Chemists use DNA to build the world's tiniest thermometer

28-Apr-2016 - Researchers at University of Montreal have created a programmable DNA thermometer that is 20,000x smaller than a human hair. This scientific advance reported this week in the journal Nano Letters may significantly aid our understanding of natural and human designed nanotechnologies by enabling to ...

The gates of serotonin

Cracking the workings of a notorious receptor

25-Apr-2016 - EPFL scientists have elucidated for the first time how a notoriously elusive serotonin receptor functions with atom-level detail. The receptor transmits electrical signals in neurons and is involved in various disorders, meaning that the discovery opens the way for new treatments. Serotonin is a ...

Cellphone principles help microfluidic chip digitize information on living cells

22-Apr-2016 - Phone calls and text messages reach you wherever you are because your phone has a unique identifying number that sets you apart from everybody else on the network. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are using a similar principle to track cells being sorted on microfluidic ...

The latest technologies in food and plastics analysis, bioanalysis and genetic analysis

22-Apr-2016 - It's just around the corner: analytica, the world's largest trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis and biotechnology, opens its gates in just a few weeks. From May 10 to 13, visitors will experience a unique combination of the entire range of technological innovations as well as the ...

Investigating plasma levels as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease

20-Apr-2016 - A Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) paper presents the first detailed study of the relationship between plasma levels of two amyloid beta peptides (Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42), brain volumetrics (measures studying the size of brain, which shrinks with Alzheimer's disease) and cognitive performance ...

Neuronal structures associated with memory sprout in response to novel molecules

Drug candidates protect neurons against damage from substance implicated in Alzheimer's disease

12-Apr-2016 - Chemists at the University of California San Diego have designed a set of molecules that promote microscopic, anatomical changes in neurons associated with the formation and retention of memories. These drug candidates also prevent deterioration of the same neuronal structures in the presence of ...

New predictive tool for assessing breast cancer risk

Levels of molecular marker Ki67 in healthy breast tissue predicts a woman's risk of developing breast cancer

11-Apr-2016 - Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and collaborators at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have identified a molecular marker in normal breast tissue that can predict a woman's risk for developing breast cancer, the leading cause of death in ...

Blood test for tuberculosis

Biomarkers may be able to predict the risk of developing tuberculosis in future

30-Mar-2016 - Together with AIDS, tuberculosis ranks among those infectious diseases with the highest global mortality rate, claiming the lives of between 1.5 and two million people every year. However, not everyone infected with the bacterium develops tuberculosis. In fact, fewer than ten percent of those ...

Live-imaging technique for mice seen as boost to studies of brain function and development

Scientists capture brain-wide view of neural activity

24-Mar-2016 - University of Oregon scientists have looked into the brains of living mice to see in real time the processing of sensory information and generation of behavioral responses. To do so, researchers developed a line of transgenic mice whose brains expressed a green fluorescent protein that lights up ...

First widely useful measurement standard for breast cancer MRI developed

24-Mar-2016 - Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed the first widely useful standard for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast, a method used to identify and monitor breast cancer. The NIST instrument -- a "phantom" -- will help standardize MRIs of ...