Mini cargo transporters on a rat run

Molecular motors are the key to the development of higher forms of life. They transport proteins, signal molecules and even entire chromosomes down long protein fibers, components of the so-called cytoskeleton, from one location in the cell to another. Not unlike trucks on a motorway, there are permanently thousands of these small motor proteins underway at any given point in time – a highly coordinated and extremely fast mode of transport. This highly efficient infrastructure is a prerequisite for the formation of large, complex cells and multicellular organisms. Bacteria, for example, lack this foundation, because they possess neither molecular motors nor cytoskeletons. Biophysicists of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the Ludwig Maximillians Universitaet Muenchen have discovered why some of these transporters can, like cars on a multi-lane motorway, change lanes:...

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DST JRF Vacancy in Biology at IISER, Thiruvananthapuram

Applications are invited from Indian nationals for the position of “JRF” in a DST sponsored project entitled “To determine the molecular mechanisms involved in centrosomal Transforming Acidic Coiled-Coil 3 (TACC3) mediated cell cycle progression” No. of positions:  1 Qualifications:Master’s degree in any area of Biological Sciences with minimum of 55% marks, qualified CSIR-UGC NET-JRF/LS, or GATE (valid qualified score). Experience: Applicants should have experience in molecular biology techniques including gene cloning; cell biology techniques including mammalian tissue culture, genetic manipulation in mammalian cells. Prior experience of working in research projects involving molecular cloning, mammalian tissue culture, genetic manipulation, generation of stable cell lines is desirable. Age limit:28 yrs or below. A relaxation of 3-5 yrs will be applicable to candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC, Persons with Disability and women category.Fellowship: UGC-NET JRF: monthly 16000/- + HRA; NET-LS or GATE: 12000/- + HRA.Duration:Initial appointment for one year, extendable up to 3 yrs based on performance. How to apply:Application should contain a detail resume, contact details including phone number, email and postal address, a photograph (pasted on the resume), photocopies of educational/professional qualifications, reprints of papers etc. Research experience should be supported by certificate from previous employer.  Candidates should bring originals of the certificate for the qualifying degrees, age and National Examinations as well as the category certificate, if applicable, during the interview. Applications failing to meet minimum criteria...

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Applications are invited for temporary posts for the DBT/ ICAR funded projects.

Applications are invited for the following purely temporary posts for the DBT/ ICAR funded projects. 1. Research Associate (One): Ph.D. with atleast three years research experience in molecular biology after completion of Ph.D. 2. Technical Assistant (One): Graduate with ten years experience in handling the Sequencer/ Computer Servers/ Databases/ Accounts. 3. Lab Assistant (One): Intermediate (10+2) with seven years of experience in field data collection and in maintenance of laboratory. 4. SRF (Two): Masters degree in Life Sciences with at least 55% marks. Application on plain paper with full bio-data and attested copies of mark sheets and certificates should reach the undersigned before 15th May  of the publication of this advertisement on the website of University of Delhi. The interview for eligible candidates will be conducted in the Library, Department of Zoology, University of Delhi. Candidates will be intimated about the interview date and time. No TA/DA will be paid for attending the interview. for further info visit :http://www.du.ac.in/fileadmin/DU/students/Pdf/du/career/2012/24412_Zoology_Advertisement.pdf ...

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In Protein Folding, Internal Friction May Play a More Significant Role Than Previously Thought

Protein folding is the process by which not-yet folded chains of amino acids assume their specific shapes, hence taking on their specific functions. These functions vary widely: In the human body, proteins fold to become muscles, hormones, enzymes, and various other components. "This protein folding process is still a big mystery," said UC Santa Barbara physicist Everett Lipman, one of several authors of a paper, "Quantifying internal friction in unfolded and intrinsically disordered proteins with single-molecule spectroscopy." The paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A protein's final shape, said Lipman, is primarily determined by the sequence of amino acid components in the unfolded chain. In the process, the components bump up against each other, and when the right configuration is achieved, the chain passes through its "transition state"...

