EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 7-Mar-2013
The large-scale EU project EU BON: Towards integration with its global counterpart GEO BON
The new large-scale EU BON (Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network) project has held its first conference and Kickoff meeting in February 2013 in Berlin. Among the main goals drafted, are the better integration with the concept of Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, the improved interaction with similar project and incentives, and the enhanced intercommunication between the different partners and work packages.

Public Release: 5-Mar-2013

American Journal of Botany
Assembling the transcriptome of a noxious weed: New resources for studying how plants invade
Scientists have assembled transcriptomes of a noxious weed, Brachypodium sylvaticum, or slender false brome. The transcriptome provides an extensive genetic tool for studying how invasive species, like slender false brome, successfully spread into novel ranges. In addition, the genome is available for a closely related species, Brachypodium distachyon. Together, the transcriptome and genome can be used as a reference for pinpointing differences in slender false brome genes and gene activity that may contribute to its invasive capabilities.

Public Release: 5-Mar-2013

Nature Reviews Genetics
Molecular coordination in evolution: A review in 'Nature Reviews Genetics'
Spanish National Cancer Research Centre researchers Alfonso Valencia, Director of the Structural Biology and Biocomputing Programme and David de Juan, jointly with Florencio Pazos, from the Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology, publish a review on the latest computational methods that, based on evolutionary principles, are revolutionizing the field of analysis and prediction of protein structure, function and protein-protein interactions, as well as the short- and long-term expectations for the field.

Public Release: 3-Mar-2013

Nature Biotechnology
International consortium builds 'Google Map' of human metabolism
Building on earlier pioneering work by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, an international consortium of university researchers has produced the most comprehensive virtual reconstruction of human metabolism to date. Scientists could use the model, known as Recon 2, to identify causes of and new treatments for diseases like cancer, diabetes and even psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

Public Release: 27-Feb-2013

Journal of Proteome Research
Seeing through HIV's disguises
Studying HIV-1, the most common and infectious HIV subtype, Johns Hopkins scientists have identified 25 human proteins "stolen" by the virus that may be critical to its ability to infect new cells. The researchers believe these 25 proteins may be particularly important because they are found in HIV-1 viruses coming from two very different types of infected cells.

NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University

Public Release: 22-Feb-2013
BESAFE Conference in Manchester: Working towards a brighter future for biodiversity
The EU FP7 projects BESAFE and BIOMOT are holding a joint meeting in Manchester, 20-22 Feb., to discuss results and set up priorities for the future. The goal of the meeting is to share research outcomes and data in a joint effort towards identifying effective arguments and motivations to protect biodiversity .

Public Release: 20-Feb-2013
Research secured for the future: Pensoft Publishers takes on CLOCKSS archival technology
Pensoft Publishers is pleased to announce the full integration of its open access journals with the CLOCKSS Archive. The partnership reflects Pensoft's vision for the long-term availability of open access scholarly content for the global research community. The CLOCKSS Archive guarantees Pensoft's journals will remain intact, securely stored, and freely available in perpetuity. As an added benefit, Pensoft is participating in the international Global LOCKSS Network supporting libraries and their local collections.

Public Release: 18-Feb-2013
New supercomputer to aid genomics research
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications has gifted the Institute for Genomic Biology a highly parallel shared memory supercomputer named Ember. The Ember computing system has become part of the IGB biocluster, adding 1536 cores and eight terabytes of memory spread across four nodes.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 16-Feb-2013

2013 AAAS Annual Meeting
Mentoring models to move minorities to majorities in STEM
Evidence of a shift in US demographics and importance of minorities took center stage during the Presidential election, but how do those growing toward majority acquire representation in our educational and technological communities?

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 14-Feb-2013
Bridges experimental and bioinformatics perspectives to delineate protein-DNA interactions
The control of gene expression by protein–DNA interactions is one of the foundations of molecular biology. "Introduction to Protein-DNA Interactions", newly published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, synthesizes what we know about these interactions from the perspectives of molecular and structural biology and bioinformatics, with the aim of bridging these approaches to provide an overall understanding of the nature of protein–DNA interactions.

Public Release: 14-Feb-2013

Journal of Royal Society Interface
New methodology to predict pandemics
EcoHealth Alliance, the nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, announced new research focused on the rapid identification of disease outbreaks in the peer reviewed publication, Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Public Release: 14-Feb-2013
NIH funds research to identify Parkinson's biomarkers
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded a three-year, $900,000 grant to the Center for Biomedical Imaging Statistics at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health. The grant will fund the center's biomarker research in Parkinson's disease to identify non-invasive imaging measures that can detect changes in brain function and biochemistry.

