Biochemistry news

Scientists Reproduce a Building Block of Life in Laboratory

Chemistry / Biochemistry

23 hours ago | 4.8 / 5 (20) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory.

Newly Discovered Fat Molecule: An Undersea Killer with an Upside

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (8) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A chemical culprit responsible for the rapid, mysterious death of phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean has been found by collaborating scientists at Rutgers University and the Woods Hole ...

Map of Human Bacterial Diversity Shows Wide Interpersonal Differences

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (11) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Colorado at Boulder team has developed the first atlas of bacterial diversity across the human body, charting wide variations in microbe populations that live in different ...

Yeast in a shell: Coating individual living yeast cells with silicon dioxide

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 03, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Our breakfast egg is a peculiarity of nature: a single cell protected by a thin mineral layer. Apart from a number of tiny radiolaria and diatoms, individual cells normally do not have a hard shell. Korean ...

Researchers reconstitute enzyme that synthesizes cholesterol drug lovastatin

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 03, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 0

Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have for the first time successfully reconstituted in the laboratory the enzyme responsible for producing the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering ...

Researchers design new strategy to find drugs to treat neglected infection

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 03, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Using an unconventional approach that they designed, University of Pittsburgh drug discoverers and their collaborators at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have identified compounds that hold promise for treating leishmaniasis, ...

Study reveals a 'missing link' in immune response to disease (w/ Video)

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 02, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

The immune system's T cells have the unique responsibilities of being both jury and executioner. They examine other cells for signs of disease, including cancers or infections, and, if such evidence is found, ...

New activity found for a potential anti-cancer agent

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 02, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Pateamine A (PatA), a natural product first isolated from marine sponges, has attracted considerable attention as a potential anti-cancer agent, and now a new activity has been found for it, which may reveal yet another anti-cancer ...

Heavy metals accumulate more in some mushrooms than in others

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 30, 2009 | 4 / 5 (4) | 0

A research team from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) has analysed the presence of heavy metals in 12 species of mushroom collected from non-contaminated natural areas, and has found that the levels ...

Mirror images united: Simultaneous binding of both enantiomers of a drug to an enzyme

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 29, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the binding pockets of enzymes their natural binding partners fit exactly. The principle by which many pharmacological agents work also relies on the fact that these substances fit exactly into the pockets ...

'Feel-good' hormone serotonin regulates blood sugar concentration

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 28, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (6) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Diabetes is the most prevalent metabolic disease in developed countries and one that engenders - in addition to its high fatality - enormous health care costs. The physiological meaning of ...

Pumpkin skin may scare away germs

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 28, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

The skin of that pumpkin you carve into a Jack-o'-Lantern to scare away ghosts and goblins on Halloween contains a substance that could put a scare into microbes that cause millions of cases of yeast infections ...

Statins show dramatic drug and cell dependent effects in the brain

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 28, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

Besides their tremendous value in treating high cholesterol and lowering the risk of heart disease, statins have also been reported to potentially lower the risks of other diseases, such as dementia. However, a study in the ...

Scientists Are First To Observe The Global Motions Of An Enzyme Copyinng DNA

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 27, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists here have identified how the motions of an enzyme are related to correctly copying genetic instructions, setting the stage for studies that can uncover what happens when DNA copying ...

Identifying Molecules in Infrared Could Lead to New Medicines

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 27, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- An interdisciplinary team of researchers has created a new, ultra-sensitive technique to analyze life-sustaining protein molecules. The technique may profoundly change the methodology of biomolecular ...

Researchers identify dominant chemical that attracts mosquitoes to humans

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 26, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (18) | 5

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus ...

Common weed could provide clues on aging and cancer

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 26, 2009 | 4 / 5 (2) | 0

A common weed and human cancer cells could provide some very uncommon details about DNA structure and its relationship with telomeres and how they affect cellular aging and cancer, according to a team led by scientists from ...

Biosensor to help enlist cancer resistance fighters?

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Oct 23, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A powerful new biosensor developed by European researchers will help identify cells in the immune system that actively suppress tumour growth, then put them to use. Enlisting the patient?s ...