EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012
The Johns Hopkins Center for Inherited Disease Research receives $101 million
The Johns Hopkins Center for Inherited Disease Research program contract, which provides up to $101 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health to study the genetic contribution to human diseases, has been renewed for another five years.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

PLOS ONE
'Selfish' DNA in animal mitochondria offers possible tool to study aging
Researchers have discovered, for the first time in any animal species, a type of "selfish" mitochondrial DNA that is actually hurting the organism and lessening its chance to survive � and bears a strong similarity to some damage done to human cells as they age. It could provide an important new model to study human aging.

National Institutes of Health

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: 9-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Scripps Research Institute scientists show copper facilitates prion disease
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute report in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that reducing copper in the body delays the onset of prion disease. Mice lacking a copper-transport gene lived significantly longer when infected with a prion disease than did normal mice.

National Institutes of Health, General Sir John Monash Foundation

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Neurology
Blood test for Alzheimer's gaining ground
The possibility of an inexpensive, convenient test for Alzheimer's disease has been on the horizon for several years, but previous research leads have been hard to duplicate. Now in a new study, scientists have taken a step toward developing a blood test for Alzheimer's, finding a group of markers that hold up in statistical analyses in three independent groups of patients.

National Institutes of Health, Viretta Brady Discovery Fund

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012
UIC study examines exercise and weight loss for older adults with osteoarthritis
UIC researchers have been awarded a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to study the effectiveness of two community-based health promotion programs for older adults with osteoarthritis.

NIH/National Institute on Aging

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
BUSM/VA researchers uncover gender differences in the effects of long-term alcoholism
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System have demonstrated that the effects on white matter brain volume from long-term alcohol abuse are different for men and women. The study, which is published online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, also suggests that with abstinence, women recover their white matter brain volume more quickly than men.

NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Research Service

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Experimental Biology and Medicine
Treating drug resistant cancer through targeted inhibition of sphingosine kinase
Scientists at Tulane University School of Medicine, led by Dr. James Antoon and Dr. Barbara Beckman, have characterized two drugs targeting sphingosine kinase (SK), an enzyme involved in cancer growth and metastasis. New treatments specifically attacking cancer cells, but not normal ones, are critical in the fight against cancer. The results, which appear in the July 2012 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, demonstrate the role of SK in drug resistance and therapeutic potential of SK inhibitors.

Center for Bioenvironmental Research, Tulane and Xavier Universities, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Science
Scientists describe antibodies that protect against large variety of flu viruses
A team led by scientists at the Scripps Research Institute and Crucell Vaccine Institute in the Netherlands describes three human antibodies that provide broad protection against Influenza B virus strains. The same team had previously reported finding broadly neutralizing antibodies against influenza A strains.

NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Genetics
Hormone in fruit flies sheds light on diabetes cure, weight-loss drug for humans
In a paper published in the October issue of Genetics and available online now, neurobiologists at Wake Forest University examine how fruit flies react when confronted with a decreased diet. Since fruit flies and humans share 30 percent of the same genes and their brains are wired similarly, the findings could be key to developing new treatments for diabetes and aiding in all sorts of metabolic research, including weight-loss drugs.

National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Science
Neuroscientists find brain stem cells that may be responsible for higher functions, bigger brains
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have identified a new stem cell population that may be responsible for giving birth to the neurons responsible for higher thinking.

Dorris Neuroscience Center, National Institutes of Health, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

Genetics
Scientists use worms to unearth cancer drug targets
Through novel experiments involving small nematode worms, scientists at the University of Wyoming in Laramie have discovered several genes that may be potential targets for drug development in the ongoing war against cancer. Specifically, researchers hypothesize that inhibiting these genes could reverse certain key traits associated with cancer cells. This discovery is published in the August 2012 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal Genetics.

National Institutes of Health