Greater coordination between Europe's biobanks is "urgently needed," says a group of leading European scientists in a policy briefing linkurl:published;http://www.esf.org/research-areas/medical-sciences/news/ext-news-singleview/article/europes-biobanks-need-urgent-coordination-scientists-say-446.html yesterday (May 27) by the European Science Foundation (ESF). Europe has many large linkurl:biobanks;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/20978/ -- repositories of biological samples and oth

"Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics" lays its roots in Philadelphia

Mitotic cell divisions, long thought to produce two identical daughter cells, are not entirely equal, according to a new linkurl:study;http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0803027105 published this week in __Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences__. Proteins destined for degradation are preferentially inherited by one cell over the other, the researchers found. "We hit on an observation that people had missed for 100 years," said linkurl:Eddy De Robertis;http://www.hhmi.ucla.edu/de

Disgraced South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk has set up a biotechnology firm in Seoul for cloning animal pets and producing organs for transplant, according to Agence France Presse. Hwang was banned from research using human eggs following claims that he cloned the first human embryo that were later shown to be faked. He is currently on trial for fraud, embezzlement, ethical breaches and other charges, but is not barred from conducting research on animals. Still, Hwang insists his

British parliamentarians voted to allow the controversial human embryo bill to continue to the next stage of debate yesterday (May 12), according to Agence France Presse. Just nine members of the governing Labour party voted against the bill, which passed by 340 votes to 78. On Sunday (May 11), it also emerged that a team at Cornell University's Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility led by Nikica Zaninovic added a green fluorescent protein to a human embryo to create what is believed

A former postdoc at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) falsified and fabricated DNA sequences and methylation status in unpublished data about a tumor suppressor gene, a UNMC investigation, in conjunction with the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), has found. From 2002-2005, Lois Bartsch worked in James Shull's laboratory at UNMC, researching the tumor suppressor gene, p16Cdkn2a, in rats. The investigation concluded that Bartsch altered the nucleotide sequence of the p16Cdkn2a pr

If you're thinking of buying flowers for mom this Sunday, beware of nature's seductive marketing. A new linkurl:study;http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01543.x published on-line this week in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology shows that flowers flutter in the wind to be attractive. But this floral advertising is not aimed at mother-loving children. Instead, researchers in the UK suggest, flower "waving" is a hitherto unrecognized way that plants entice insect pol

Victimless Leather, one of the works on show at the Museum of Modern Art's Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition, has claimed a victim: itself. Exhibition curator, Paola Antonelli, pulled the plug on the piece's life-support system last week, effectively "killing" the project, according to linkurl:The Art Newspaper.;http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=7834 linkurl:Victimless Leather;http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/294/ was a miniature "leather" jacket, made up of a

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has agreed to reassess controversial treatment guidelines for Lyme disease after an unprecedented antitrust investigation was launched against the group last year, according to the linkurl:Wall Street Journal Health Blog.;http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/05/01/guidelines-for-lyme-disease-treatment-go-back-for-review/?mod=WSJBlog Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal linkurl:launched the investigation;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/d

A look at the Museum of Modern Art's "Design and the Elastic Mind"

Timothy Caulfield Credit: © Creative Services, University of Alberta" />Timothy Caulfield Credit: © Creative Services, University of AlbertaTimothy Caulfield has spent years listening to scientists complain that the media does a poor job of explaining science. As research director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, he has heard this so often, he says, that he started to believe it too. Finally, he decided to find o

Credit: Courtesy of Dan Barouch" /> Credit: Courtesy of Dan Barouch The paper: D.M. Roberts et al., "Hexon-chimaeric adenovirus serotype 5 vectors circumvent preexisting antivector immunity," Nature, 441:239-243, 2006. (Cited in 52 papers) The finding: In 2006, Dan Barouch wanted to develop a vaccine vector that would not be suppressed by preexisting immunity. His gro