|
IN THIS ISSUE . . .
April 18, 2006
Check out the Biomedical Beat Cool
Image Gallery.
Got research news to share? E-mail us at
info@nigms.nih.gov.
To change your subscription options or unsubscribe, visit the Biomedical Beat
subscription page on the NIH
LISTSERV Web site.
 Subscribe
to the RSS version of Biomedical Beat by selecting this
XML link and following your news reader's instructions
for adding a feed.
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS),
one of the National Institutes of Health, supports all research
featured in this digest. Although only the lead scientists
are named, coworkers and other collaborators also contributed
to the findings. To read additional news items, visit NIGMS
News.
Cool Image: Tiny Points of Light
This fingertip-shaped group of lights is a microscopic crystal
called a quantum dot. The entire dot is less than 20 nanometers
across—or about 10,000 times thinner than a sheet of
paper. Under ultraviolet light, a quantum dot radiates a brilliant
color depending on its size. Biomedical researchers harness
these dots to label and track individual molecules in living
cells. They expect the dots will soon be used for speedy disease
diagnosis, DNA testing, screening for illegal drugs, and the
detection of biological weapons. Courtesy of chemist Sandra
Rosenthal and postdoctoral fellow James McBride, both at Vanderbilt
University; and Stephen Pennycook, a physicist and electron
microscopist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Funding was
provided by a grant to David W. Piston, a biophysicist at
Vanderbilt University.
Rosenthal
lab home page
Oak
Ridge National Lab Group home page
Piston
lab home page
Rave Reviews for a New Cell Movie
For scientists, it’s a blockbuster release: the first-ever
action movie of a protein factory in living cells. Chemist
X. Sunney Xie of Harvard University and his team developed
a new way to watch single proteins as they emerge in real
time from biological machines called ribosomes. The work is
a technical breakthrough and promises a leap in scientists’
understanding of gene expression and other fundamental biological
processes.
Full
story
Xie
lab home page
Article abstracts (from the March
16, 2006, issue of Nature and the March
17, 2006, issue of Science)
Getting Back to Nature
Nisin is an antibiotic that has been used for over 40 years
to prevent food-borne infections like botulism and listeriosis.
Despite its long use in the food industry as a preservative,
nisin has not induced antibiotic resistance like many other
drugs. Nisin’s resilience stems from its double punch
against microbes. First, it pokes holes in them, draining
vital components. It also makes bacteria vulnerable by blocking
their ability to make a tough, protective cell wall. Chemist
Wilfred van der Donk of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
led a team that figured out how the natural enzyme makes nisin.
This information enabled van der Donk to create nisin in a
test tube in just a few steps. Mimicking nature’s approach
trims time and effort from the 67-step method chemists used
up until now to synthesize nisin. The team also identified
the structure of the nisin enzyme. This work could point the
way to developing other antibiotics not easily outwitted by
bacteria.
Full
story
Van
der Donk lab home page
Article
abstract (from the March 10, 2006, issue of Science)
Pin1 Provides New Clues to Alzheimer’s
 |
|
Structure
of the Pin1 enzyme. Courtesy of Lu. |
Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the presence
of tau protein tangles and amyloid peptide plaques in the
brain, but the relationship between these two types of lesions
has been unclear. New work led by molecular biologist Kun
Ping Lu of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center may
provide the missing link. Lu’s group had previously
shown that the enzyme Pin1 could help prevent tau protein
tangles and protect against nerve damage. In new studies
using mice, Lu and his team have uncovered a role for Pin1
in preventing plaque formation as well. The findings suggest
that lack of Pin1 could play a key role in Alzheimer’s
and that the enzyme could serve as a target for treating
the disease.
Full story
Lu
lab home page
Article
abstract (from the March 23, 2006, issue of Nature)
Computer Model Strategizes Ways to Mitigate
U.S. Flu Pandemic
|
|
Snapshots of hypothetical
spread of a moderately contagious pandemic flu in
the United States (top: no intervention; bottom: distribution
of vaccine). Color changes from green to red as more
people in the area become infected. Courtesy of PNAS. |
If pandemic flu were to emerge in the United States, what
interventions might slow its spread and minimize the impact?
To explore possible answers, a team of researchers led by
biostatistician Ira M. Longini, Jr., of the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington School
of Public Health and Community Medicine developed a computer
model that realistically represents the U.S. population. They
used the model to simulate the spread of a potential pandemic
flu outbreak in the United States to evaluate the effect of
intervention strategies. The model indicated that, depending
on the contagiousness of the virus, a variety of approaches
could reduce the number of cases to less than that of an annual
flu season. The project is part of the Models of Infectious
Disease Agent Study (MIDAS), a research network funded by
NIGMS.
Full
story
MIDAS
home page
Article
abstract (from the April 3 online issue of PNAS)
| 
