Laboratory Equipment

Targeting ‘Powerhouses’ May Prevent Drug Resistant Cancer

Re-routing anti-cancer drugs to the “power plants” that make energy to keep cells alive is a promising but long-neglected approach to preventing emergence of the drug-resistant forms of cancer — source of a serious medical problem, scientists are reporting. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the journal ACS Chemical Biology.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/targeting-%E2%80%98powerhouses%E2%80%99-may-prevent-drug-resistant-cancer

Technology Enables One-Step Genetic Engineering

A new, streamlined approach to genetic engineering drastically reduces the time and effort needed to insert new genes into bacteria, the workhorses of biotechnology, scientists are reporting. Published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, the method paves the way for more rapid development of designer microbes for drug development, environmental cleanup and other activities.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/technology-enables-one-step-genetic-engineering

Single-Cell Transfection Tool Adds Control to Biological Studies

Northwestern Univ. researchers have developed a new method for delivering molecules into single, targeted cells through temporary holes in the cell surface. The technique could find applications in drug delivery, cell therapy and related biological fields.

Bulk electroporation — a technique used to deliver molecules into cells through reversible nanopores in the cell membrane that are caused by exposing them to electric pulses — is an increasingly popular method of cell transfection. (Cell transfection is the introduction of molecules, such as nucleic acids or proteins, into a cell to change its properties.)

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/single-cell-transfection-tool-adds-control-biological-studies

Drug Side Effects Are Inevitable

A new study of both computer-created and natural proteins suggests that the number of unique pockets – sites where small molecule pharmaceutical compounds can bind to proteins – is surprisingly small, meaning drug side effects may be impossible to avoid. The study also found that the fundamental biochemical processes needed for life could have been enabled by the simple physics of protein folding.

Studying a set of artificial proteins and comparing them to natural proteins, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have concluded that there may be no more than about 500 unique protein pocket configurations that serve as binding sites for small molecule ligands. Therefore, the likelihood that a molecule intended for one protein target will also bind with an unintended target is significant, says Jeffrey Skolnick, a professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/drug-side-effects-are-inevitable

Multitasking Neurons Key to Complex Brain Functions

Over the past few decades, neuroscientists have made much progress in mapping the brain by deciphering the functions of individual neurons that perform very specific tasks, such as recognizing the location or color of an object.

However, there are many neurons, especially in brain regions that perform sophisticated functions such as thinking and planning, that don’t fit into this pattern. Instead of responding exclusively to one stimulus or task, these neurons react in different ways to a wide variety of things.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/multitasking-neurons-key-complex-brain-functions

Hard Seeds Evolved to Hide from Predators

Hard seeds are prevented from germinating by a water-impermeable seed coat, and for many years this has been considered to be a dormancy mechanism. Scientists from Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, the Univ. of Bergen and the Univ. of Sheffield have proposed an alternative, “crypsis hypothesis,” that hard seeds evolved to hide from mammalian predators.

Read more: http://www.chromatographytechniques.com/news/2013/05/hard-seeds-evolved-hide-predators

Injected Nanogel Can Help Fight Diabetes

Injectable nanoparticles developed at MIT may someday eliminate the need for patients with Type 1 diabetes to constantly monitor their blood-sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin.

The nanoparticles were designed to sense glucose levels in the body and respond by secreting the appropriate amount of insulin, thereby replacing the function of pancreatic islet cells, which are destroyed in patients with Type 1 diabetes. Ultimately, this type of system could ensure that blood-sugar levels remain balanced and improve patients’ quality of life, according to the researchers.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/injected-nanogel-can-help-fight-diabetes

Oldest Evidence of Split Between Old World Monkeys, Apes

Two fossil discoveries from the East African Rift reveal new information about the evolution of primates, according to a study published online in Nature led by Ohio Univ. scientists.

The team’s findings document the oldest fossils of two major groups of primates: the group that today includes apes and humans (hominoids), and the group that includes Old World monkeys such as baboons and macaques (cercopithecoids). Geological analyses of the study site indicate that the finds are 25 million years old, significantly older than fossils previously documented for either of the two groups.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/oldest-evidence-split-between-old-world-monkeys-apes

Stem Cells Recovered from Cloned Human Embryos

Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding goal that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.

A prominent expert calls the work a landmark, but notes that a different, simpler technique now under development may prove more useful.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/stem-cells-recovered-cloned-human-embryos

Symmetry Produces Efficient Photosynthesis

Purple bacteria are among Earth’s oldest organisms, and among its most efficient in turning sunlight into usable chemical energy. Now, a key to their light-harvesting prowess has been explained through a detailed structural analysis by scientists at MIT.

A ring-shaped molecule with an unusual ninefold symmetry is critical, the researchers found. The circular symmetry accounts for its efficiency in converting sunlight, and for its mechanical durability and strength.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/symmetry-produces-efficient-photosynthesis

Depressed People’s Body Clocks are Altered at Cell Level

Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. The brain acts as timekeeper, keeping the cellular clock in sync with the outside world so that it can govern our appetites, sleep, moods and much more.

But new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression – even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/depressed-peoples-body-clocks-are-altered-cell-level

Tiny Bones Hold Huge Human Evolution Clues

The tiniest bones in the human body – the bones of the middle ear – could provide huge clues about our evolution and the development of modern-day humans, according to a study by a team of researchers that include a Texas A&M Univ. anthropologist.

Darryl de Ruiter, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M, and colleagues from Binghamton Univ. (the State Univ. of New York) and researchers from Spain and Italy have published their work in the current issue of PNAS.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/tiny-bones-hold-huge-human-evolution-clues