EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 30-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Keep your distance! Why cells and organelles don't get stuck
Biomembranes enclose biological cells and surround organelles that carry out vital functions. Scientists have long known in principle how biomembranes are built up, and also that water molecules play a role in maintaining optimal spacing between neighboring membranes. Now, with the help of computer simulations, scientists of the Technische Universität München and the Freie Universitaet Berlin have discovered two different mechanisms that prevent neighboring membrane surfaces from sticking together. Their results appear in PNAS.

German Research Foundation, Ministry for Economy & Technology/AiF framework

Public Release: 30-Aug-2012

Science
Science study shows 'promiscuous' enzymes still prevalent in metabolism
Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their "sloppy" and "promiscuous" ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego.

National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 30-Aug-2012
Ant behavior tracked by tiny radio receivers in pioneering scientific study
Researchers from the University of York are fitting one thousand northern hairy wood ants with tiny radio receivers in a world first experiment to find out how they communicate and travel between their complex nests.

Public Release: 29-Aug-2012

Evolution
Computer viruses could take a lesson from showy peacocks
Computer viruses are constantly replicating throughout computer networks and wreaking havoc. But what if they had to find mates in order to reproduce? In the current issue of Evolution, Michigan State University researchers created the digital equivalent of spring break to see how mate attraction played out through computer programs, said Chris Chandler, MSU postdoctoral researcher at MSU's BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 28-Aug-2012

Journal of Thoracic Oncology
Not all lung cancer patients who could benefit from crizotinib are identified by FDA-approved test
A recent University of Colorado Cancer Center case study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology describes the never-before-seen case of a patient who tested negative for EML4-ALK fusion based on the well-defined criteria for FISH assay as approved by FDA, but nevertheless experienced remission after treatment with crizotinib.

Public Release: 28-Aug-2012

Nature Genetics
Chinese scientists successfully crack the genome of diploid cotton
The international research team led by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and BGI have completed the genome sequence and analysis of a diploid cotton -- Gossypium raimondii.

Public Release: 24-Aug-2012
Lessons from Bangladesh
Before he left for Bangladesh to conduct a workshop this summer, UC Riverside's Glenn Hicks did not quite know what to expect. What he knew was that he would be leading a workshop, called on genomics and proteomics at the University of Dhaka. What his brief visit taught him, though, was that education is critical for all of our futures and that with patience education could help overcome even great cultural and economic differences.

World Bank

Public Release: 22-Aug-2012

ICAAC 2012
The American Society for Microbiology honors William Hanage
William P. Hanage, Ph.D., Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, has received a 2012 ICAAC Young Investigator Award. Hanage is honored for his work studying the epidemiology and evolution of infectious disease.

Public Release: 22-Aug-2012

Science Translational Medicine
NIH uses genome sequencing to help quell bacterial outbreak in Clinical Center
A New York City patient carrying a multi-drug-resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a microbe frequently associated with hospital-borne infections, introduced the dangerous bacteria into the 243-bed research hospital while participating in a clinical study in the summer of 2011. To get the outbreak under control, Clinical Center staff collaborated with investigators at the National Human Genome Research Institute, also part of NIH, to use genome sequencing in the middle of this active hospital epidemic to learn how the microbe spread.

NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute, Clinical Center

Public Release: 22-Aug-2012

Genome Research
Archived Guthrie cards find a new purpose
Spotting of newborn's blood onto filter paper for disease screening, called Guthrie cards, has become so routine that since 2000, more than 90 percent of newborns in the United States have had Guthrie cards created. In a study published online in Genome Research, researchers have shown that epigenetic information stored on archived Guthrie cards provides a retrospective view of the epigenome at birth, a powerful new application for the card that could help understand disease.

Public Release: 21-Aug-2012

Current Biology
The first ant methylomes uncover the relationship between DNA methylation and caste differentiation
The first ant methylomes uncover the relationship between DNA methylation and caste differentiation.

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design
Anthrax targets
A trawl of the genome of the deadly bacterium Bacillus anthracis has revealed a clutch of targets for new drugs to combat an epidemic of anthrax or a biological weapons attack. The targets are all proteins that are found in the bacteria but not in humans and are involved in diverse bacterial processes such as metabolism, cell wall synthesis and bacterial persistence. The discovery of a range of targets might bode well for creating a drug cocktail that could preclude the emergence of drug resistance.

