Highlights
Team finds mechanism linking key inflammatory marker to cancer
In a new study described in the journal Oncogene, Professor of Biochemistry Lin-Feng Chen and his team reveal how a key player in cell growth, immunity and the inflammatory response can be transformed into a primary contributor to tumor growth.
published May 19, 2013
Researchers find active transporters are universally leaky
Professor of Biochemistry Emad Tajkhorshid and colleagues have discovered that membrane transporters help not just sugars and other specific substrates cross from one side of a cellular membrane to the other—water also comes along for the ride.
published May 06, 2013
Study reveals stem cells in a human parasite
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Phillip Newmark, postdoctoral researcher Jim Collins, and their colleagues discovered that the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma mansoni harbors adult, non-sexual stem cells that can migrate to various parts of its body and replenish tissues. Their report appears in the journal Nature.
published February 27, 2013
Team finds a new way to inhibit blood clotting and inflammation
Corresponding author Professor of Biochemistry James Morrissey and colleagues have identified a group of small molecules that interfere with the activity of a compound that initiates multiple steps in blood clotting, including those that lead to the obstruction of veins or arteries, a condition called thrombosis. Blocking the activity of this compound, polyphosphate, could treat thrombosis with fewer bleeding side effects than the drugs that are currently on the market.
Their findings appear in the journal Blood in the January 20 issue as a Plenary Paper, described as "Definitive original research articles of exceptional scientific importance."
published November 05, 2012
Using planarian flatworms to understand organ regeneration
In a new study published in the October 16 issue of Developmental Cell, corresponding author Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Phillip Newmark and colleagues report the identification of genes that control growth and regeneration of the intestine in the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea.
published October 24, 2012
Identification of key regulatory pathways of myeloid differentiation using an mESC-based karyotypically normal cell model
Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Fei Wang and colleagues have created a new technique to study how myeloids, a type of blood stem cell, become the white blood cells important for immune system defense against infections and tissue damage. This tool provides an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms at work during this myeloid differentiation process, and may improve our ability to treat myeloid diseases like leukemia. Their findings appear in the journal Blood.
published October 22, 2012
The unanticipated complexity of the selectivity-filter glutamates of nicotinic receptors
In a new finding published in Nature Chemical Biology, Research Scientist Gisela Cymes and Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Biophysics, and Neuroscience Claudio Grosman applied single-molecule electrophysiology to elucidate the properties of the ring of acidic side chains that catalyzes the flow of cations through the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor channel.
published October 14, 2012
The p23 Molecular Chaperone and GCN5 Acetylase Jointly Modulate Protein-DNA Dynamics and Open Chromatin Status
Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Alexander von Humboldt Scholar Brian Freeman and colleagues have published "The p23 Molecular Chaperone and GCN5 Acetylase Jointly Modulate Protein-DNA Dynamics and Open Chromatin Status" in Molecular Cell.
published October 03, 2012
IN OBESITY, A MICRO-RNA CAUSES METABOLIC PROBLEMS
A team including corresponding author Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Jongsook Kim Kemper has identified a key molecular player in a chain of events in the body that can lead to fatty liver disease, Type II diabetes and other metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity. By blocking this molecule, the researchers were able to reverse some of the pathology it caused in obese mice. Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
published September 21, 2012
Circadian Rhythm of Redox State Regulates Excitability in Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Neurons
Although cellular metabolic (redox) state has long been associated with a housekeeping role, recent research from a team lead by Martha Gillette, and including the Lee Cox and Jonathan Sweedler groups, provides new insights on cellular redox states, linking them to the intrinsic daily (circadian) clock in the brain. In the August 17th issue of Science, T. A. Wang et al. show that redox states in this brain region reflect daily cycles of metabolism. This 24-hour metabolic rhythm regulates the electrical activity of the neurons that comprise the mammalian central circadian clock. Thus, cross talk between energetic and neuronal states enables cellular state to influence brain physiology.
published September 02, 2012
Synthesis of Methylphosphonic Acid by Marine Microbes: A Source for Methane in the Aerobic Ocean
Professor of Microbiology William Metcalf is lead author on a new study of ocean methane in Science. Up to 4 percent of the methane on Earth comes from the ocean’s oxygen-rich waters, but scientists have been unable to identify the source of this potent greenhouse gas. Now researchers report that they have found the culprit: a bit of “weird chemistry” practiced by the most abundant microbes on the planet.
published August 31, 2012
Molecular basis of bacterial protein Hen1 activating the ligase activity of bacterial protein Pnkp for RNA repair
Associate Professor of Biochemistry Raven Huang and colleagues have published "Molecular basis of bacterial protein Hen1 activating the ligase activity of bacterial protein Pnkp for RNA repair" in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
published August 07, 2012