New Class of Antibiotics Shows Promise Against Harmful Bacteria
A new type of antibiotic that interrupts protein synthesis in bacteria could be used to create more effective treatments against the bacteria that cause shigellosis, tuberculosis and anthrax. Scientists tested about 650,000 different molecules on a strain of E. coli. Of those, they identified 46 that disrupt a process that bacterial cells use to replicate. The scientists then tested those compounds on several bacteria that can cause lethal infections in people. One of the molecules was 100 times more effective than current treatments for tuberculosis and showed antibiotic activity against a broad spectrum of bacterial spec...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - June 20, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
An Accessible Way of Making Cancer Cells Glow
Scientists have created a method of making cell-cell interactions emit light using chemicals common to many biology laboratories. The researchers injected into mice with advanced tumors a chemical that, through the interaction between cancer and immune cells, can be metabolized into luciferin, a molecule found in fireflies and other light-emitting organisms. Using this chemical, scientists could see where cancer cells had spread within the mouse’s body simply by looking for areas that lit up. The technique may one day be used as a probe for cancer. (Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat)
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - June 20, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Huntington’s Disease Involves Muscle Cell Malfunction, Too
Huntington’s disease, a degenerative genetic disorder that usually emerges in early middle age, has long been considered a neurological disease. Scientists had assumed that the uncontrollable muscle movements associated with the disease were due to brain cells losing function. New research shows that muscle cells in mice carrying the RNA coding error associated with the disease also go awry. Diseased cells responded at a lower threshold than normal muscle cells to electrical pulses similar to a nerve cell firing, and some even responded long after such low-level pulses. The findings may open new lines of research into un...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - June 20, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Receptor Promotes Cancer Spread in Dense Breast Tissue
It’s long been known that women with denser breast tissue are more likely than others to develop aggressive breast cancers that spread. Cancer cells on the edge of a breast tumor have a receptor called DDR2 that attaches to collagen, the protein associated with dense, fibrous breast tissue. Researchers have found that the interaction of DDR2 with collagen starts a biochemical chain of events that promotes high levels of SNAIL1, a protein associated with the spreading of breast cancer cells to other parts of the body. Scientists will now pursue DDR2 inhibitors as possible cancer drugs. (Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat)
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - June 20, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Cool Video: HIV’s Inner Shell
This video shows a computer-generated model of the approximately 4.2 million atoms of the HIV capsid, the shell that encloses the virus’s genetic material. Scientists determined the exact structure of the capsid and the proteins that it’s made of using a variety of imaging techniques and analyses. They then entered this data into a supercomputer that produced the atomic-level image of the capsid. This structural information could be used for developing drugs that target the capsid, possibly leading to more effective therapies. (Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat)
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - June 20, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Stickiness Helps Sort Stem Cells
Information about how strongly different cells stick to surfaces has allowed researchers to develop a faster, more efficient way of isolating human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The method uses a microfluidic device to which cells, including human iPS cells, adhere well. When a cell culture attached to the device is exposed to the flow of a fluid, the iPS cells hang on while others are swept away. The technique results in a greater than 95 percent pure human iPS cell culture. The researchers predict that the method could be scaled up, thereby speeding progress toward potential stem cell-based therapies. (Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat)
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Structure of Critical Enzyme Linked to Cancer and Aging
Using a combination of techniques, researchers have determined the complete molecular structure of telomerase, the enzyme that preserves genetic information by maintaining chromosome endings called telomeres. First discovered in Nobel Prize-winning work on the microorganism Tetrahymena thermophila, telomeres shorten with every cell division as part of the normal aging process. When they become too short, the cell dies. Telomerase counteracts this by preventing the telomeres from becoming too short. However, abnormally high levels of telomerase activity may extend the lifespan of a cell beyond the normal limit, leading to c...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Gene Blocks Appetite Suppression