Public Release: 17-Aug-2012

Science
Writing the book in DNA
Using next-generation sequencing technology and a novel strategy to encode 1,000 times the largest data size previously achieved in DNA, a Harvard geneticist encodes his book in life's language.

Office of Naval Research, Agilent Technologies, Wyss Institute

Public Release: 17-Aug-2012

GigaScience
Iconic Darwin finch genome sequenced in Genome 10K international collaboration
Scientists have sequenced the genome of one of the iconic Galapagos finches first described by Charles Darwin.

Public Release: 16-Aug-2012

Science
Mouse study finds clear linkages between inflammation, bacterial communities and cancer
In a study with inflammation-prone mice, researchers have found a mechanism for the development of colorectal cancer wherein inflammation fosters a change in the gut microbiome including reduced bacterial diversity but also the increased presence of E. coli and related pathogens. Further mouse studies show genes carried by an E. coli variant can cause cancer development. The suspect bacterial genes are found in a high percentage of human colorectal cancer patients.

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012
PETA, PCRM address ICCVAM 5-year plan
In public comments submitted today, PETA and PCRM charged that NICEATM-ICCVAM continues to fail at implementing its Congressional mandate to facilitate the uptake of non-animal testing methods government-wide.

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Research shows how computation can predict group conflict
When conflict breaks out in social groups, individuals make strategic decisions about how to behave based on their understanding of alliances and feuds in the group. But it's been challenging to quantify the underlying trends that dictate how individuals make predictions, given they may only have seen a small number of fights or have limited memory.

National Science Foundation, John Templeton Foundation

Public Release: 10-Aug-2012

BMC Biology
Study of fruit fly chromosomes improves understanding of evolution and fertility
Tim Karr of the Biodesign Institute at ASU reports on new research exploring the evolution of sperm structure and function, through an analysis of Drosophila genes and gene products. The research has important implications for the study of human infertility as well.

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012
US-Russian collaboration develops new method for sequencing dark matter of life from a single cell
An international team of researchers led by computer scientist Pavel Pevzner, from the University of California, San Diego, have developed a new algorithm to sequence organisms' genomes from a single cell faster and more accurately. The new algorithm, called SPAdes, can be used to sequence bacteria that can't be submitted to standard cloning techniques -- what researchers refer to as the dark matter of life

National Institutes of Health, Russian Megagrant Initiative

Public Release: 7-Aug-2012

Nature Communications
Molecular economics: New computer models calculate systems-wide costs of gene expression
Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a method of modeling, simultaneously, an organism's metabolism and its underlying gene expression. In the emerging field of systems biology, scientists model cellular behavior in order to understand how processes such as metabolism and gene expression relate to one another and bring about certain characteristics in the larger organism.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 6-Aug-2012
Rutgers-Camden genetics researcher receives NSF CAREER Award
A Rutgers-Camden genetics researcher has earned an NSF CAREER Award.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 3-Aug-2012

Cell
How the cell swallows
Scientists at EMBL Heidelberg have combined the power of two kinds of microscope to produce a three-dimensional movie of how cells 'swallow' nutrients and other molecules by engulfing them. The study, published today in Cell, is the first to follow changes in the shape of the cell's membrane and track proteins thought to influence those changes.

Public Release: 2-Aug-2012

American Journal of Human Genetics
Researchers find genetic cause for body tremors
Researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine and CHUM hospitals have linked some cases of Essential Tremor (ET) to a specific genetic problem.

Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada

Public Release: 2-Aug-2012

PLOS Pathogens
Catching the cap-snatcher
Researchers at EMBL Grenoble have determined the detailed three-dimensional structure of part of the flu virus' RNA polymerase, an enzyme that is crucial for influenza virus replication. The research was done on the 2009 pandemic influenza strain but it will help scientists to design innovative drugs against all the different influenza strains.

European Commission

Public Release: 1-Aug-2012

Entomology 2012
Entomological Society of America names 2012 fellows
The Entomological Society of America has elected ten new fellows of the Society for 2012. The election as a fellow acknowledges outstanding contributions to insect science in one or more of the following: research, teaching, extension, or administration. The fellows will be recognized during Entomology 2012 -- ESA's 60th Annual Meeting -- which will be held November 11-14, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee.


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