Category Health/Medical

A three-day-old zebrafish head skeleton with newly differentiated cartilage cells (magenta) emerging from a pool of skeletal progenitor cells (green) (Image by Lindsey Barske)

Timing is everything when it comes to the development of the vertebrate face. In a new study USC Lindsey Barske from the lab of Gage Crump and her colleagues identify the roles of key molecular signals that control this critical timing.

Previous work from the Crump and other labs demonstrated that 2 types of molecular signals, called Jagged-Notch and Endothelin1 (Edn1), are critical for shaping the face. Loss of these signals results in facial deformities in both zebrafish and humans, revealing these as essential for patterning the faces of all vertebrates.

Using sophisticated genetic, genomic and imaging tools to st...

Dr. Axel Kallies, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Credit: The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Researchers have uncovered the genes responsible for the way the body fights infection at the point of ‘invasion’. Hobit and Blimp1 have been found and these transcription factors control a universal molecular program responsible for placing immune cells at the ‘front lines’ of the body to fight infection and cancer. The presence of these organ-residing cells, which differ strikingly from their counterparts circulating in the blood stream, is key to local protection against viruses and bacteria.

Identifying how immune cells remain in the part of the body where they are needed most was critical to developing better ways to protect us from infections such as malaria or HIV...

MLCK and RLC phosphorylation are required for the basal tone in IAS.

A new molecular pathway critical for maintaining the smooth muscle tone that allows the passage of materials through the digestive system. This finding, based on studying calcium ion-controlled pathways in mice, may lead to new treatments for a host of digestive disorders ranging from common gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), to swallowing disorders, incontinence and pancreatitis.

A/Prof Ronghua ZhuGe, PhD said:. “Knowing how these muscles stay contracted for such long periods of time will allow us to develop potential new treatments for these diseases. The next step is to see whether this molecular mechanism in mice also operates in humans...

Microtubules in a cardiomyocyte at rest (top) and when compressed. Credit: The lab of Ben Prosser, Ph.D., Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Using new high-resolution microscopy, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania found microtubules (MT) interact with the heart’s contractile machinery to provide mechanical resistance for the beating of the heart. Their findings could have implications for better understanding how microtubules affect the mechanics of the beating heart, and what happens when this goes awry.

Alterations in this microtubule network have been suggested to contribute to heart disease, but just how microtubules behave in the beating heart is poorly understood...