News & HighlightsNews
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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....
“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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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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