#1 A gene for autoimmunity Defective sialic acid acetylesterase (SIAE) -- an enzyme involved in the regulation of B lymphocyte signaling -- infers a greater risk of autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis and type I diabetes, and may contribute to the pathogenesis of such diseases. I. Surolia et al., "Functionally defective germline variants of sialic acid acetylesterase in autoimmunity," linkurl:__Nature,__;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/20555325?dopt=Abstract&holding=f1

"I've always been a bit shy about talking about science," said Kerstin Zechner, a genetics graduate student at the University of Oxford. So when she heard about the online competition that let high school students decide whether a scientist is worthy of receiving a ₤500 prize, Zechner hesitated, and then decided to give it a shot. As part of a two-week-long online event that ran in March called "I'm a Scientist, Get me out of Here," Zechner and other scientists responded to any questions

Rare, dual-receptor T-cells may be at the root of multiple sclerosis, according to an article published online today (June 6th) in __Nature Immunology,__ providing a possible explanation for other autoimmune diseases. Spinal MRI showing multiple sclerosisImage: National Institutes of Health"It has been thought for a while that these dual receptor T-cells are involved in autoimmunity," said Nitin Karandikar from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who was not involved in the st

What does it take for blood to start flowing for the first time in an embryo? That's the question that Atsuko Sehara-Fujisawa at Kyoto University and colleagues set out to answer by catching zebrafish blood vessels on film as they matured. The researchers saw that the blood cell precursors entered blood vessels and stayed there immobile, possibly tethered to the inner wall by adhesion molecules called PSGL1. It's not until an enzyme called ADAM8, a metalloprotease, is expressed by the blood cel

By Edyta Zielinska Micro vs. micro © Dr. Yorgos Nikas / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: C. Melton et al., “Opposing microRNA families regulate self-renewal in mouse embryonic stem cells,” Nature, 463:621–26, 2010. (ID: 1899956) The finding: In 2007, when Robert Blelloch from the University of California, San Francisco knocked out most microRNAs in embryonic stem (ES) cells, he noticed that the cells could no longer s

By Edyta Zielinska Are Women Better PIs? Do women excel as leaders or are they more critical of female subordinates? Some research-based advice for leaders and their employees. © Jennifer Borton When Sue Rosser was doing her postdoc in zoology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she got pregnant with her second child. She went to her principal investigator (PI) to discuss how to proceed with her project. He said there was no way her

The reason melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer stems from the curious ability of all of its cells to swap fates, according to a study publishing in __Cell__ this week. MelanomaImage: National Cancer Institute"This is an important study," linkurl:David Fisher,;http://www.massgeneral.org/dermatology/doctors/doctor.aspx?id=17718 a researcher and dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in an email. "The work [helps] to explain several key feature

A mathematical model has revealed part of the secret to why some people linkurl:infected with HIV never get sick,;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08997.html providing a new target in the attempt to harness that ability in a vaccine, according to research published in __Nature.__ HIV particles (green) budding from a lymphocyte.Image: C. Goldsmith, CDC People who can control their HIV infections carry a specific subtype of the gene for the major histocompatability co

As climate change begins to diminish yields for food crops such as rice and wheat, just how plants detect small changes in temperature has become a hot topic.

By Edyta Zielinska Cutting the cord Courtesy of B. Monier / University of Cambridge, UK The paper: B. Monier et al., “An actomyosin-based barrier inhibits cell mixing at compartmental boundaries in Drosophila embryos,” Nat Cell Biol, 12:60–65, 2010. The finding: Like others in their field, Bénédicte Sanson and colleagues from University of Cambridge had been trying to explain how different embryonic

By Edyta Zielinska Wallace’s lost chest, circa 1848 When Bill Wallace, great grandson of famed naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, was growing up, he would put on his great grandfather’s hat and finger a cabinet that his family considered “a bit of a shrine to Wallace,” Bill recalls. By that time, the family had sold most of Wallace’s collections, but had kept the cabinet—one of two that housed the naturalist’s specimens.

The question of how T cells escape the thymus and enter the circulation to fight infections has finally been answered. "These findings will be taught in textbooks down the road," Kristin Hogquist from the University of Minnesota, who was not involved in the research, wrote in an email. "This is a fascinating study," she added. A T cell exiting the thymusImage: Courtesy of Jessica HuppiScientists have long wondered how T cells exit the thymus, where they mature. The thymus is threaded with both