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Researchers modify yellow fever vaccine to fight malaria

There is no vaccine for malaria, which sickens almost a quarter of a billion people each year and kills a child every 30 seconds. That could be changing: researchers at The Rockefeller University have genetically transformed the yellow fever vaccine to prime the immune system to fend off the mos...
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New study of psoriatic cells could fire up the study of inflammation

New research promises to pry some long held secrets from one of humanity’s oldest known diseases. Scientists at Rockefeller University have discovered how to parse the most troublesome cells behind the debilitating skin lesions in psoriasis and have identified several distinctive markers that ...
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Scientists identify potential new target for schizophrenia drugs

Rockefeller University scientists have identified a protein that boosts the signaling power of a receptor involved in relaying messages between brain cells, a finding that suggests a new target for the development of treatments for schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. The protein, called Nor...
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Cell division orchestrated by multiple oscillating proteins, new research finds

Cell division is a crucial but dangerous business. It unfolds in a cycle of many steps, including DNA replication, spindle formation, mitosis and others, and they must happen in the right order to prevent abnormal cell death and cancer formation. New research from Rockefeller University examines...
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New gene for hair loss identified

A newly identified gene connected to hair growth may inform future treatments for male pattern baldness, says a team of researchers from Rockefeller, Columbia and Stanford Universities. The scientists found that the gene, called APCDD1, causes a type of progressive hair loss known as hereditary ...
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New probe technology illuminates the activation of light-sensing cells

Ultimately, Charles Darwin’s “endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful” can be boiled down to a scant 20 or so amino acids, the basic building blocks of life. From this parsimonious palette, nature paints the proteins that make up the wild diversity of life on earth, from the simple...
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Rockefeller particle physicists already at work as LHC particle collider research starts

A team of particle physicists from Rockefeller University watched intently as the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, collided protons at a record energy of 7 teraelectron volts (TeV) yesterday, officially marking the start of the LHC research pr...
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New book by population biologist asks why we educate children

Ensuring that every child worldwide has an education sounds like a worthy goal. But as access to public education remains scarce in many parts of the world, a new book by Rockefeller University’s Joel E. Cohen steps back and asks what people want to accomplish through universal basic and seconda...
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Scientists pinpoint source of recurrent yeast infections in autoimmune syndrome

Infectious diseases are not always caused by infection. In work reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers at Rockefeller University reveal that patients who suffer from a rare autoimmune disorder that makes them vulnerable to yeast infections produce antibodies that target and...
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Scientists track variant of gene-regulating protein in embryonic stem cells

The journey from embryonic stem cell to a fully developed liver, heart or muscle cell requires not only the right genes, but genes that are turned on and off at the right time — a job that is handled in part by DNA-packaging proteins known as histones. But it turns out that not all histones are c...
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Research identifies gene that changes the brain’s response to stress

Stress can literally warp your brain, reshaping some brain structures that help cope with life’s pressures. In the short term, the stress response can be helpful — i.e., fight or flight — but over time it leads to a wear and tear that can cause disease in both the brain and other parts of ...
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Imaging studies reveal order in programmed cell death

Every day, about 10 billion cells in a human body commit suicide. Cells infected by virus, that are transformed or otherwise dysfunctional altruistically sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Now, new imaging experiments have revealed a previously unseen order to this process, showing close...
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Mouse model reveals a cause of ADHD

Although it’s typically considered an adolescent curse, ADHD actually affects about five percent of adults as well. New research in a mouse model of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder suggests that the root of the psychiatric disorder might be the over-activity of a protein that regulate...
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Research identifies gene with likely role in premenstrual disorder

Scientists have identified a gene they say is a strong candidate for involvement in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and other maladies associated with the natural flux in hormones during the menstrual cycle. In a paper to be published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci...
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Scientists crash test DNA’s replication machinery

Enzymes that travel along DNA to copy or transcribe it — the crucial processes underlying cell replication and protein production — aren’t coordinated by a central dispatcher. In fact, they often collide. Now, Rockefeller University researchers have discovered that when DNA-copying machine...
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Newly engineered enzyme is a powerful staph antibiotic

With their best chemical antibiotics slowly failing, scientists are increasingly looking to nature for a way to control deadly staph bacteria — the culprit behind most hospital infections. Naturally toxic for bacteria, enzymes called lysins have the promising ability to obliterate staph, but t...
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By tracking water molecules, physicists hope to unlock secrets of life

