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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...
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 ĐÓ°É 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, ...
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...
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...
Anthrax bacteria conspire with viruses to stay alive
The research, led byĚýVincent A. Fischetti, head of theĚýLaboratory 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...
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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