http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Life is almost unbearably complex. Humans and mice, frogs and flies toggle genes on and off in dizzying combinations and sequences during their relentless march from embryo to death. Now scientists seeking to understand the machinations of the proteins behind the genomic wizard's screen have a powerful new tool at their disposal, courtesy of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. http://phys.org/news192013298.html Biology Sun, 02 May 2010 13:00:01 EST news192013298 New evidence in embryonic stem cells shows that mammalian genes may all have a layer of control that acts essentially like the pause button on your DVR. The researchers say the results show that the pausing phenomenon, previously thought to be a peculiarity of particular genes, is actually a much more general feature of the genome. http://phys.org/news191762625.html Biology Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:24:07 EST news191762625 Structural and functional congenital cardiovascular abnormalities present at birth are the leading source of all congenital defects encountered in live births. Nearly half a million children in the United States have structural heart problems ranging in severity from relatively simple issues, such as small holes between chambers of the heart, to very severe malformations, including complete absence of one or more chambers or valves. http://phys.org/news191238973.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:10:01 EST news191238973 A new technique for reprogramming human adult cells could greatly improve the safety and efficiency of producing patient-specific stem cells for use in a range of therapeutic applications to repair or replace damaged or diseased tissues. A description of this innovative strategy is published in the peer-reviewed journal Cellular Reprogramming, published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. http://phys.org/news190561200.html Biology Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:00:01 EST news190561200 The molecular machinery that switches on a gene known to cause breast cancer to spread and invade other organs has been identified by an international team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The paper was published Sunday in Nature Cell Biology's advanced online publication. http://phys.org/news190315225.html Biology Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:21:18 EST news190315225 Scientists are one step closer to developing a targeted therapy for lymphoma. New research, published by Cell Press in the April 13th issue of the journal Cancer Cell, identifies a specific small-molecule inhibitor that was nontoxic in animal experiments and could kill human lymphoma cells. http://phys.org/news190293654.html Medicine & Health Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:50:10 EST news190293654 As published today in Science, researchers from Cambridge, Glasgow and Greece have discovered a remarkable amount of plasticity in how transcription factors, the proteins that bind to DNA to control the activation of genes, maintain their function over large evolutionary distances. http://phys.org/news190028399.html Biology Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:40:23 EST news190028399 Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center have shown for the first time that malignant brain tumors arise directly from brain stem cells. Overproduction of the protein Tlx in mice stimulates the development of malignant brain tumors from brain stem cells. Tlx also plays an important role in glioblastoma, the most malignant of human brain cancers. Therefore, the discovery of Tlx might provide the first target for a specific therapy against glioblastoma. http://phys.org/news189336986.html Medicine & Health Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:36:50 EST news189336986 (PhysOrg.com) -- A genome is a complex system of genes and factors that regulate them. A European research team has clarified how such dynamic systems work, leading to a new way to predict genetic regulators. http://phys.org/news189330751.html Biology Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:52:54 EST news189330751 How does a plant ensure that one cell remains responsible for making root cells for the rest of its life? The plant embryo contains the transcription factor MONOPTEROS. This tells its neighbouring cell to become a centre that controls stem cells for new growth. Dutch researcher Dolf Weijers has revealed for the first time how MONOPTEROS does that. Besides a hormone, the regulator also sends a protein to the chosen cell. The research results were published in the journal Nature on 10 March 2010. http://phys.org/news189186609.html Biology Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:20:03 EST news189186609 Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have identified a new strategy for treating type 2 diabetes, identifying a cellular pathway that fails when people become obese. By activating this pathway artificially, they were able to normalize blood glucose levels in severely obese and diabetic mice. Their findings will be published online by Nature Medicine on March 28. http://phys.org/news188995419.html Medicine & Health Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:00:05 EST news188995419 The key to human individuality may lie not in our genes, but in the sequences that surround and control them, according to new research by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Yale University. The interaction of those sequences with a class of key proteins, called transcription factors, can vary significantly between two people and are likely to affect our appearance, our development and even our predisposition to certain diseases, the study found. http://phys.org/news188137996.html Biology Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:00:09 EST news188137996 In the beginning is the fertilized egg cell. Following numerous cell divisions, it then develops into a complex organism with different organs and tissues. The largely unexplained process whereby the cells simply "know" the organs into which they should later develop is an astonishing phenomenon. http://phys.org/news187878309.html Biology Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:30:02 EST news187878309 Personal health recommendations and diets tailored to better prevent diseases may be in our future, just by focusing on genetics. http://phys.org/news187007196.html Medicine & Health Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:50:01 EST news187007196 In a significant leap forward in the understanding of how specific types of tissue are determined to develop in mammals, an international team of scientists has succeeded in mapping the entire network of DNA-binding transcription factors and their interactions. This global network, indicating which factors can combine to determine cell fate, will be published in the March 5 issue of the journal Cell. http://phys.org/news186929861.html Biology Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:58:02 EST news186929861 An international team of scientists studying acute forms of Leukaemia have identified a new drug target to inhibit the genes which are vital for the growth of diseased cells. The research, reported in EMBO Molecular Medicine, reveals how leukaemia cells become 'addicted' to genes, which if targeted could prevent diseased cells from developing. http://phys.org/news186833281.