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Recruitment for the post of Research Associate I and Research Associate II in Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

Applications are invited for the following post: 1. Post: Research Associate I Qualification: Applicants should have experience in plant functional genomics, RNAi / VIGS, Next Gen Sequencing preferably in tomato or other crop plants and should be supported by publications. PhD in Biological Sciences is required. 2. Post: Research Associate II Qualification: Applicants should have experience in proteomics-2D/DIGE/LCMS and also in characterizing PTMs and should be supported by publications. PhD in Biological Sciences is required. Candidates interested in above positions should send their CV, a statement clearly explaining how their skills are relevant to the position and the name / contact information for three references. The candidates can send their application by email at rameshwar.sharma-at-gmail.com and/or syellamaraju-at-gmail.com on or before May 7th, 2012. No TA/DA would be provided for attending the interview. for further info visit  http://www.uohyd.ac.in/images/recruitment/tomanetpositions.pdf ...

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Recruitment for the post of Senior Research Fellow and Junior Research Fellow for DBT sponsored project in Department of Biochemistry, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

Applications are invited on a plain paper (along with copies of educational qualifications and experience) from eligible candidates for selection for positions of SRF and JRF under the two projects entitled “Sys TB: A Network Program for Resolving the Intracellular Dynamics of Host Pathogen Interaction in TB Infection” with specific objective ‘Tracking temporal modulation in proteome composition of the Mtb phagosome’ (BT/PR3260/BRB/10/967/2011)” and “‘Identification and characterization of new iron-dependent post-transcriptional regulome of Mycobacteria’ under Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA), BT/05/IYBA/2011 sponsored by Department of Biotechnology (DBT) sanctioned to Dr. Sharmistha Banerjee, Department of Biochemistry, University of Hyderabad Positions 1. Senior Research Fellow – 1 No. 2. Junior Research Fellow – 1 No. One SRF for project BT/PR3260/BRB/10/967/2011 and one JRF for BT/05/IYBA/2011 1. Senior Research Fellow (SRF) @ Rs. 18,000/- + 30% HRA* pm (fixed) for UGC-CSIR-NET qualified appointees; Rs. 14,000 + HRA* pm for non NET qualified appointees 2. Junior Research Fellow (JRF) @ Rs. 16,000 + 30% HRA* pm (fixed) for UGC-CSIR-NET qualified appointees; Rs. 12,000 + HRA* pm for NET-lectureship qualified appointees Qualifications 1. SRF: M.Sc. in the area of Biology with minimum two years of research experience. Working experience with Mycobacterial cultures and tissue/cell culture will be preferred. The work involves travelling and working in collaborator’s labs. 2. JRF: M.Sc. in any area of Biology/Chemistry. Candidates with NET-qualification would be preferred for JRF. Research experience and experience of handling animals, if any, would be...

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Polymers perform non-DNA evolution

Scientists have found that six polymer alternatives to DNA can pass on genetic information, and have evolved one type to specifically bind target molecules.1 They say that their work reveals both broader chemical possibilities for these key life functions and provides a powerful tool for nanotechnology and medicine.  HNA could just as easily have been the molecule of life  as DNA it now seems © Science/AAAS 'There is no overwhelming functional imperative for life to be based on DNA or RNA,' says Phil Holliger from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, who led the team. 'Other polymers can perform these functions, at least at a basic level.' Holliger's team's xeno-nucleic acid (XNA) polymers each replace DNA's ribofuranose sugar ring with six other cyclic structures that can still form helical chains and base pairings. But rather than...

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Trial of Cancer-Fighting Virus Shows Promise

A new type of cancer treatment that uses a virus to infect and destroy tumor cells without harming normal cells is showing promise in early clinical trials. The small, Phase 1 trial involved 23 patients with advanced cancers that had spread to multiple organs and who had exhausted other treatment options. Each received an intravenous infusion of a virus called JX-594 at one of several dose levels. The virus was genetically engineered to contain an immune-stimulating gene to enhance its cancer-fighting properties, explained study co-senior author John Bell, a senior scientist at Ottawa Hospital Research Institution in Ontario, Canada. Patients underwent biopsies eight to 10 days later. In seven of eight patients (87 percent) who received the highest two doses, researchers found evidence that the virus had not only infected the tumor cells while sparing healthy cells, but that the virus was replicating. Replication means that the virus is reproducing and infecting neighboring cancer cells, rather than just infecting tumor cells it directly came into contact with. There was also evidence that the foreign immune-stimulating gene was expressed inside the tumor cells. "This is a landmark observation in that it shows it's possible that a virus can find tumors, specifically grow in tumors but not in regular tissues, replicate and destroy them," Bell said. The current trial was designed primarily to prove that it was both possible and safe to use a virus to infect tumor cells, and that the virus would then replicate. Side effects were minimal, with the main being brief and mild flu-like symptoms, researchers said. Though larger trials are needed...

