News by Subject Biology

Developed by Araceli Morales, Gemma Piella and Federico Sukno, members of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies, together with researchers from the University of Washington, which they present in a feature in the advanced online edition of Lecture Notes in Computer Science of Oct. 7.

Using a new type of nanoreactor, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have succeeded in mapping catalytic reactions on individual metallic nanoparticles. Their work could help improve chemical processes, and lead to better catalysts and more environmentally friendly chemical technology. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Scientists have solved the structure of one of the key components of photosynthesis, a discovery that could lead to photosynthesis being 'redesigned' to achieve higher yields and meet urgent food security needs.

A collaborative study carried out by the Institute of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy at Goethe University (Professor Jochen Klein) and the Institute of Neurosciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Professor Hermona Soreq) shows sex-specific biases in disease-specific changes in brain cells, as well as in cellular control mechanisms based on endogenous short ribonucleic acid (RNA) chains.

Both transcription factors regulate the expression of genes involved in embryo development, among other functions, although they exert very different roles. The study also refutes the theory accepted to date that SMAD2 does not bind to DNA. Published in Genes & Development, the research is the result of collaboration between Maria J. Macias' lab at IRB Barcelona and Joan Massagué's group at the Sloan Kettering Institute (New York, US).

Experiments at Berkeley Lab are casting a new light on Egyptian soil and ancient mummified bone samples that could provide a richer understanding of daily life and environmental conditions thousands of years ago. In a two-months-long research effort that concluded in late August, two researchers from Cairo University in Egypt brought 32 bone samples and two soil samples to study using X-ray and infrared light-based techniques at the Lab's Advanced Light Source.

Researchers at Purdue University have come up with a way to combine the anthrax toxin with a growth factor to kill bladder cancer cells and tumors.