EurekAlert! Marine Science

News Releases

21-Jan-2022

Scientists build ‘valves’ in DNA to shape biological information flows

University of Bristol
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at the University of Bristol have developed new biological parts that are able to shape the flow of cellular processes along DNA.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: , BBSRC/EPSRC Bristol Centre for Synthetic Biology, EPSRC/BBSRC Synthetic Biology Centre for Doctoral Training, Bristol BioDesign Institute

21-Jan-2022

Granddaughters and great-granddaughters of men who start to smoke before puberty, have more body fat than expected, research shows

University of Bristol
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study, led by the University of Bristol and published in Scientific Reports today [21 January], has reported increased body fat in females whose grandfathers or great-grandfathers began smoking before puberty.

Journal: Scientific Reports

20-Jan-2022

Motor proteins haul precious cargo in neurons. How can we control their movement?

University at Buffalo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

“Our publication details how GSK3β attaches a molecular tag to kinesin 1 motors, which causes the motors to stop without detaching from microtubule tracks. We are super excited, since now we know how to control the ‘engine’ while it is moving on a track,” says senior author Shermali Gunawardena, PhD, an associate professor of biological sciences in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences.

Journal: Development

20-Jan-2022

UCLA researchers develop novel microscopic picoshell particles

University of California - Los Angeles
Peer-Reviewed Publication

UCLA bioengineers have created a new type of petri dish in the form of microscopic, permeable particles that can dramatically speed up research and development (R&D) timelines of biological products, such as fatty acids for biofuels. Dubbed PicoShells, the picoliter (trillionth of a liter), porous, hydrogel particles can enable more than one million individual cells to be compartmentalized, cultured in production-relevant environments, and selected based on growth and biomass accumulation traits using standard cell-processing equipment.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles Planning Award

20-Jan-2022

Research illuminates how melanoma readies lymph nodes for tumor spread

Weill Cornell Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Melanoma cells release small extracellular packages containing the protein nerve growth factor receptor, which primes nearby lymph nodes for tumor metastases, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

Journal: Nature Cancer

20-Jan-2022

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center receives NCI grant to fund research to personalize GVHD treatment after bone marrow transplantation

Medical University of South Carolina
Grant and Award Announcement

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher Sophie Paczesny, M.D., Ph.D., received a $628,188 grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to use machine learning algorithms to improve graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) treatment strategies. Her studies will validate biomarker panels that may help doctors to determine each bone marrow transplant patient’s risk of developing chronic GVHD and adjust his or her immune suppression treatments accordingly.

Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute

20-Jan-2022

Predicting Long COVID at initial point of COVID-19 diagnosis

Institute for Systems Biology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An ISB-led study has identified four predictive factors of Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), often called long COVID. These “PASC factors” can be identified at the initial point of COVID-19 diagnosis and can anticipate if a patient is likely to develop long COVID. Additionally, researchers found that mild cases of COVID-19, not just severe cases, are associated with long COVID, and that administering antivirals very early in the disease course may potentially prevent some PASC.

Journal: Cell

20-Jan-2022

Pristine groundwater seeps support native algae on Hawai‘i’s coasts

University of Hawaii at Manoa
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Native marine macroalgae, also known as limu, or as seaweed, thrive in environments created by natural groundwater seeps, specifically benefiting from the combined effects of enhanced nutrients despite lowered salinity levels, according to a review published recently by a team of University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa researchers

Journal: Limnology and Oceanography Letters
Funder: USGS Water Resources Research Institute Program, NSF Hawaiʻi EPSCoR Program

20-Jan-2022

Babies can tell who has close relationships based on one clue: saliva

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MIT neuroscientists have identified a specific signal that young children and even babies can use to determine whether two people have a strong relationship and a mutual obligation to help each other: whether those two people kiss, share food, or have other interactions that involve sharing saliva.

Journal: Science
Funder: , Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship, MIT’s Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Siegel Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation

20-Jan-2022

BD Innovation profiled in cover story of Science demonstrates landmark advancement in flow cytometry technology

Salutem
Peer-Reviewed Publication

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced that a study conducted in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and published as the cover story of the Jan. 21 issue of the journal, Science, profiles a new BD innovation in flow cytometry that adds fluorescence imaging and image-based decisioning to sort individual cells at exceptionally high speed, based on the visual details of each cell and not solely on the type or quantity of biomarkers that are present. The new technology has the potential to transform immunology, cell biology and genomics research and enable new cell-based therapeutic discovery.

Journal: Science