Researchers have designed a way to streamline the construction of synthetic gene networks, a paper published online this week in Nature Biotechnology reports. The technique could speed up the process of building such networks, the authors say. The study was "very solidly executed," said J. Christopher Anderson, a bioengineer at the University of California, Berkeley. Image: Liz_Henry/flickr Synthetic biology, the process of combining genes to create artificial networks, holds promise for numer

Members of a microbial community from a pool of water deep under the Arctic ice power their metabolism by "breathing" iron, a study in this week's Science reports. The previously unknown mechanism may explain how microbes survived during a period 600 million years ago, when the earth's oceans were covered in ice, the authors say. Blood Falls at the Taylor Glacier Image: Benjamin Urmston The identification of the bacterial ecosystem's oddball respiration is a "remarkable discovery," said Alan

Are female mammals born with all the eggs they'll ever have, or can they produce new eggs into adulthood? The question has been vociferously debated, but now, a study published online in Nature Cell Biology today (April 12) reports that at least in mice, adult female ovaries have a store of stem cells that have the potential to generate new eggs. Human oocyte Image: Wikimedia CommonsThe study "is a huge step in quelling this debate," Jonathan Tilly, a reproductive biologist at Harvard Medical

Genentech withdrew its psoriasis drug Raptiva from the market yesterday, citing the risk of developing progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare, often fatal brain infection. The drug will be phased out by June 8 of this year, according to a statement by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The decision comes after Genentech reported a fourth case of PML diagnosed in a 47 year old man in Germany in February, and a subsequent warning by the FDA. Three other people taking Rap

Prions may not just be culprits in disease -- they may also do some good, new research shows. Proteins prone to morph into prions are widespread in yeast, and may benefit the organism by helping it adapt to a changing environment, scientists report in this week's Cell. Prion histology Image: Wikimedia CommonsThe results are "fascinating," and "biologically very significant," said Liming Li, a biochemist at Northwestern University who studies yeast prions but was not involved in the research. T

Will robots one day replace human scientists at lab benches?

Credit: © Russell Kightley / rkm.com.au" /> Credit: © Russell Kightley / rkm.com.au The paper: Deleault et al., "Formation of native prions from minimal components in vitro," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 104: 9741-6, 2007. (Cited in 53 papers) The finding: To test whether misfolded, disease-causing prion proteins could form from their normal counterparts without being see

A team led by Yin-Yuan Mo, a tumor cell biologist at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, measured global protein levels in mouse carcinoma tumors

Fermenters like this one used genetically-manipulated bacteria to produce the first human insulin in 1977 and the first human growth factor in 1979. Credit: © SSPL / Science Museum" />Fermenters like this one used genetically-manipulated bacteria to produce the first human insulin in 1977 and the first human growth factor in 1979. Credit: © SSPL / Science Museum In 1972, Uni

In a study challenging a long-held doctrine of antibody binding -- which states that a single antibody corresponds to just one antigen, fitting it like a lock fits a key -- researchers have created a designer version of an antibody that can bind two completely different targets. Two-in-one antibodiesImage: Allison Bruce & Jenny BostromThe findings, reported in this week's Science, raise the possibility that antibodies with dual specificity could occur naturally, the authors say. The result

Science programs in many state schools are feeling the pinch of hard times, but there's an exception to the suffering: Universities in big energy-producing states are thriving, with some even gaining a competitive edge over their hurting counterparts by luring senior level faculty. Times are tough at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK). After taking a 5.8% hit in their approximately $750 million budget last year, they are facing an 8 to 20% cut in state funding this year, said Willia

A team of scientists takes IMAX viewers into the nanosphere with atomic particles in search of life's secrets