When scientists discovered in 1994 that the hormone leptin suppresses appetite, they saw it as a promising way to control obesity and diabetes. Now scientists have shed light on one potential mechanism of leptin regulation. They found that mice that lacked a gene called Epac1 had higher sensitivity to leptin. When placed on a high-fat diet, the mice weighed less, were leaner and had lower blood-plasma levels than their counterparts with the gene. A specially developed compound that blocked Epac1 activity in the mice with the gene also significantly reduced leptin levels, another indication that Epac1 contributes to leptinâ...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
A Universe of Unexplored Small Molecules
The observable universe contains fewer stars than the number of unique organic compounds that could be developed for medical purposes. With such a huge number of molecules, it’s often difficult for chemists to identify and then make the ones with the most therapeutic benefit for a given ailment. Researchers have developed a computer algorithm that may help. It plots all known small carbon-based molecules as though they were cities on a map and identifies huge, unexplored spaces that may help fuel research into new drug therapies. (Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat)
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Cool Image: Chewing up Proteins
All cells, such as the fruit fly spermatid shown here, recycle various molecules, including malformed or damaged proteins. How? Actin filaments (red) in the cell draw unwanted proteins toward a barrel-shaped structure called the proteasome (green clusters), which degrades the molecules into their basic parts for re-use. New research reveals the role of one enzyme, tankyrase, in the regulation of such protein degradation. In a preliminary study, a molecule originally developed to treat colon cancer inhibits tankyrase, thus blocking proteasome activity. Because abnormally high rates of proteasome activity have been linked to...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Stickiness Helps Sort Stem Cells
Information about how strongly different cells stick to surfaces has allowed researchers to develop a faster, more efficient way of isolating human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The method uses a microfluidic device to which cells, including human iPS cells, adhere well. When a cell culture attached to the device is exposed to the flow of a fluid, the iPS cells hang on while others are swept away. The technique results in a greater than 95 percent pure human iPS cell culture. The researchers predict that the method could be scaled up, thereby speeding progress toward potential stem cell-based therapies. (Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat)
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Structure of Critical Enzyme Linked to Cancer and Aging
Using a combination of techniques, researchers have determined the complete molecular structure of telomerase, the enzyme that preserves genetic information by maintaining chromosome endings called telomeres. First discovered in Nobel Prize-winning work on the microorganism Tetrahymena thermophila, telomeres shorten with every cell division as part of the normal aging process. When they become too short, the cell dies. Telomerase counteracts this by preventing the telomeres from becoming too short. However, abnormally high levels of telomerase activity may extend the lifespan of a cell beyond the normal limit, leading to c...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Gene Blocks Appetite Suppression
When scientists discovered in 1994 that the hormone leptin suppresses appetite, they saw it as a promising way to control obesity and diabetes. Now scientists have shed light on one potential mechanism of leptin regulation. They found that mice that lacked a gene called Epac1 had higher sensitivity to leptin. When placed on a high-fat diet, the mice weighed less, were leaner and had lower blood-plasma levels than their counterparts with the gene. A specially developed compound that blocked Epac1 activity in the mice with the gene also significantly reduced leptin levels, another indication that Epac1 contributes to leptinâ...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
A Universe of Unexplored Small Molecules
The observable universe contains fewer stars than the number of unique organic compounds that could be developed for medical purposes. With such a huge number of molecules, it’s often difficult for chemists to identify and then make the ones with the most therapeutic benefit for a given ailment. Researchers have developed a computer algorithm that may help. It plots all known small carbon-based molecules as though they were cities on a map and identifies huge, unexplored spaces that may help fuel research into new drug therapies. (Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat)
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
Cool Image: Chewing up Proteins
All cells, such as the fruit fly spermatid shown here, recycle various molecules, including malformed or damaged proteins. How? Actin filaments (red) in the cell draw unwanted proteins toward a barrel-shaped structure called the proteasome (green clusters), which degrades the molecules into their basic parts for re-use. New research reveals the role of one enzyme, tankyrase, in the regulation of such protein degradation. In a preliminary study, a molecule originally developed to treat colon cancer inhibits tankyrase, thus blocking proteasome activity. Because abnormally high rates of proteasome activity have been linked to...
Source: NIGMS Biomedical Beat - May 16, 2013 Category: Research Source Type: news
