive when all its neurons have disappeared....
View ArticleInfertile worms resist infection-induced neurodegeneration
The connections are still obscure, but mounting evidence points to a link between infections, the immune system, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, ALS, and Parkinson's.
View ArticleMoonlighting molecules: Finding new uses for old enzymes
A collaboration between the University of Cambridge and MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, has led researchers to identify a potentially significant new...
View ArticleScientists debate boundaries, ethics of human gene editing
Rewriting your DNA is getting closer to reality: A revolutionary technology is opening new frontiers for genetic engineering—a promise of cures for intractable diseases along with anxiety about...
View ArticleSolved structure of S. pneumoniae enzyme could lead to new antibiotics
Scientists have used the UK's synchrotron science facility, Diamond Light Source, to solve the structure of a key enzyme in Streptococcus pneumonia (the pneumococcus). These bacteria cause a range of...
View ArticleNew type of kill switch to prevent genetically modified microbes from...
(Phys.org)—A combined team of researchers from MIT and Harvard has come up with two new ways to hardwire a kill switch into a genetically modified microorganism to prevent it from going rogue. In their...
View ArticleResearch leads to first puppies born by in vitro fertilization
For the first time, a litter of puppies was born by in vitro fertilization, thanks to work by Cornell University researchers.
View ArticleHealthy or sick? Tiny cell bubbles may hold the answer
Rutgers scientists have uncovered biological pathways in the roundworm that provide insight into how tiny bubbles released by cells can have beneficial health effects, like promoting tissue repair, or...
View ArticleThe case of the sticky protein
Proteins are like a body's in-house Lego set. These large, complex molecules are made up of building blocks called amino acids. Most of the time, proteins fold correctly, but sometimes they can...
View ArticleNew infectious disease test promises quick diagnosis
McMaster researchers have come up a way for inventing molecule probes to quickly identify deadly bacterial strains of infectious disease.
View ArticleResearch may lead to new control for devastating rice disease
In a "clash of the microbes," University of Delaware plant scientists are uncovering more clues critical to disarming a fungus that is the number one killer of rice plants.
View ArticleStudy reveals arms race between Ebola virus and bats, waged for millions of...
Ebola virus and bats have been waging a molecular battle for survival that may have started at least 25 million years ago, according to a study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of...
View ArticleNewly identified enzyme may be the culprit in Pierce's disease grapevine damage
UC Davis plant scientists have identified an enzyme that appears to play a key role in the insect-transmitted bacterial infection of grapevines with Pierce's disease, which annually costs California's...
View ArticleProtein aggregates in cytoplasm interfere with important transport routes
In the brains of patients with neurodegenerative diseases, medical researchers can observe protein deposits, also called aggregates. For many years, these aggregates have been suspected to contribute...
View ArticleMammals shape their microbiome to prevent disease
Gut microbes are well known to contribute to health and disease, but what has been less clear is how the host controls gut microbes. A study published January 13 in Cell Host & Microbe now reveals...
View ArticlePlague-riddled prairie dogs a model for infectious disease spread
Every now and then, colonies of prairie dogs are wiped out by plague, an infectious disease most often associated with the Black Death of the 14th century.
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