The key to life as we know it is water, a tiny molecule with some highly unusual properties, such as the ability to retain large amounts of heat and to lose, instead of gain, density as it solidifies. It behaves so differently from other liquids, in fact, that by some measures it shouldn’t eve...
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Brain arousal heightens sexual activity in male mice

The most powerful sexual organ, it’s said, is the brain. Now here’s the evidence. New research from Rockefeller University shows that an overly excitable brain hastens sexual activity in male mice and increases their nervous energy, a finding that not only points to the existence of a centra...
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Researchers track evolution and spread of drug-resistant bacteria across hospitals and continents

An international team of researchers has used high resolution genome sequencing to track a particularly virulent strain of MRSA as it traveled between South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The findings shed light on how these deadly bacteria are able to spread from patient to patient in a sin...
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First evidence that the brain’s native dendritic cells can muster an immune response

The human brain is a delicate organ, robustly defended. A thick skull shields it from any direct exposure to the outside world, and the blood-brain barrier keeps out any foreign substances that are circulating within. New research shows that the brain may have its own specialized immune defenses,...
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Clinical trial to explore link between vitamin D and cholesterol

An unusual finding in previous studies of vitamin D-deficient patients has prompted Rockefeller University researchers to launch a new clinical study to determine whether there is a causative link between vitamin D supplementation and changes in cholesterol levels in people at risk for cardiovasc...
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Loosely coiled DNA helps trypanosomes make their escape

To escape the grip of the human immune system, Trypanosoma brucei, which causes African sleeping sickness, performs its acclaimed disappearing act. Every time the host’s immune cells get close to eliminating the infection, a small number of trypanosomes avoid detection by changing their surface ...
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Loss of epigenetic regulators causes mental retardation

Developing neurons don’t just need the right genes to guide them as they grow, they need access to the right genes at the right times. The improper functioning of one specific protein complex that normally suppresses gene activation is responsible for a mental retardation-like syndrome in mice, r...
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DNA ‘barcoding’ reveals 95 species of life in NYC homes, students show

Two New York City high school students exploring their homes using the latest high-tech DNA analysis techniques were astonished to discover a veritable zoo of 95 animal species surrounding them, in everything from fridges to furniture. Guided by DNA “barcoding” experts at The Rockefeller Univer...
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Scientists visualize how a vital hepatitis C virus protein moves along its nucleic acid substrate

By taking three conformational snapshots of a hepatitis C virus motor protein in association with its substrate, researchers at Rockefeller University have provided the first structural explanation of how a representative superfamily 2 helicase moves unidirectionally along nucleic acid, suggestin...
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Genomic differences identified in common skin diseases

It’s sometimes said that dermatologists do one of two things (though it’s not dermatologists who say it): Faced with a skin disease that’s too dry, they try to wet it; if the disease is too wet, they try to dry it. There’s some wisdom in this general approach, says James G. Krueger, head of ...
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Rockefeller University receives nearly $27 million in ARRA grants

Investigators at The Rockefeller University have so far been awarded 41 federal grants and supplemental awards through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) — the so-called “stimulus” legislation passed by Congress last winter. The awards — 40 from the National Institutes...
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Mutation leads to new and severe form of bacterial disease

Fighting an illness is not just about fighting the bacteria or viruses that cause it, it also has to do with your genes. In new research from Rockefeller University and the Necker Medical School in Paris, scientists have identified a gene mutation that makes children susceptible to a severe form ...
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Bacterial protein mimics its host to disable a key enzyme

Helicobacter pylori infects up to 90 percent of people in the developing world and causes gastric ulcers and cancers of the gut. Now scientists have revealed a subterfuge used by the bacterium to trick stomach cells into playing along. By injecting a protein into the stomach lining that mimics a ...
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New molecule identified in DNA damage response

In the harsh judgment of natural selection, the ultimate measure of success is reproduction. So it’s no surprise that life spends lavish resources on this feat, whether in the courtship behavior of birds and bees or replicating the cells that keep them alive. Now research has identified a new pie...
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Elusive protein points to mechanism behind hearing loss

