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To survive, a parasite mixes and matches its disguises, study suggests
Orchestrated costume changes make it possible for certain nasty microbes to outsmart the immune system, which would otherwise recognize them by the telltale proteins they wear. By taking the first detailed look at how one such parasite periodically assumes a new protein disguise during a long-ter...
Researchers master gene editing technique in mosquito that transmits deadly diseases
Traditionally, to understand how a gene functions, a scientist would breed an organism that lacks that gene — “knocking it out” — then ask how the organism has changed. Are its senses affected? Its behavior? Can it even survive? Thanks to the recent advance of gene editing technology, this ...
In the News - New York Times Dot Earth - Ausubel
Earth’s untallied biological bounty, from L.A. suburbs to deep seabed sediments  "Recent chats with Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University drew me this week to remarkable new discoveries of traces of life in sediment layers up to 200 feet beneath the South Pacific Ocean seabed that were long pre...
Chemical tag marks future microRNAs for processing, study shows
Just as two DNA strands naturally arrange themselves into a helix, DNA’s molecular cousin RNA can form hairpin-like loops. But unlike DNA, which has a single job, RNA can play many parts — including acting as a precursor for small molecules that block the activity of genes. These small RNA molec...
Changes in a blood-based molecular pathway identified in Alzheimer’s disease
By the time most people receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease — based on clinical signs of mental decline — their brains have already suffered a decade or more of damage. But although the mechanisms that spur the destruction of neurons in Alzheimer’s disease are not yet fully understood...
Scientists pinpoint molecule that controls stem cell plasticity by boosting gene expression
Stem cells can have a strong sense of identity. Taken out of their home in the hair follicle, for example, and grown in culture, these cells remain true to themselves. After waiting in limbo, these cultured cells become capable of regenerating follicles and other skin structures once transplanted...
In the News - Xconomy - Darnell
Six Takeaways From "New York’s Life Science Disruptors"  "Genomics is so daunting, it made New York institutions collaborate...The answers to so many questions are at scientists’ fingertips, but finding them is a huge undertaking. [Robert] Darnell’s lab at Rockefeller University, for instance...
New antibody therapy dramatically improves psoriasis symptoms in clinical trial
Many patients suffering from psoriasis showed significant recovery after just a single dose of an experimental treatment with a human antibody that blocks an immune signaling protein crucial to the disease, researchers report. By the end of the trial, conducted at Rockefeller University and seven...
Lewis Thomas Prize to honor mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Ian Stewart
Two mathematicians, Ian Stewart and Steven Strogatz, will share the 2015 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science awarded by The Rockefeller University. Stewart, from The University of Warwick and Gresham College in the United Kingdom, and Strogatz, from Cornell, are the first mathematicians ...
Analysis of worm neurons suggests how a single stimulus can trigger different responses
Even worms have free will. If offered a delicious smell, for example, a roundworm will usually stop its wandering to investigate the source, but sometimes it won’t. Just as with humans, the same stimulus does not always provoke the same response, even from the same individual. New research at Roc...
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