Cell & Microbiology news
Citrus surprise: Vitamin C boosts the reprogramming of adult cells into stem cells
Dec 24, 2009 |
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Famous for its antioxidant properties and role in tissue repair, vitamin C is touted as beneficial for illnesses ranging from the common cold to cancer and perhaps even for slowing the aging process. Now, ...
Scientists identify protein that keeps stem cells poised for action
Dec 24, 2009 |
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Like a child awaiting the arrival of Christmas, embryonic stem cells exist in a state of permanent anticipation. They must balance the ability to quickly become more specialized cell types with the cellular chaos that could ...
Mystery solved: Scientists now know how smallpox kills
Dec 22, 2009 |
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A team of researchers working in a high containment laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, have solved a fundamental mystery about smallpox that has puzzled scientists long after the ...
First volume of microbial encyclopedia published
Dec 23, 2009 |
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The Earth is estimated to have about a nonillion (1030) microbes in, on, around, and under it, comprised of an unknown but very large number of distinct species. Despite the widespread availability of microbi ...
Scientists take a step towards uncovering the histone code
Dec 20, 2009 |
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Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have determined the structures of two enzymes that customize histones, the spool-like proteins around which DNA coils inside the cell.
Study shows immune system protein involved in reprogramming adult cells to express stem cell genes
Dec 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have discovered a protein required to quickly and efficiently reprogram human skin cells to express embryonic stem cell genes.
How flu succeeds: Investigators identify host factors that help multiple influenza strains thrive
Dec 22, 2009 |
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Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), Mount Sinai School of Medicine (Mount Sinai), the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Salk) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation ...
New compounds may control deadly fungal infections
Dec 22, 2009 |
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An estimated 25,000 Americans develop severe fungal infections each year, leading to 10,000 deaths despite the use of anti-fungal drugs. The associated cost to the U.S. health care system has been estimated at $1 billion ...
New giant virus discovered
Dec 09, 2009 |
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Scientists in France have isolated a new giant virus that lurks inside amoeba and whose gene pool includes genetic material from other species.
Taming the flu: Researchers create map of interactions between flu virus and its human host
Dec 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There is no lack of worry this season over the flu, both the seasonal and H1N1 varieties, but there is a critical lack of understanding of the viruses that cause these illnesses. For years, ...
Introns: A mystery renewed
Dec 10, 2009 |
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The sequences of nonsense DNA that interrupt genes could be far more important to the evolution of genomes than previously thought, according to a recent Science report by Indiana University Bloomington and ...
Heme channel found
Dec 17, 2009 |
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In some ways a cell in your body or an organelle in that cell is like an ancient walled town. Life inside either depends critically on the intelligence of the gatekeepers.
Researchers revise long-held theory of fruit-fly development
Dec 17, 2009 |
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For decades, science texts have told a simple and straightforward story about a particular protein—a transcription factor—that helps the embryo of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, pattern tissues in a m ...
Researchers find cells move in mysterious ways (w/ Video)
Dec 16, 2009 |
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Our cells are more like us than we may think. They're sensitive to their environment, poking and prodding deliberately at their surroundings with hand-like feelers and chemical signals as they decide whether ...
Bacteria wouldn't opt for a swine flu shot
Dec 16, 2009 |
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Bacteria inhabited our planet for more than 4 billion years before humans showed up, and they'll probably outlive us by as many eons more. That suggests they may have something to teach us.