A serendipitous discovery of deaf zebra fish larvae has helped narrow down the function of an elusive protein necessary for hearing and balance. The work, led by Rockefeller University’s A. James Hudspeth, suggests that hearing loss may arise from a faulty pathway that translates sound waves into...
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Rockefeller human embryonic stem cell lines now available through NIH registry

Two human embryonic stem cell lines, derived by Rockefeller University scientists, are among the first 13 human embryonic stem cell lines for use in research funded by the National Institutes of Health under the NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research adopted in July 2009. The two lines, call...
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Acute stress leaves epigenetic marks on the hippocampus

In trying to explain psychiatric disorders, genes simply cannot tell the whole story. The real answers are in the interaction of genes and the environment. Post-traumatic stress disorder requires some trauma, for instance, and people, for the most part, aren’t born depressed. Now research has rev...
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Scientists identify DNA that regulates antibody production

Performance enhancers are the currency of a competitive society. But there’s one that we have always had: For millions of years, segments of our DNA have improved the performance of our genome, revving up protein production at those times we need it most. New research from Rockefeller University ...
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Multitasking may be Achilles heel for hepatitis C

Despite its tiny genome, the hepatitis C virus packs a mean punch. The virus is a microcosm of efficiency, and each of its amino acids plays multiple roles in its survival and ability to sidestep attack. But new research from Rockefeller University suggests that this fancy footwork and multitaski...
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Imaging study shows HIV particles assembling around its genome

HIV is a wily and lethal replicator. In less than 25 years, it’s killed more than 25 million people. Scientists are exploring exactly how this virus reproduces because they would like to find a way to abort the process. Now, just two years after a group at Rockefeller University was the first to ...
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Two proteins act as molecular tailors in DNA repair

Every day tiny segments of our DNA are chipped or fragmented or get stuck together when they should really be pulled apart. But what our genome necessarily lacks in stability it makes up for with a phalanx of guards that monitor and repair the damage. In new research to appear in this week’s adva...
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High fat diet increases inflammation in the mouse colon

Colorectal cancer, the third most common type of cancer worldwide, has been linked to an increased prevalence of the Western diet: one high in fat and low in fiber, vitamin D and calcium. Now, a team of scientists led by researchers at Rockefeller University have shown what happens to colon tissu...
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Scientists reveal a new mechanism that increases atherosclerosis in mice

A shot of espresso may rev you up in the morning, but the downside is that it may also ramp up levels of bad cholesterol due to its effects on a unique liver protein called PXR. New research from Rockefeller University now shows that when chronically activated, the protein rejiggers how cholester...
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Immune system uses a “leash” to restrict HIV’s spread

Measure. Countermeasure. So the war against a virus unfolds. The immune system comes up with one defense and the invader finds a way to thwart it. New research on HIV details a new example of this ongoing struggle, showing that the immune system produces an antiviral protein called tetherin that ...
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Disrupting sleep causes problems for the body and brain

Anyone who has pulled an all-nighter or flown across an ocean knows you can’t mess up your sleep schedule without unpleasant consequences. New research in mice now shows that throwing off natural circadian rhythms over the long term can seriously disturb the body and brain, causing weight gain an...
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Checkered history of mother and daughter cells explains cell cycle differences

When mother and daughter cells are created each time a cell divides, they are not exactly alike. They have the same set of genes, but differ in the way they regulate them. New research now reveals that these regulatory differences between mother and daughter cells are directly linked to how they ...
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Transgenic songbirds provide new tool to understand the brain

You can learn a lot from an animal. By manipulating the DNA of mice, flies, frogs and worms, scientists have discovered a great deal about the genes and molecules behind many of life’s essential processes. These basic functions often work about the same in people as they do in “model” animals....
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“Promiscuous” protein interactions found in the nuclear pore complex

In higher organisms, cells are very selective about what passes in and out of their nuclei, where the genes reside. This selectivity helps protect the DNA and is the job of machines that stud the envelope of the nucleus, called nuclear pore complexes. These gatekeepers have proved largely inscrut...
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Clinical study to probe genetic link to Salmonella diseases

Depending on your genes, Salmonella can mean a lot more than food poisoning. In a new clinical study, researchers at The Rockefeller University Hospital are narrowing in on the genetic link that predisposes a person to a set of complications known as severe nontyphoidal salmonellosis (SNTS). The ...
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New model suggests how the brain might stay in balance