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Recruitment at: Biocon

Biocon hiring Grads, Post Grads as Managers Position: Manager - Formulation Development Executive/ Sr Executive SR.Manager -Business Development and Analysis  Brand Manager  Senior Manager - Microbial Fermentation  Sr. Scientific Manager - Molecular Biology  Scientific Manager -Analytical Development  Location: Bangalore Eligibility: Manager - Formulation Development: M.Pharm, PHD Executive/Sr Executive: B.Sc, B.Tech, M.Sc SR.Manager -Business Development and Analysis: B.Pharm, B.Sc, B.Tech, M.B.A Brand Manager:  B.Pharm, B.Sc, M.B.A Senior Manager - Microbial Fermentation: B.E, B.Tech, M.Tech Sr. Scientific Manager - Molecular Biology:  PHD Scientific Manager -Analytical Development: MScE, PHD for further details visit Biocon candidate portal ...

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New immune defense enzyme discovered

Neutrophil granulocytes comprise important defences for the immune system. When pathogenic bacteria penetrate the body, they are the first on the scene to mobilise other immune cells via signal molecules, thereby containing the risk. To this end, they release serine proteases – enzymes that cut up other proteins to activate signal molecules. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have now discovered a new serine protease: neutrophil serine protease 4, or NSP4. This enzyme could provide a new target for the treatment of diseases that involve an overactive immune system, such as rheumatoid arthritis The functioning of the immune system is based on the complex interplay of the most diverse cells and mediators. For example, neutrophil granulocytes (a group of specialized white blood cells) react to bacteria by releasing substances called serine proteases. These enzymes are able to activate signal molecules, such as the chemokines, by cleaving them at a specific position on the molecule. The active signal molecules then guide other immune cells to the focus of inflammation in order to destroy the pathogens. A research team led by Dieter Jenne at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried has come across a previously unknown protease in humans: neutrophil serine protease 4, or NSP4. "The special thing about this enzyme is that it cuts proteins that have the amino acid arginine at a particular point", says Dieter Jenne, research group leader at the Martinsried-based Institute. "This is where NSP4 differs from the other three known neutrophil serine proteases, which are similar in molecular structure, but have...

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Villin Headpiece Protein Sculptures

Proteins are the smallest building blocks of life. They are made up of unique sequences of amino acids and the function they perform is dependent on the shape they take. But experimentally observing how proteins adopt their native shapes is incredibly difficult because it all takes place in a fraction of a second and on a molecular scale. Professor of Physics Klaus Schulten and his fellow researchers at the Beckman Institute have created a computational microscope that can accurately follow the previously unknowable molecular motion that takes place inside living cells. Inspired by the movie-like visualizations created by Schulten and his colleagues, physicist-turned-artist Julian Voss-Andreae and DePauw University professors Daniel Gurnon and Jacob Stanley collaborated to create a series of steel sculptures depicting the birth of the villin headpiece protein and how it folds into its native state, trillionth of a second by trillionth of a second. Schulten is Swanlund Professor of Physics and is also affiliated with the Department of Chemistry and with the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Schulten directs the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the Beckman Institute....

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3D Printer Creates Elderly Woman's New Jawbone

When surgeons replaced the infected lower jawbone of an 83-year-old woman, they needed a fast replacement tailored to fit the patient's existing bone structure, nerves and muscles. That medical dilemma inspired a world-first achievement -- creating a customized jawbone from scratch with 3D printing technology. A 3D printer was used to sculpt and build up a patient's jawbone implant layer-by-layer. A bioceramic coating ensured that the patient's body would not reject the implant. LayerWise The "printing" process used a laser to heat and melt metal powder in the shape of the jawbone. That process, carried out by Belgian manufacturer LayerWise, allowed the 3D printer to sculpt and build up the patient's medical implant layer by layer. A bioceramic coating ensured that the patient's body would not reject the implant. "The new treatment method is a world premiere because it concerns...

