International Research Team Uncovers How Molecular Parasite Replicates, Spreads Ability to Cause Disease

An electron micrograph that illustrates the two different viral particles - the helper phage is the one with the larger capsid, and the SaPI-containing one with the smaller capsid. Image courtesy of Terje Dokland, Ph.D./ University of Alabama at Birmingham. An international team of researchers has uncovered how a molecular parasite responsible for playing a role in antibiotic-resistant disease, such as MRSA, can replicate and spread ability to cause disease, according to a new study published online this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings may help researchers identify potential targets to block the spread of infection on the molecular level. The study was conducted through a longstanding collaboration between researchers from the VCU School of Medicine, the New York University Medical Center and Instituto Valenciano...

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Bioengineers at UCSB Design Rapid Diagnostic Tests Inspired by Nature

An electrochemical DNA-switch (red ribbon, or blue in the animation) detects its target antibody (green) directly in blood. By mimicking nature's own sensing mechanisms, Vallée-Bélisle, Plaxco and Ricci have built a synthetic molecular switch that enables the fast and convenient detection of diagnostically relevant antibodies. The sensing principle is straightforward: Upon antibody binding, the switch opens and separates a signaling element (bright circle) from the surface of an underlying electrode. This causes a signal change that can be easily measured using inexpensive devices similar to those used in the home glucose self-test meter. Using these "nature-inspired" nanoswitches the researchers were able to detect anti-HIV antibodies directly in whole blood in less than five minutes. Credit: Peter Allen By mimicking nature's own sensing mechanisms, bioengineers at UC Santa...

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Loop the loop, DNA style

In certain toy racecar tracks, sneaky players can flip a switch, trapping their opponents’ vehicles in a loop of track. Cells employ a less subtle approach: they change the track’s layout. In a study published online today in Science, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and Oxford University discovered that, by forming or undoing gene loops, cells manipulate the path of the transcription machinery – which reads out instructions from DNA – controlling whether it moves along the genetic material in one direction or two. Looping and unlooping a gene changes the direction in which DNA is read. Credit: EMBL/P.Riedinger “We found that gene loops can turn bi-directional promoters into one-way systems,” says Lars Steinmetz, who led the work at EMBL. Three years ago, Steinmetz’s lab discovered that when the transcription machinery lands on most genes’...

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Cellular eavesdropping made easy

Credit: EMBL/P. Riedinger It is much harder to keep up with a conversation in a crowded bar than in a quiet little café, but scientists wishing to eavesdrop on cells can now do so over the laboratory equivalent of a noisy room. A new method devised by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in collaboration with the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, provides a new approach for studying the proteins cells release to communicate with each other, react to changes, or even to help them move.  The work also opens new avenues for drug and biomarker screening. Cells in the lab have to be fed, and the ‘serum’ used to feed them contains proteins – many more proteins than the cells themselves secrete, or release into their environment. So for scientists attempting to eavesdrop on cells’ conversations, it’s like the cells are...

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NRI scientists turned research into successful businesses

Way back in 1964, Amar G Bose, professor of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), founded Bose Corp on the foundation of his own graduate research. This led to the development of new, patented technologies with the encouragement of his alma mater, MIT. Many years later, in 1999, his son Vanu Bose, also an MIT graduate, followed in the same path to set up his own company Vanu Inc based on his research at MIT's SpectrumWare project. They may not be a large number but there are many Indian scientists willing to take the entrepreneurial plunge with their scientific inventions, and for many of them, the risk has paid off. "Often it is a question of getting out of one's comfort zone in the lab, or of a prestigious and well-paying job. Besides sectors like biotech and pharma, which attract scientific startups, are often very risky," says Mahendra G Shah,...

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INDO-AUSTRALIA S&T VISITING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME (Supported by the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India) 2012

Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi invites applications from outstanding Indian Early Career Researchers and Senior Professional Scientists having regular position in Indian recognized S&T Institutions/Universities and actively engaged in research in frontline areas in all fields of Science & Technology including Medical and Agriculture to visit Australia during the year 2012 for 3-12 months (Early Career Researches) and 1-2 weeks (Senior Scientists) under Indo-Australia S&T Visiting Fellowship Programme-2012 supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi. Application form given below may be downloaded and duly completed and endorsed by the Head of the Institution should be submitted latest by September 30, 2012. Applications are invited from Indian early career researchers and senior professional scientists to visit Australia...

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Hopping DNA supercoils

If you take hold of a DNA molecule and twist it, this creates ‘supercoils’, which are a bit like those annoying loops and twists you get in earphone cables. Research carried out by TU Delft has found that in the DNA molecule these coils can make their way surprisingly quickly along the length of the DNA. This newly discovered ‘hopping’ mechanism - which takes places in a matter of milliseconds - could have important biological implications, because cells use the coils to bring specific pieces of DNA into contact with one another. The researchers from Cees Dekker's group at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience in Delft will be publishing their results in Science this week. Supercoiling A DNA molecule in a cell is not simply a loose wire; it is completely wound up in a tangle of loops (‘DNA supercoils’). These supercoils in a DNA molecule (see the illustration on the right) are similar to those annoying loops and twists you often get in earphone cables. In living cells, the DNA supercoils form and unravel and move along the DNA molecule. They are vital to the regulation of DNA activity, in determining which genes are switched on or off for example. One of the ways in which cells use the supercoils is to bring pieces of DNA into contact with one another. Dynamic Static images of the DNA supercoils have been studied in detail in the past, but their dynamics remained unknown up till now. PhD student Marijn van Loenhout from the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft developed a new technique that enabled him to observe how the coils travel along a DNA molecule for the first time. The research was led by Professor Cees Dekker, head of the Bionanoscience...

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Nanoengineers can print 3D microstructures in mere seconds

NanoEngineering Professor Shaochen Chen has demonstrated the capability of printing three-dimensional blood vessels in mere seconds out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels. Being able to print blood vessels is essential to achieving the promise of regenerative medicine because it is how the body distributes oxygen and nutrients. Image Credit: Biomedical Nanotechnology Laboratory, Chen Research Group, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. All rights reserved by Jacobs School of Engineering Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel technology that can fabricate, in mere seconds, microscale three dimensional (3D) structures out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels. Near term, the technology could lead to better systems for growing and studying cells, including stem cells, in the laboratory. Long-term, the goal is to be able to print...

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In massive genome analysis ENCODE data suggests 'gene' redefinition

Most people understand genes to be specific segments of DNA that determine traits or diseases that are inherited. Textbooks suggest that genes are copied (“transcribed”) into RNA molecules, which are then used as templates for making protein – the highly diverse set of molecules that act as building blocks and engines of our cells.  The truth, it now appears, is not so simple. As part of a huge collaborative effort called ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements), a research team led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Thomas Gingeras, Ph.D., today publishes a genome-wide analysis of RNA messages, called transcripts, produced within human cells. Their analysis – one component of a massive release of research results by ENCODE teams from 32 institutes in 5 countries, with 30 papers appearing today in 3 different high-level scientific journals-- shows that three-quarters...

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Spinach power gets a major boost

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a way to combine the photosynthetic protein that converts light into electrochemical energy in spinach with silicon, the material used in solar cells, in a fashion that produces substantially more electrical current than has been reported by previous “biohybrid” solar cells. “This combination produces current levels almost 1,000 times higher than we were able to achieve by depositing the protein on various types of metals. It also produces a modest increase in voltage,” said David Cliffel, associate professor of chemistry, who collaborated on the project with Kane Jennings, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. “If we can continue on our current trajectory of increasing voltage and current levels, we could reach the range of mature solar conversion technologies in three years.” The researchers’...

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