The human brain is made up of 100 billion neurons — live wires that must be kept in delicate balance to stabilize the world’s most magnificent computing organ. Too much excitement and the network will slip into an apoplectic, uncomprehending chaos. Too much inhibition and it will flatline. A new...
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To better control Chagas disease, focus funds more efficiently, scientists say

One widespread approach to controlling insect-borne infectious diseases is controlling the populations of insects that cause the infections. In the case of Chagas disease, a chronic infection of 10 million people worldwide with no available cures or vaccines, it’s the “kissing bug” that public...
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New technique allows scientists to penetrate yeast cells' hard exterior

If you want to know how a cell responds to a particular chemical, the experiment is simple: Inject it with that chemical. Micropipettes — tiny needles that can puncture a cell and deliver a compound directly into it — are used precisely for this purpose. But biologists who study yeast have not h...
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Two proteins enable skin cells to regenerate

Nevermind facial masks and exfoliating scrubs, skin takes care of itself. Stem cells located within the skin actively generate differentiating cells that can ultimately form either the body surface or the hairs that emanate from it. In addition, these stem cells are able to replenish themselves, ...
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New research supports model for nuclear pore complex

To protect their DNA, cells in higher organisms are very choosy about what they allow in and out of their nuclei, where the genes reside. Guarding access is the job of transport machines called nuclear pore complexes, which stud the nuclear membrane. Despite these gatekeepers’ conspicuously large...
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Scientists identify stomach's timekeepers of hunger

New York collaborators at Columbia and Rockefeller Universities have identified cells in the stomach that time the release of a hormone that makes animals anticipate food and eat even when they are not hungry. The finding, which has implications for the treatment of obesity, marks a landmark in t...
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Anthrax bacteria conspire with viruses to stay alive

The research, led by Vincent A. Fischetti, head of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology, and Raymond Schuch, a research assistant professor in the lab, revamps the way scientists think about how pathogens exist in the environment in between outbreaks, focusing on the role virus...
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Model suggests how life's code emerged from primordial soup

In 1952, Stanley Miller filled two flasks with chemicals assumed to be present on the primitive Earth, connected the flasks with rubber tubes and introduced some electrical sparks as a stand-in for lightning. The now famous experiment showed what amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, coul...
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Acute stress improves working memory, research suggests

Day after day of chronic stress will wear a person down physically and mentally. But new research suggests that the acute stress produced by a brief run-in with a stressful scenario acts on a key brain region controlling emotion and cognition, temporarily improving learning and memory. Researcher...
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Songbirds' elaborate cries for food show first signs of vocal learning

Only a handful of social animals — songbirds, some marine mammals, some bats and humans — learn to actively style their vocal communications. Babies, for instance, start by babbling, their first chance to experiment with sounds. Now, new research in songbirds shows that vocal experimentation may...
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New imaging studies reveal mechanics of neuron migration

The development of the brain proceeds a little like the European settlement of North America. The earliest pioneers settled on the east coast with subsequent waves of settlers forming communities further and further westward. In cortical regions of the developing brain, generations of young neuro...
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By manipulating oxygen, scientists coax bacteria into a wave

Bacteria know that they are too small to make an impact individually. So they wait, they multiply, and then they engage in behaviors that are only successful when all cells participate in unison. There are hundreds of behaviors that bacteria carry out in such communities. Now researchers at Rocke...
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Handle with care: Telomeres resemble DNA fragile sites

Telomeres, the repetitive sequences of DNA at the ends of linear chromosomes, have an important function: They protect vulnerable chromosome ends from molecular attack. Researchers at Rockefeller University now show that telomeres have their own weakness. They resemble unstable parts of the genom...
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Research suggests core nuclear pore elements shared by all eukaryotes

For perhaps 1.8 billion years after life first emerged on Earth, a sort of evolutionary writer’s block stalled the development of organisms more complicated than single cells. Then, a burst of experimental creativity about 1.7 billion years ago brought the cell nucleus onto the scene, stashing th...
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Cells use import machinery to export their goods as well

In the bustling economy of the cell, little bubbles called vesicles serve as container ships, ferrying cargo to and from the port — the cell membrane. Some of these vesicles, called post-Golgi vesicles, export cargo made by the cell’s protein factory. Scientists have long believed that other, si...
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