EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 25-Jun-2013

PLOS Medicine
Overweight causes heart failure -- large study with new method clarifies the association
An international research team led by Swedish scientists has used a new method to investigate obesity and overweight as a cause of cardiovascular disease. Strong association have been found previously, but it has not been clear whether it was overweight as such that was the cause, or if the overweight was just a marker of another underlying cause, as clinical trials with long-term follow-ups are difficult to implement.

Public Release: 24-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Genetic survey sheds light on Oceans' lean, mean microbial machines: UBC research
A Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study is the first direct evidence of widespread genome reduction -- organisms evolving to cast off superfluous genes and traits in favor of simpler, specialized genetic make-ups optimized for rapid growth.

Tula Foundation, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Public Release: 23-Jun-2013

eLife
Plants do sums to get through the night
Using fundamental processes instead of brain cells, plants measure the time until dawn and divide that by their stored starch levels.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Public Release: 23-Jun-2013

Nature Genetics
Getting to grips with migraine
Migraine is an extremely difficult disorder to study. Between episodes, the patient is basically healthy, making the underlying pathology very difficult to uncover. In the largest migraine study, an international team of researchers have identified genetic regions linked to the onset and susceptibility of migraine.

Public Release: 21-Jun-2013
Stanford's Environmental Ventures Projects program funds 7 new sustainability studies
The 2013 Environmental Venture Projects enable interdisciplinary research studies that propose practical solutions to major sustainability challenges.

Public Release: 20-Jun-2013

Science
A revolutionary new 3-D digital brain atlas
BigBrain is the first 3-D microstructural model of the entire human brain, and is free and publicly available to researchers world-wide. The results of the BigBrain model, created at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -- The Neuro, McGill University -- in collaboration with researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, are published today in the June 20 issue of Science.

Public Release: 20-Jun-2013

PLOS Computational Biology
Bacterial DNA may integrate into human genome more readily in tumor tissue
Bacterial DNA may integrate into the human genome more readily in tumors than in normal human tissue, according to a new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute for Genome Sciences. Researchers analyzed genomic sequencing data available from the Human Genome Project, the 1,000 Genomes Project and The Cancer Genome Atlas. They considered the phenomenon of lateral gene transfe, the transmission of genetic material between organisms in the absence of sex.

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

Nature Communications
Genetics of cervical cancer raise concern about antiviral therapy in some cases
A new understanding of the genetic process that can lead to cervical cancer may help improve diagnosis of potentially dangerous lesions for some women, and also raises a warning flag about the use of anti-viral therapies in certain cases -- suggesting they could actually trigger the cancer they are trying to cure.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

Nature Genetics
New research backs theory that genetic 'switches' play big role in human evolution
A Cornell University study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 million to 6 million years ago was profoundly influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning genes on and off.

The Packard Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

PhytoKeys
A synthesis of the 36451 specimens from the UNEX Herbarium in a new data paper
A new peer reviewed open access data paper published in Phytokeys offers a comprehensive synthesis of the 36451 specimens preserved in the herbarium of the University of Extremadura (UNEX Herbarium) in an attempt to disseminate the data contained, and promote their multiple uses. All data in the collection can be easily accessed through the GBIF data portal.

Public Release: 16-Jun-2013

Nature Methods
Mapping translation sites in the human genome
John Chaput and his colleagues at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute have produced the first genome-wide investigation of cap-independent translation, identifying thousands of mRNA sequences that act as Translation Enhancing Elements, which are RNA sequences upstream of the coding region that help recruit the ribosome to the translation start site.

Public Release: 14-Jun-2013

Nature Communications
Using math to kill cancer cells
Nature Communications has published a paper from Ottawa researchers today, outlining how advanced mathematical modelling can be used in the fight against cancer. The technique predicts how different treatments and genetic modifications might allow cancer-killing, oncolytic viruses to overcome the natural defences that cancer cells use to stave off viral infection.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Terry Fox Foundation, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Cancer Research Society, Hecht Foundation/Canadian Cancer Society

Public Release: 13-Jun-2013

PLOS Computational Biology
Male preference for younger female mates identified as likely cause of menopause
A study published in this week's PLOS Computational Biology reports that menopause is an unintended outcome of natural selection caused by the preference of males for younger female mates. While conventional thinking has held that menopause prevents older women from continuing to reproduce, the researchers, from McMaster's University, concluded that it is the lack of reproduction that has given rise to menopause.

