Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan—a young ocean ecologist who had worked in the lush coral reefs of the Caribbean and Sinai Peninsula—found this difficult to believe. It was December 1974.

The camera enables the researchers to see an aspect of light that humans are essentially blind to: polarized light. Though humans aren't sensitive to polarized light, many reef dwelling animals are but this has not always been taken into account in previous studies of reef communities.

Digestive System Image: Don Bliss/National Cancer Institute

The human body is made up of several organ systems that work together as one unit. Some of these systems include the:

...

Read Full Post

Chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate (CS/DS) proteoglycans, major components of the central nervous system, have the potential to interact with a wide range of growth factors and neurotrophic factors that influence neuronal migration, axon guidance pathways, and neurite outgrowth. Recent studies have also revealed the role of CS/DS chains in the orchestration of the neural stem/progenitor cell micromilieu. Individual functional proteins recognize a set of multiple overlapping oligosaccharide sequences decorated to give different sulfation patterns, which are termed here “wobble CS/DS oligosaccharide motifs,” and induce signaling pathways essential for the proliferation, self-renewal, and cell lineage commitment of neural stem/progenitor cells.

TGF-β is a pleiotropic cytokine that predominantly exerts inhibitory functions in the immune system. Unexpectedly, the in vitro differentiation of both Th17 and Tc17 cells requires TGF-β. However, animals that are impaired in TGF-β signaling (TGF-βRIIDN mice) display multiorgan autoimmune disorders. Here we show that CD4+ T cells from TGF-βRIIDN mice are resistant to Th17 cell differentiation and, paradoxically, that CD8+ T cells from these animals spontaneously acquire an IL-17-producing phenotype. Neutralization of IL-17 or depletion of CD8+ T cells dramatically inhibited inflammation in TGF-βRIIDN mice. Therefore, the absence of TGF-β triggers spontaneous differentiation of IL-17-producing CD8+ T cells, suggesting that the in vivo and in vitro conditions that promote the differentiation of IL-17-producing CD8+ T cells are distinct.

Using a device termed the 'morbidostat', a recent study sheds new light on the determinism of genetic and phenotypic trajectories leading to high antibiotic resistance.

An elegant, genome-wide approach to define the precise DNA sequences bound by transcription factors has been developed by Rhee and Pugh.

Snow leopard Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Monash University researchers have discovered a way to help the endangered snow leopard by producing induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from ear tissue cells of adult snow leopards. Induced pluripotent stem cells are genetically altered adult stem cells that can develop into a variety of different types of cells. The researchers hope to be able to coax the iPS cells into forming gametes for the future reproduction of these animals through cloning or other methods.

...

Read Full Post

Particle size analysis of raw materials is often a necessary but routine task where speed and efficiency are critical to decision-making and the smooth operation of a manufacturing process.

For almost 30 years, BioTek set the standard in microplate washing, and we continue to advance this important technique with the new 405 Touch Microplate Washer.

Background: Although it is agreed that a major polyploidy event, gamma, occurred within the eudicots, the phylogenetic placement of the event remains unclear. Results: To determine when this polyploidization occurred relative to speciation events in angiosperm history, we employed a phylogenomic approach to investigate the timing of gene set duplications located on syntenic gamma blocks. 769 putative gene families were populated with large sets of homologs obtained from public transcriptomes of basal angiosperms, magnoliids, asterids, and more than 91.8 gigabases of new Next-Generation transcriptome sequences of non-grass monocots and basal eudicots. The overwhelming majority (95%) of well-resolved gamma duplications was placed before the separation of rosids and asterids and after the split of monocots and eudicots, providing strong evidence that the gamma polyploidy event occurred early in eudicot evolution. Further, the majority of gene duplications was placed after the divergence of the Ranunculales and core eudicots, indicating that the gamma appears to be restricted to core eudicots. Molecular dating estimates indicate that the duplication events were intensely concentrated around 117 million years ago. Conclusions: The rapid radiation of core eudicot lineages that gave rise to nearly 75% of angiosperm species appears to have occurred coincidentally or shortly following the gamma triplication event. Reconciliation of gene trees with a species phylogeny can elucidate the timing of major events in genome evolution, even when genome sequences are only available for a subset of species represented in the gene trees. Comprehensive transcriptome datasets are valuable complements to genome sequences for high-resolution phylogenomic analysis.

