Category Biology/Biotechnology

Salk researchers uncover a fasting molecule, Crtc, which enhances immunity. The gastrointestinal tract of flies lacking Crtc, which is turned on during fasting (right panel), expresses more immune-related molecules compared with those of normal flies (left panel). These signs of inflammation mean that the gut barrier is compromised and more permeable to bacteria. Credit: Salk Institute

A molecular pathway activated in the brain during fasting helps halt the spread of GI bacteria into the bloodstream, according to a new study researchers at the Salk Institute. A molecular pathway by which the brain communicates with the GIT prevents unnecessary activation of the immune system during fasting by strengthening the barrier against gut microbes...

This is an atherosclerotic lesion. Such lesions can rupture and cause heart attacks and strokes. Credit: UVA School of Medicine

Gene helps prevent heart attack, stroke; may offer way to block effects of aging. A gene that scientific dogma insists is inactive in adults actually plays a vital role in preventing the underlying cause of most heart attacks and strokes, researchers at the Uni of Virginia School of Medicine have determined. “Finding a way to augment the expression of this gene in adult cells may have profound implications for promoting health and possibly reversing some of the detrimental effects with aging,” said Gary K. Owens, PhD, director of UVA’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center.

The gene, Oct4, plays a key role in the development of all living organisms, but s...

Black and yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia). Credit: © leekris / Fotolia

Secret of always-taut spider threads inspires new material. Why doesn’t a spider’s web sag in the wind or catapult flies back out like a trampoline? The answer, according to new research by an international team of scientists, lies in the physics behind a ‘hybrid’ material produced by spiders for their webs.

Pulling on a sticky thread in a garden spider’s orb web and letting it snap back reveals that the thread never sags but always stays taut – even when stretched to many times its original length. This is because any loose thread is immediately spooled inside the tiny droplets of watery glue that coat and surround the core gossamer fibres of the web’s capture spiral.

The researchers studied the details of thi...

Beige fat created from white fat by cold activation

Discovery could help fight obesity, metabolic disorders. Researchers have uncovered a new molecular pathway for stimulating the body to burn fat – a discovery that could help fight obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A McGill University team focused on a protein, folliculin and its role in regulating the activity of fat cells. By knocking out the gene that produces folliculin in fat cells in mice, the researchers triggered a series of biomolecular signals that switched the cells from storing fat to burning it.

This process is known as the ‘browning’ of fat cells. Brown fat gets its colour from iron-rich mitochondria, an abundance of which is a sign that a cell is in metabolic overdrive...