Public Release: 12-Feb-2013

PLOS ONE
Discovering cell surface proteins' behavior
A Simon Fraser University chemist is the lead author on a new paper that advances scientific understanding of the structure and function of glycoproteins, in particular the number and positioning of sugars on them. PLOS ONE, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online, scientific research journal, has just published the paper, N-glycoproteome of E14.Tg2a Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells. Glycoproteins are membrane proteins and are often involved in human diseases. They facilitate communication between cells.

Public Release: 12-Feb-2013

Journal of Neuroscience
Early music lessons boost brain development
A study published last month in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that musical training before the age of seven has a significant effect on the development of the brain, showing that those who began early had stronger connections between motor regions -- the parts of the brain that help you plan and carry out movements.

Public Release: 12-Feb-2013
SIB, GeneBio and Quartz Bio unveil a collaboration on MegaClust
The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva Bioinformatics SA and Quartz Bio SA today announced the establishment of a long-term collaboration under which they will cooperate in order to develop, use and jointly promote MegaClust, the SIB platform for the analysis of flow cytometry data.

Public Release: 12-Feb-2013
EU BON: Working towards integrated and comprehensive global biodiversity data
The official Kick-off Meeting of the EU-funded EU BON project marks a considerable move towards biodiversity data collection and integration. EU BON's efforts are aimed at facilitating comprehensive biodiversity data monitoring at a global level, through collaboration with GEO BON (Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network).

Public Release: 12-Feb-2013
International biodiversity data symposium to mark the kickoff of the EU BON project
The International Symposium "Nature and Governance -- Biodiversity Data, Science, and the Policy Interface" took place on Feb. 11-12, just before the official kickoff of the EU-funded research project EU BON. The symposium discussed the landscape of collection, monitoring and integration of biodiversity data, as well as the main objectives of the EU BON project.

Public Release: 8-Feb-2013
Essential informatics methods and tools for analyzing the explosion of NGS data
Next-generation DNA sequencing technology has revolutionized biomedical research, making complete genome sequencing an affordable and frequently used tool for a wide variety of research applications. Next-Generation DNA Sequencing Informatics, published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, is the first book of its kind to address the informatics needs of scientists who wish to take advantage of the explosion of research opportunities offered by new DNA sequencing technologies.

Public Release: 7-Feb-2013

Science
ORNL scientists solve mercury mystery, Science reports
By identifying two genes required for transforming inorganic into organic mercury, which is far more toxic, scientists today have taken a significant step toward protecting human health.

Public Release: 7-Feb-2013

Nature Biotechnology
Scientists team with business innovators to solve 'big data' bottleneck
Researchers have demonstrated that a crowdsourcing platform pioneered in the commercial sector can solve a complex biological problem more quickly than conventional approaches--and at a fraction of the cost.

Harvard Business School's Division of Research and Faculty Development, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Tournament Lab

Public Release: 6-Feb-2013

IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society International Special Topic Conference
Personalized health care will revolutionize 21st century medicine, says NJIT professor
A closer look at personalized or point-of-care health care was the focus of a recent international conference in India organized and chaired by NJIT Distinguished Professor Atam Dhawan. The IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society International Special Topic Conference in point-of-care health-care technologies, broadcast around the world, focused on topics ranging from 21st century medicine with new smart cross-and trans-disciplinary technologies to how wireless communications will change how physicians care for patients.

Public Release: 6-Feb-2013

PLOS ONE
UMass Amherst biostatisticians identify genes linked to heart disease
"This new approach to data analysis provides opportunities for developing new treatments. It also advances approaches to identifying people at greatest risk for heart disease. Another important point is that our method is straightforward to use with freely available computer software and can be applied broadly to advance genetic knowledge of many diseases. We hope this moves us toward greater understanding of common disorders and improving overall health in our society."

NIH/Health National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Public Release: 5-Feb-2013

Cancer Discovery
Study finds potential to match tumors with known cancer drugs
Researchers have found a new way to match potential cancer treatments with an individual tumor: assess the landscape of kinases and find a kinase inhibitor that goes after the highest-expressing kinases in that tumor.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, US Department of Defense, Rich Rogel Fund for Pancreatic Cancer Research

Public Release: 5-Feb-2013
Geneviève Almouzni to receive the 2013 FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award
EMBO and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) announce Geneviève Almouzni, deputy director of the Institut Curie in Paris, France, as the winner of the 2013 FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award.

EMBO, Federation of European Biochemical Societies

Public Release: 4-Feb-2013

ZooKeys
Biodiversity exploration in the 3-D era
A group of marine biologists from the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Crete are testing computed tomography as a tool to accurately document the anatomy of biological specimens. The resulting 3-D models can be instantly accessed and interactively manipulated by other researchers, thus promoting rapid dissemination of morphological data useful to biodiversity research. Data are freely downloadable from the Dryad data Repository. The study was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.


			HOME DISCLAIMER PRIVACY POLICY TERMS & CONDITIONS CONTACT US TOP Copyright ©2013 by AAAS, the science society.