News & HighlightsNews
Eroded telomeres are behind a rare premature aging syndrome
Each time a cell divides, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes shorten — and when these caps are gone, so are we. Now, by using an unconventional strategy to shorten telomeres in mice, researchers at Rockefeller University have not only created the first faithful mouse model for studyin...
New evidence of battle between humans and ancient virus
For millennia, humans and viruses have been locked in an evolutionary back-and-forth — one changes to outsmart the other, prompting the second to change and outsmart the first. With retroviruses, which work by inserting themselves into their host’s DNA, the evidence remains in our genes. Last ye...
Glia guide brain development in worms
Again and again, experiments confirmed it. Without glia, neurons die. So scientists who wanted to study in living animals what glia — the most abundant brain cells — do for neurons besides keep them alive were out of luck. But now, a breakthrough. A system unveiled and described by Rockefeller U...
New antibiotic beats superbugs at their own game
The problem with antibiotics is that, eventually, bacteria outsmart them and become resistant. But by targeting theÌýgene that confers such resistance, a new drug may be able to finally outwit them. Rockefeller University scientists tested the new drug, called Ceftobiprole, against some of the dea...
Newly identified enzyme treats deadly bacterial infection in mice
By the time antibiotics made their clinical debut 70 years ago, bacteria had long evolved strategies to shield themselves. For billions of years, bacteria hurled toxic molecules at each other in the struggle to prosper, and those that withstood the chemical onslaught marched on. Now, with an upti...
Dividing cells find their middle by following a protein 'contour map'
Self-organization keeps schools of fish, flocks of birds and colonies of termites in sync. It’s also, according to new research, the way cells regulate the final stage of cell division. Scientists at Rockefeller University have shown that a protein-chemistry-based contour map, which helps individ...
Celestial clues hint at eclipse in Homer's Odyssey
Among countless other debates about Homer’sÌýOdysseyÌý— not the least of which is whether the entire poem can be attributed to Homer himself — is whether Odysseus returns home to experience a total solar eclipse. Total eclipses, when the moon briefly but completely blocks the sun, happen prett...
Scientists identify a key regulator of DNA mutations
As a general rule, your DNA is not something you want rearranged. But there are exceptions – especially when it comes to fighting infections. Since the number of microbes in the world far surpasses the amount of human DNA dedicated to combat them, specialized cells in the immune system have adopt...
Flow of potassium ions in brain cells is key to sexual arousal
When it comes to sex, a female rat knows how to avoid a communication breakdown. To announce her sexual readiness, she will automatically arch her back, deflect her tail and stand rigid to allow an aroused male to mount. Now, Rockefeller University researchers have figured out the precise chemica...
Scientists image a single HIV particle being born
A mapmaker and a mathematician may seem like an unlikely duo, but together they worked out a way to measure longitude — and kept millions of sailors from getting lost at sea. Now, another unlikely duo, a virologist and a biophysicist at Rockefeller University, is making history of its own. By usi...
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