Public Release: 12-Jun-2013

Annual Meeting of the National Project Malaspina
Spanish researchers sequence the genome of global deep ocean
A team of Spanish researchers, coordinated by the Spanish National Research Council, has started to sequence the genome of the global deep ocean. They are using more than 2,000 samples of microorganisms collected in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans during the Malaspina Expedition. This collection of marine microbial genomic, the first in the world on a global scale, will provide new clues about a reservoir of biodiversity yet to explore.

Public Release: 12-Jun-2013

Nature
Researchers unravel reasons of global success in the calcified alga Emiliania huxleyi
In collaboration with an international team of researchers, scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have sequenced the genome of the calcified alga Emiliania huxleyi and have found an explanation for the enormous adaptive potential and global distribution of this unicellular alga.

Public Release: 11-Jun-2013
The Genetics Society of America announces Fall 2013 DeLill Nasser Travel Award recipients
The Genetics Society of America announces the selection of five graduate students and five postdoctoral researchers as recipients of 2013 DeLill Nasser Awards for Professional Development in Genetics. The award is a $1,000 travel grant for each researcher to attend any national or international meeting, conference or laboratory course that will enhance his or her career.

Genetics Society of America

Public Release: 11-Jun-2013

61st ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics
Protein database for biomedical research
SAP AG and Technische Universitaet Muenchen today announced ProteomicsDB, a data base that stores protein and peptide identifications from mass spectrometry-based experiments. The proteomic data resulted from the identification of proteins mapping to over 18,000 human genes. This represents 90 percent coverage of the human proteome. Data stored and analyzed within ProteomicsDB can be used in basic and biomedical research for discovering therapeutic targets, developing new drugs and enhanced diagnosis methods.

Public Release: 11-Jun-2013

PLOS Genetics
Painting by numbers
Individuals of a particular species generally differ from one another. We are clearly most adept at recognizing members of our own species. Differences within species relate to characteristics such as size and shape but also to color. Nevertheless, the cause of the variation in skin color in animals has remained largely a matter for conjecture. Recent work in the group of Christian Schlötterer at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna sheds light on the topic.

Public Release: 6-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Math technique de-clutters cancer-cell data, revealing tumor evolution, treatment leads
Today, two scientists from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory publish a mathematical method of simplifying and interpreting genome data bearing evidence of mutations, such as those that characterize specific cancers.

Public Release: 6-Jun-2013

ZooKeys
Unique information on Belgian ants compiled and published through FORMIDABEL data paper
A new peer reviewed data paper describes a unique database spanning the full range of indigenous and exotic ants occurring in Belgium. The paper, published in the open access journal Zookeys analyses the history, content and use of the FORMIDABEL database, and includes innovative citation practices aimed at giving credit to all those involved in compiling and publishing the data resource.

Public Release: 6-Jun-2013

Molecular Biology and Evolution
A CNIO study tracks the evolutionary history of a cancer-related gene
A study published today by scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre describes how a genetic duplication that took place in the vertebrate ancestor some 500 million years ago encouraged the evolution of the ASF1b gene; a gene essential for proper cell division and related to some types of cancer such as breast cancer. The results of the study are published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, one of the most prestigious journals in the field of molecular biology and evolution.

Public Release: 6-Jun-2013

Science
Metabolic model of E. coli reveals how bacterial growth responds to temperature change
Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a computational model of 1,366 genes in E. coli that includes 3D protein structures and has enabled them to compute the temperature sensitivity of the bacterium's proteins. The study, published June 7 in the journal Science, opens the door for engineers to create heat-tolerant microbial strains for production of commodity chemicals, therapeutic proteins and other industrial applications.

National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 6-Jun-2013
Eurofins MWG Operon and Floragenex close co-marketing agreement for RAD discovery and RAD genotyping
Eurofins MWG Operon (Ebersberg, Germany) and Floragenex Inc. (Portland, OR, USA) have agreed to jointly market their respective expertise in next generation DNA sequencing and genomic services surrounding Restriction Site Associated DNA sequencing.

Public Release: 4-Jun-2013

Physical Review Letters
Quantum model helps solve mysteries of water
A research team from the National Physical Laboratory, the University of Edinburgh and IBM's TJ Watson Research Center has revealed a major breakthrough in the modelling of water that could shed light on its mysterious properties.

Public Release: 4-Jun-2013

Lancet
Research teams find genetic variant that could improve warfarin dosing in African-Americans
In the first genome-wide association study to focus on warfarin dose requirement in African-Americans, a multi-institutional team of researchers has identified a common genetic variation that can help physicians estimate the correct dose of the widely used blood-thinning drug warfarin.

National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, Wellcome Trust, Health Research, Howard Hughes Medical Institute


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