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:30:01 EST news186833281 Overexpression of the ARD1A gene (arrest-defective protein 1225) in mice reduced the number and size of both primary tumors and metastases, researchers report in a new study published online March 1in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. http://phys.org/news186695151.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:50:01 EST news186695151 A paper published online today in Molecular Cell proposes that Methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) impacts the entire genome in neurons, rather than acting as a regulator of specific genes. Mutations in MeCP2 cause the autism spectrum disorder Rett Syndrome as well as some cases of neuropsychiatric problems including autism, schizophrenia and learning disabilities. http://phys.org/news186327516.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:39:09 EST news186327516 In ongoing work to identify how genes interact with social environments to impact human health, UCLA researchers have discovered what they describe as a biochemical link between misery and death. In addition, they found a specific genetic variation in some individuals that seems to disconnect that link, rendering them more biologically resilient in the face of adversity. http://phys.org/news186246418.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:07:37 EST news186246418 Malaria remains one of the most deadly infectious diseases. Yet, how Plasmodium, the malaria parasite, regulates its infectious cycle has remained an enigma despite decades of rigorous research. http://phys.org/news185734797.html Biology Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:00:50 EST news185734797 (PhysOrg.com) -- For years, biologists have wondered how it is possible that not every person who carries a mutated gene expresses the trait or condition associated with the mutation. This common but poorly understood phenomenon, known as incomplete penetrance, exists in a wide range of organisms, including humans. http://phys.org/news185632250.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:00:09 EST news185632250 Nuclear pore complexes are best known as the communication channels that regulate the passage of all molecules to and from a cell's nucleus. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, however, have shown that some of the pores' constituent proteins, called nucleoporins, pull double duty as transcription factors regulating the activity of genes active during early development. http://phys.org/news184512161.html Biology Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:50:02 EST news184512161 (PhysOrg.com) -- Recent work at Washington University in St. Louis sheds light on one of the most important events in earth-history, the conquest of land by plants 480 million years ago. http://phys.org/news184510981.html Biology Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:03:20 EST news184510981 In the new issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, Singapore scientists report the surprising discovery that a novel transcription factor, Nr5a2, can replace one of the classical reprogramming factors, Oct 4, to significantly increase the efficiency of reprogramming differentiated stem cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). http://phys.org/news183302858.html Biology Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:27:55 EST news183302858 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at North Carolina State University are using fluorescent fish as a molecular 'beacon' to study the early stages of animal development. The researchers focused their attention on a gene - known as Sp2 - that regulates the expression of other genes, and the fluorescent fish they created may also provide hints to the causes of tumor development. http://phys.org/news183047198.html Chemistry Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:27:04 EST news183047198 The master regulator of muscle differentiation, MyoD, functions early in myogenesis to help stem cells proliferate in response to muscle injury, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University. The study appears online Jan. 4 in the Journal of Cell Biology. http://phys.org/news181839905.html Biology Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:40:01 EST news181839905 For decades, science texts have told a simple and straightforward story about a particular protein—a transcription factor—that helps the embryo of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, pattern tissues in a manner that depends on the levels of this factor within individual cells. http://phys.org/news180283760.html Biology Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:40:06 EST news180283760 Tissue-specific genes, thought to be dormant or not marked for activation in embryonic stem cells, are indeed marked by transcription factors, with proper marking potentially crucial for the function of tissues derived from stem cells. http://phys.org/news180181077.html Biology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:19:05 EST news180181077 Scientists at the Carnegie Institution, with colleagues, have found that a plant steroid prompts two genes to battle each other—one suppresses the other to ensure that leaves grow normally in rice and the experimental plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of mustard. The results, published in the December 15, 2009, issue of The Plant Cell, have important implications for understanding how to manipulate crop growth and yield. http://phys.org/news180116701.html Biology Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:40:05 EST news180116701 Therapies that can keep us younger longer might also push back the clock on Alzheimer's disease, suggests a new study of mice in the December 11th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. http://phys.org/news179673531.html Medicine & Health Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:30:04 EST news179673531