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Study Shows Unified Process of Evolution in Bacteria and Sexual Eukaryotes

Bacteria are the most populous organisms on the planet. They thrive in almost every known environment, adapting to different habitats by means of genetic variations that provide the capabilities essential for survival. These genetic innovations arise from what scientists believe is a random mutation and exchange of genes and other bits of DNA among bacteria that sometimes confers an advantage, and which then becomes an intrinsic part of the genome. A model of ecological differentiation in bacteria. Thin arrows represent recombination within or between ecologically associated populations. Thick colored arrows represent acquisition of adaptive alleles for different microhabitats. (Credit: John Kaufmann) But how an advantageous mutation spreads from a single bacterium to all the other bacteria in a population is an open scientific question. Does the gene containing an advantageous...

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Tissue engineering

Regrowing skin, bones and even organs might seem like something out of a mad scientist's lab, but the reality isn't so crazy. Jorge Ribas finds out how tissue engineering could help the sick and injured. John Fisher and his team at university of Maryland are working on making viable engineered tissue. They use synthetic polymer scaffold. Communication between scaffolding material and stem cell help in differentiation and formation of tissue of proper shape. They are using high voltage sparks to make vascular like shapes to provide circulation to larger engineered tissue. These Network serves as a conduit for providing nutrient and other essentials to cell. Their technology in future will help in repairing tissue of trauma patients. ...

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Glowing bacteria biopixels: The sensor displays of the future

Genetically engineering e. coli bacteria to do cool things is the latest craze in the science world. The latest, sci-fiesque case in point: Biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego have created a living neon sign made of e. coli bacteria that will glow based on triggered reactions, completely in unison. Bacteria communicate by a method known as quorum sensing, which means that they actually pass molecules between them to coordinate and trigger behavior. With knowledge of how to manipulate those triggers, the bacteria can be made to react in predictable ways. In this case, some genetic engineering caused that reaction to be a fluorescent glow by adding a particular protein to the bacteria’s biological clock. That in itself is an amazing accomplishment, but quorum sensing isn’t a large or fast enough process to work quickly on millions of bacteria together, so microfluidic chips (below right) were designed to harness the localized trigger and broadcast it to the plethora of shared colonies existing on the chip. In this fashion sensor displays can be made to glow in the presence of engineered triggers like toxic substances or disease causing organisms. Seem like science fiction? It should. Biotechnology such as living sensors are the building blocks of scientific advances in a number of fields culminating into artificial life, or at least hybrid machines with living, breathing parts. Wearable sensors or material that react to diverse stimuli are completely within reason, though the idea of wearing bacteria may sound a touch odd to most.   The colonies can also be used to monitor sustained effects, where most sensor equipment currently...

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Research shows that weakness can be an advantage in surviving deadly parasites

 A new study led by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers reveals that the number of vertebrate predators in the water and the amount of food available for Daphnia to eat influence the size of the epidemics and how these "water fleas" evolve during epidemics to survive. A freshwater zooplankton species known as Daphnia dentifera endures periodic epidemics of a virulent yeast parasite that can infect more than 60 percent of the Daphnia population. During these epidemics, the Daphnia population evolves quickly, balancing infection resistance and reproduction. The study shows that lakes with high nutrient concentrations and lower predation levels exhibit large epidemics and Daphnia that become more resistant to infection by the yeast Metschnikowia bicuspidata. However, in lakes with fewer resources and high predation, epidemics remain small and Daphnia evolve increased...

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Study sheds light on the diseasing-fighting process of 'autophagy'

A team of scientists from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has made a novel discovery regarding the molecular structure of a protein that plays a crucial regulatory role in the “autophagy” cellular process. This breakthrough has paved the way for researchers to target “autophagy” for potential treatment of cancer and other diseases.  Main ContentA team of scientists from the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has made a novel discovery regarding the molecular structure of a protein that plays a crucial regulatory role in the “autophagy” cellular process. This breakthrough has paved the way for researchers to target “autophagy” for potential treatment of cancer and other diseases. Heading the research team is Dr. Zhao Yanxiang, Assistant Professor of PolyU’s Department of Applied Biology and Chemical...

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