New Congenital Neutropenia Syndrome And Causative Gene Mutation Identified By Scientists A team of scientists has discovered a new syndrome associated with severe congenital neutropenia (SCN), a rare disorder in which children lack sufficient infection-fighting white cells, and identified the genetic cause of the syndrome: mutations in the gene Glucose-6-phosphatase, catalytic subunit 3 (G6PC3). The findings, which are published in the Jan.
Novel Glioblastoma Mouse Model Developed By Salk ResearchersResearchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a versatile mouse model of glioblastoma - the most common and deadly brain cancer in humans - that closely resembles the development and progression of human brain tumors that arise naturally. "Mouse models of human cancer have taught us a great deal about the basic principles of cancer biology," says Inder Verma, Ph.D., a professor in the Laboratory of Genetics.
New Device Couples, Fuses Cells For Stem Cell ResearchMIT engineers have developed a new, highly efficient way to pair up cells so they can be fused together into a hybrid cell. The new technique should make it much easier for scientists to study what happens when two cells are combined. For example, fusing an adult cell and an embryonic stem cell allows researchers to study the genetic reprogramming that occurs in such hybrids.
Hawai'i DOH Launches Enhanced Online Licensing For Clinical Laboratory ProfessionalsRenewing Hawai'i state clinical laboratory personnel licenses just got easier. The Hawai'i State Department of Health (DOH) State Laboratories Division (SLD) now allows clinical laboratory professionals to update their profiles and pay license renewal fees online. The website is a collaboration between SLD and Apusys LLC, which developed the database and web interface, and the Hawai'i Information Consortium, which managed the payment transactions.
Scientists Pull Protein's Tail To Curtail CancerWhen researchers look inside human cancer cells for the whereabouts of an important tumor- suppressor, they often catch the protein playing hooky, lolling around in cellular broth instead of muscling its way out to the cells' membranes and foiling cancer growth.
December Issue Of Cell Features NIDA-Funded Study That Focuses On The Generation Of Stem Cell Lines In RatsThe National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is pleased to inform you of the recent publication in Cell of a NIDA-funded study titled "Capture of Authentic Embryonic Stem Cells from Rat Blastocysts" that focuses on the generation of a competent embryonic stem (ES) cell line in the rat system. The advent of a reliable approach for deleting, inserting and modifying genes at will, in a living organism, has been a watershed moment in biomedical research.
Study Shows Competition Not Climate Change Led To Neanderthal Extinction In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team with expertise in archaeology, past climates, and ecology reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change.
Invitrogen Launches Solutions To Simplify DNA And RNA Workflows On Next-Generation Sequencing SystemsInvitrogen, part of Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE), a provider of innovative life science solutions, today announced the introduction of two reagent solutions to simplify genomic and transcriptome analysis on next-generation, high-throughput genomic analysis platforms. Both solutions provide basic and clinical researchers with an innovative workflow that greatly reduces the time, cost, and experimental variability associated with next-generation sequencing library preparation.
When Does Optional Participation Allow The Evolution Of Cooperation?Humans, unlike most other mammals, cooperate in large groups of unrelated individuals. Such cooperation can be evolutionarily stable if free-riders are punished. But it is harder to explain the origins of punishment, because punishing free riders is costly when most individuals are defectors. Allowing individuals to opt out of the cooperative venture is one proposed solution to this problem.
Fatigue Alters In Vivo Function Within And Between Limb Muscles During LocomotionMuscle fatigue is ubiquitous among moving animals, including humans. Despite over 100 years of research, in vivo changes in muscle dynamics during exercise are not well understood. Here we show that whole-body fatigue in helmeted guinea fowl (resulting from running on an inclined treadmill) causes gastrocnemius muscle force to become highly variable. This likely represents a key mechanism underlying decreased stability commonly associated with fatigue.
Sperm Morphology And Sperm Velocity In Passerine BirdsWhen sperm from more than one male mix within the female reproductive tract and compete for access to the same egg(s), the faster swimming sperm often have a higher chance of fertilization. Our data from 40 species of passerine birds show that sperm velocity increases with the size of those sperm components that generate sperm movement itself or produce the energy for it.
Mothers Produce Less Aggressive Sons With Altered Immunity When There Is A Threat Of Disease During PregnancyMaternal experience before and during pregnancy is known to play a key role in offspring development. However, the influence of social cues about disease in the maternal environment has not been explored. Here we show that an indirect threat of disease during pregnancy has dramatic consequences for offspring behaviour and health. Pregnant mice housed near non-contagious diseased neighbours produced sons which showed altered immunity and less aggression as adults.
Genome-wide Association Studies Must Account For AncestryAsk someone where their ancestors were from and odds are that they know. Or maybe not. A new study published in Human Molecular Genetics suggests that scientists using the latest tools to scan the human genome must pay attention to ancestry when analyzing and interpreting their results. Chao Tian and Michael F. Seldin, MD, PhD, of University of California Davis, and Peter K.
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