http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. 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 (GNF) have identified 295 human cell factors that influenza A strains must harness to infect a cell, including the currently circulating swine-origin H1N1. The team also identified small molecule compounds that act on several of these factors and inhibit viral replication, pointing to new ways to treat flu. These findings were published online on December 21 in the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news180708941.html Biology Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:00:01 EST news180708941 (PhysOrg.com) -- Trying to understand the complex workings of a biological cell by teasing out the function of every molecule within it is a daunting task. But by making synthetic cells that include just a few chemical processes, researchers can study cellular machinery one manageable piece at a time. http://www.physorg.com/news175281566.html Chemistry Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:22:07 EST news175281566 (PhysOrg.com) -- Viruses like Hepatitis C proliferate by tricking cellular machinery into manufacturing the parts for duplicate viral particles. http://www.physorg.com/news173549327.html Chemistry Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:09:14 EST news173549327 A single crafty protein allows the deadly bacterium Salmonella enterica to both invade cells lining the intestine and hijack cellular functions to avoid destruction, Yale researchers report in the April 17 issue of the journal Cell. http://www.physorg.com/news159106541.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:16:05 EST news159106541 A new study published as the cover article for the April 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal promises to give physicians new ways to reduce deadly responses to viral infections of the brain and spinal cord. In the report, scientists from Columbia University, NY, detail for the first time the chemical processes that star-shaped nerve cells, called astrocytes, use to handle invading viruses and to summon other immune cells to cause life-threatening inflammation. http://www.physorg.com/news157713299.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:15:23 EST news157713299 A study by National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers has revealed surprising new insights into the process used to initially identify an experimental drug now being tested in people with cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. Researchers emphasized that the clinical implications of their findings are unclear, but said the results suggest more work may be needed to make sure the screening process to select promising agents was not flawed by its effects on a firefly enzyme used as a marker. The study was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). http://www.physorg.com/news152880070.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:49:20 EST news152880070 You may never hear fruit flies snore, but rest assured that when you're asleep they are too. According to research published in the January 2009 issue of the journal Genetics, scientists from the University of Missouri-Kansas City have shown that the circadian rhythms (sleep/wake cycles) of fruit flies and vertebrates are regulated by some of the same "cellular machinery" as that of humans. This study is significant because the sleep-regulating enzyme analyzed in this research is one of only a few possible drug targets for circadian problems that can lead to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), insomnia, and possibly some cancers. http://www.physorg.com/news151064680.html Biology Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:24:40 EST news151064680