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Why do antipsychotics take time to kick in? Protein synthesis may be one...
Acute antipsychotic treatment increases Akt-mTORC1 pathway signaling in D2R-positiveneurons.[Image courtesy of Science Signaling/AAAS]Why does it take a few weeks for antipsychotic medications to fully...
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Extracellular ATP receptor found in plants
Transgenic Arabidopsis with a chemiluminescent calcium reporter that helped researchers find the receptor for extracellular ATP.Image provided by Jeongmin Choi The structure and function of the animal...
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First genetically modified monkeys made by CRISPR
Researchers achieved precise gene modification in monkeys. Image credit: Cell, Niu et al. It’s a no-brainer that monkeys can serve as good models for human diseases. After all, we are evolutionarily...
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Figuring out the target for Lorenzo’s oil
Researchers have figured out how Lorenzo’s oil works. According to a team led by Akio Kihara and Takayuki Sassa at Hokkaido University in Japan, the mixture of oils made famous in the 1992 movie...
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Broader look at proteins involved in learning and memory
Schematic shows a protein array and parts of signaling pathways relevant to learning and memory. The yellow boxes indicate proteins that changed in level with normal learning. Image provided by...
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Splitting up kinases
A ligand-inducible split-kinase is activated by a small molecule. Image by Karla Camacho-Soto. Researchers have figured out a way to bend kinases at their will. In a paper recently published in the...
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Method to visualize RNA molecules in individual cells
To develop fluorescent in situ sequencing, scientists first fix in place thousands of RNAs –including working copies of genes called messenger RNAs — in cells, tissues, organs orembryos. Here, RNAs are...
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Breast cancer gene involved in skeletal muscle energy metabolism
BRCA1 appears to play an important role in skeletal muscle. Image from http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/details.asp The BRCA1 gene, which is officially known as the breast cancer 1, early onset, gene, is...
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Finding what makes biofilms hard to defeat in lung infections
Electron micrograph of a P. aeruginosa biofilm. Image provided by Cezar Khursigara. Cystic fibrosis patients often combat lung infections. At the late stage of the infections, a bacterium called...
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How a polymerase bypasses the rules of Watson-Crick base-pairing
The half-sized ASFV DNA polymerase X does not follow the dogma of binding DNA first followed by MgdNTP. It binds synthetic dGTP prior to DNA in order to catalyze dG:dGTP incorporation. Image by Wen-Jin...
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The Indian-American I didn’t know: Yellapragada Subbarao
Discovering Yellapragada Subbarao at the “Beyond Bollywood” exhibit. Photo by Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay I had never heard of Yellapragada Subbarao until I entered the exhibit “Beyond Bollywood: Indian...
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On being (sort of) scooped by both Carl Zimmer and Ed Yong
Being scooped once stings. Being scooped twice is a burn. But being scooped by two different prominent science writers makes your soul die. Unbeknownst to Carl Zimmer and Ed Yong, both of whom have had...
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Finding new targets for attack on the bacterium that causes gonorrhea
Membrane vesicles from a strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae visualized by transmission electron microscopy. Image provided by Aleksandra Sikora. April is Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month and a...
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Figuring out why cells don’t burst
Researchers have found one critical component of the protein machinery that stops cells from bursting. Image by Jorge Colombo. Why don’t cells swell up with water and burst? For 30 years, scientists...
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Realizing when proteins go bad
Some types of proteins are susceptible to degradation if not stored and handled properly. Image provided by Chad Borges. Just as some plastics warp when left out in the heat and sun, some proteins are...
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How flu viruses latch on in lungs of pigs
Researchers have found that the influenza viruses don’t prefer a particular type of sugar structure in pig lungs. Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pig_in_a_bucket.jpg Just like birds, pigs...
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A critical lipoprotein receptor reduces metabolic disorders brought on by low...
A mouse from the Kypreos laboratory study about the role of the low density lipoprotein receptor in modulating testosterone’s effects. Testosterone is the male sex hormone involved in sex...
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View of the protein essential for making drug-resistant bacteria
Scanning electron micrograph depicts numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to by the acronym, MRSA; Magnified 9560x. Credit: Janice Haney Car...
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The makings of a honeybee
Queen honeybee with her workers. Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera#mediaviewer/File:Apis_mellifera_(queen_and_workers).jpg Honeybees give us our honey, royal jelly, pollen,...
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Why do some obese people develop diabetes?
Obese mice in which one is missing heme oxygenase-1 and develops insulin resistance and the other is “healthy obese.” Image provided by Harald Esterbauer More than half a billion people suffer from...
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