Researchers show stem cell fate depends on 'grip'
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.
Posted: Mar 28th, 2013
Read moreThe first caffeine-'addicted' bacteria
Some people may joke about living on caffeine, but scientists now have genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to do that - literally. They describe bacteria being 'addicted' to caffeine in a way that promises practical uses ranging from decontamination of wastewater to bioproduction of medications for asthma.
Posted: Mar 27th, 2013
Read moreNew DNA test identifies ingredients in foods
Scientists at Mainz University develop a novel screening procedure for accurately determining the amount of animal, plant, and microbial substances in foods.
Posted: Mar 27th, 2013
Read moreMaking living matter programmable
Thirty years ago, the future lay in programming computers. Today, it's programming cells.
Posted: Mar 27th, 2013
Read moreProteins in detail
Researchers with the joint program between IRB Barcelona and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) have devised a new strategy to study the shape of proteins.
Posted: Mar 27th, 2013
Read moreResearchers find novel way plants pass traits to next generation
New research explains how certain traits can pass down from one generation to the next - at least in plants - without following the accepted rules of genetics.
Posted: Mar 26th, 2013
Read moreComputer simulations yield clues to how cells interact with surroundings
Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a computer model of a protein that helps cells interact with their surroundings. Like its biological counterpart, the virtual integrin snippet is about twenty nanometers long. It also responds to changes in energy and other stimuli just as integrins do in real life. The result is a new way to explore how the protein connects a cell's inner and outer environments.
Posted: Mar 24th, 2013
Read morePeach genome offers insights into breeding strategies for biofuels crops
Rapidly growing trees like poplars and willows are candidate "biofuel crops" from which it is expected that cellulosic ethanol and higher energy content fuels can be efficiently extracted. Domesticating these crops requires a deep understanding of tree physiology and genetics.
Posted: Mar 24th, 2013
Read moreResearchers identify genetic sequence that helps to coordinate synthesis of DNA-packaging proteins
Research conducted in fruit flies at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine has pinpointed a specific DNA sequence that both triggers the formation of the "histone locus body" and turns on all the histone genes in the entire block.
Posted: Mar 24th, 2013
Read moreEnzymes allow DNA to swap information with exotic molecules
Research results demonstrate that DNA sequences can be transcribed into a molecule known as TNA and reverse transcribed back into DNA, with the aid of commercially available enzymes.
Posted: Mar 22nd, 2013
Read moreStudy offers new way to discover HIV vaccine targets
Researchers develop a method to identify weak points in viral proteins that could be exploited for vaccine development.
Posted: Mar 22nd, 2013
Read moreSynthetic biology remains a mystery, survey shows
National survey finds three out of four adults have heard little or nothing about the emerging technology.
Posted: Mar 20th, 2013
Read moreResearch explores road signs on the intracellular highway
The road signs that direct traffic on the highways - collectively known as the cytoskeleton - are a mystery, and now the subject of research for Lee Ligon, associate professor of biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Posted: Mar 19th, 2013
Read moreDNA catalysts do the work of protein enzymes
Illinois chemists have used DNA to do a protein's job, creating opportunities for DNA to find work in more areas of biology, chemistry and medicine than ever before.
Posted: Mar 19th, 2013
Read moreHow proteins read meta DNA code
Scientists have accurately calculated the sliding mechanism for deciphering the second genetic code written within the DNA base pair sequence.
Posted: Mar 19th, 2013
Read moreBiological tooth replacement from gum cells
New research describes an advance in efforts to develop a method to replace missing teeth with new bioengineered teeth generated from a person's own gum cells.
Posted: Mar 18th, 2013
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