News & HighlightsNews
In mice, a new statistical analysis shows a sex hormone influences a drive to explore
Exhaustive searching may not guarantee a compatible mate, but that doesn’t stop most people from trying. Now, new research from Rockefeller University suggests that estrogens may be a driving force. Research in mice, led by George Reeke and Donald Pfaff, has shown that this family of sex hormones...
Dendritic cells stimulate cancer-cell growth
Since their discovery at Rockefeller University some 30 years ago, dendritic cells have been recognized as key players on the immune-system team, presenting antigens to other immune cells to help them respond to novel insults. Now, Rockefeller scientists have shown that dendritic cells also have ...
New gene-slicing method targets specific areas of the brain
To understand the role any one gene plays in an organism, scientists rely on knockout mice: They breed a mouse that lacks the gene they are interested in, then observe the effects. It doesn’t always work. Removing a gene from an entire mouse can create many problems, including killing the mouse b...
New look at world's forests shows many are expanding
For years, environmentalists have been raising the alarm about deforestation. But even as forests continue to shrink in some nations, others grow — and new research suggests the planet may now be nearing the transition to a greater sum of forests. A new formula to measure forest cover, developed ...
Living cells prosper without telomeres
In most cells, telomeres are a critical protection against death: If these caps at the ends of chromosomes fail, the cell’s life is cut short. But what’s true for most cells isn’t true for all cells, and a surprising new finding from Rockefeller University, recently published in Genes and Dev...
RNA map gives first comprehensive understanding of alternative splicing
It’s biology's version of the director’s cut. In much the same way that numerous films could be stitched together from a single reel of raw footage, a molecular process called alternative splicing enables a single gene to produce multiple proteins. Now a new RNA map, created by a team of researc...
Chronic stress effects attention by altering neuronal response in the brain
Anxiety and depression can make a person feel as if he’s battling his own brain, complete with wounds and scars. Traumatic events — war, divorce, the death of a loved one — can trigger these disorders, and scientists are just beginning to clarify the biological connection. Now, working neuron ...
Rockefeller University researchers decipher the shape of a sodium/potassium ion pump
Proteins studding the surface of cell membranes are vital to the cell, transmitting signals and maintaining equilibrium by moving charged molecules — ions — from one side to the other. Some of these proteins even use energy by acting as pumps, specialized channels with gates that strictly open o...
Study of birds suggests method of learning affects how the brain adds neurons
Teaching may be the world’s most noble profession. But new research from Fernando Nottebohm’s Rockefeller University laboratory shows that, in birds, the presence of a teacher may actually limit mental flexibility. Thirty days after they are born, male zebra finches start to imitate and learn t...
Study of hair follicles leads researchers to a key stem cell protein
With all the excitement over what stem cells can become, a few basic questions tend to be overlooked: Where do they come from? And how do they survive? They are important questions, and the answer has relevance to potential stem cell therapies and to cancer. In a recent paper in Science, Rockefel...
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