Ned Shaw Several dozen biologists and computer scientists are gathering this week in Bar Harbor, Maine, to discuss ontology--not the hoary philosophical concept, but the bioinformatics buzzword referring to a computer-based representation of the facts established by a scientific field. One group of conferees, the five-year-old Gene Ontology Consortium, will likely focus on programming issues and new viewing, browsing, and editing tools, says Monte Westerfield, the University of Oregon biology

Last May, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first weapon in what could become a brand new arsenal against cancer. That weapon is Velcade (bortezomib), a drug that inhibits an intracellular protein-disposal system known as ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis (UMP). Made by Cambridge, Mass.-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Velcade improves and prolongs the lives of some patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. As a succession of companies tested Velcade (also called P

Courtesy of Bonnie Bartel and David P. Bartel Reprinted from Plant Physiol, 132:1-9, June 2003.  CURRENT MODEL: (A) A microRNA (MIR) gene encodes a primary transcript with a stem-loop structure. A hairpin precursor (in brackets) has been found in animals but not in plants. The enzyme Dicer cleaves the transcript to form a microRNA (miRNA) which nestles in a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex that is similar, if not identical, to the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). (B) When an mRNA has n

Courtesy of Genevieve Anderson If not for Nobel laureates Thomas Hunt Morgan, Eric R. Kandel, and Sydney Brenner, the notion of a general behavioral model might seem odd. Behaviors, after all, are determined by an animal's evolutionary history and ecological niche. They are often idiosyncratic, shared in detail only by closely related species. But, thanks to Morgan's research in the early 20th century, and Kandel's and Brenner's work over the past 35 years, the fly Drosophila melanogaster, t

Reprinted with permission, J Natl Cancer Inst, 94:1704-11, 2002 OF MICE AND DUCTS: Ductal branching (arrows), part of normal mammary-gland development, is absent in tissues from leptin-deficient (panel B) and leptin-receptor-deficient (D) mice, but is present in tissues from wild-type controls (A and C). By fostering mammary development, the leptin pathway might contribute to tumorigenesis. An estimated 30.5% of American adults--nearly 59 million people--were obese in 2000, after their r

 SELECTIVE DISAPPEARANCE: Compared to nontransgenic controls, transgenic (tg) mice that express human a-synuclein (SYN) show a loss of dopa-minergic terminals in the brain's basal ganglia, which include the striatum. In the half-decade after human a- synuclein (ha-syn) was discovered in amyloid plaques purified from brains of patients with Alzheimer,1 neuroscientists logically suspected that this synaptic protein played a role in Alzheimer disease. Codiscoverer Eliezer Masliah began to d

Image: Courtesy of Yue-Ming Li  HOW PHOTOACTIVATION WORKS: When a benzophenone group is attached to a g-secretase inhibitor and exposed to light, the benzophenone's oxygen turns into a triplet biradical, which bonds covalently with a nearby protein. Many neuroscientists think that the master criminal behind Alzheimer disease is AB-secretase-42, the 42-amino-acid peptide that forms amyloid plaques in the brain. Two accomplices, the enzymes B-secretase-secretase and g-secretase, consecutiv

Image: Courtesy of Alvaro Pascual-Leone DEPRESSION AND CEREBRAL ACTIVITY: Cerebral blood flow determined by single-photon emission tomography was correlated with changes in clinical depression after patients received transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the left prefrontal cortex. In red areas, blood flow--signifying brain activity--was positively correlated with TMS's antidepressant effect; in green areas, blood flow was negatively correlated. (Reprinted with permission, Psychiatry

Image: ©2001 MacMillan Publishers Ltd.  PLURIPOTENT-CELL PIPELINE: To obtain embryonic germ cells, researchers culture primordial germ cells (PGCs) dissected from the genital ridge. If left in situ, a PGC develops into spermatozoa or ova after its imprints have been erased and reestablished. Embryonic stem cells come from the blastocyst's inner cell mass. (Reprinted with permission, Nature 414:122-8, 2001) Because the science is hard and the politics mean, progress in understanding

Photo © Alfred Pasieka, SPL, Photo Researchers Inc. RNA RAIDERS: Computer artwork depicts Ebola viruses releasing their RNA inside an infected human cell. RNA strands are in the upper right. Tightly packed segments of released RNA float through the cell. Though smallpox and anthrax loom as the likeliest boogeymen in a bioterrorism nightmare, the rare Ebola virus still evokes particular dread. This untreatable virus rapidly kills 80% to 90% of the humans it infects, and no one knows w

Solid tumors spread throughout the body so frequently and relentlessly that every single cancer cell seems almost predestined to metastasize. In fact, of the many cells shed by primary tumors, only a tiny fraction generates new lesions. These deadly cells have acquired rare capabilities. They can survive a hazardous solo journey; invade a foreign organ and proliferate there; and stimulate the blood-vessel growth needed to sustain their countless progeny. Because these capabilities are under gen

The Faculty of 1000 is a Web-based literature awareness tool published by BioMed Central. It provides a continuously updated insider's guide to the most important peer-reviewed papers within a range of research fields, based on the recommendations of a faculty of more than 1,400 leading researchers. Each issue, The Scientist publishes a review of some related papers highlighted by the Faculty of 1000, plus comments on new and notable research. For more information visit www.facultyof1000.com.