Columbia Laboratories, Inc., and Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., recently confirmed that the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not recommend approval of progesterone vaginal gel 8% for the reduction of risk of preterm birth in women with short uterine cervical length at the mid-trimester of pregnancy.

Background: Relatively small, reproductively isolated populations with reduced genetic diversity may have advantages for genomewide association mapping in disease genetics. The Ashkenazi Jewish population represents a unique population for study based on its recent (1000 year) history of a limited number of founders, population bottlenecks and tradition of marriage within the community. We genotyped more than 1300 Ashkenazi Jewish healthy volunteers from the Hebrew University Genetic Resource with the Illumina HumanOmni1-Quad platform. Comparison of the genotyping data with that of neighboring European and Asian populations enabled the Ashkenazi Jewish-specific component of the variance to be characterized with respect to disease-relevant alleles and pathways. Results: Using clustering, principal components, and pairwise genetic distance as converging approaches, we identified an Ashkenazi Jewish-specific genetic signature that differentiated these subjects from both European and Middle Eastern samples. Most notably, gene ontology analysis of the Ashkenazi Jewish genetic signature revealed an enrichment of genes functioning in transepithelial chloride transport, such as CFTR, and in equilibrioception, potentially shedding light on cystic fibrosis, Usher syndrome and other diseases over-represented in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. Results also impact risk profiles for autoimmune and metabolic disorders in this population. Finally, residual intra-Ashkenazi population structure was minimal, primarily determined by Class 1 MHC alleles, and not related to host country of origin. Conclusions: The Ashkenazi Jewish population is of potential utility in disease-mapping studies due to its relative homogeneity and distinct genomic signature. Results suggest that Ashkenazi-associated disease genes may be components of population-specific genomic differences in key functional pathways.

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced recently it has signed a worldwide, exclusive license agreement with Genoscience, a French company focused on viral disease therapeutics, to develop and commercialize BL-8020, an orally available treatment for Hepatitis C. BL-8020 has been developed for anti-viral therapy by Professor Philippe Halfon, Co-Founder and President of Genoscience.

BioTek Instruments, Inc., is proud to announce the opening of their newest subsidiary, BioTek France SAS as of 1 January 2012.

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, announced recently that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its manufacturing plant in Framingham, Mass., for the production of Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta). This follows the previously announced approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) last week.

Selventa, a biomarker discovery company that enables personalized healthcare through stratification of patients based on disease-driving mechanisms, recently announced that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issued the Company U.S. Patent No 8,802,109, titled "Computer-aided Discovery of Biomarker Profiles in Complex Biological Systems."

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB), a leading international pharma supplier, and Refine Technology (Refine), the developer and worldwide supplier to the biotech industry of the ATF.

Precision BioSciences, Inc., a leader in the field of genome engineering, recently announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has issued a first, non-final Office Action in the reexamination proceedings for U.S. Pat. No. 7,897,372 ("the '372 patent") that is owned by Cellectis SA. Importantly, this Office Action rejected every claim of the '372 patent as being anticipated by or obvious in view of prior art.

Perrigo Company (Nasdaq: PRGO;TASE) announced that it has filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for azelastine hydrochloride nasal spray (0.15%) and has notified Meda Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the owner of the New Drug Application (NDA) of its filing.

Hadasit Bio-Holdings (TASE: HDST, OTC: HADSY) a publicly traded portfolio of biotech companies, all based on intellectual property developed and owned by Hadassah University Hospital, Israel's foremost medical research center, today announced that the recruitment of 13 patients for the Enlivex Phase I/II clinical trial has been completed.

Value Plastics, a Nordson Company, introduces a technologically advanced series of ports for the single-use bags used to transfer media and drug compounds in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Rather than being polygenic, complex disorders probably represent umbrella terms for collections of conditions caused by rare, recent mutations in any of a large number of different genes.

Distal transcription enhancers are cis-regulatory elements that promote gene expression, enabling spatiotemporal control of genetic programs such as those required in metazoan developmental processes. Because of their importance, their disruption can lead to disease.

Chronic inflammation combines with DNA methylation, a process that shuts down cancer-fighting genes, to promote development of colorectal cancer, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report recently in the advance online publication of the journal Nature Medicine.

Waters Corporation (WAT:NYSE) and Ireland's National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) announced today the availability of the world's first database for glycan analysis by UltraPerformance Liquid Chromatography® (UPLC®).