science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Σάββατο 25 Μαΐου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Monkey teeth help reveal Neanderthal weaning
Research highlights promising strategy to help vaccines outsmart HIV
Scientists Develop Powerful New Method for Finding Therapeutic Antibodies
A new animal model gives insights into mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis

Monkey teeth help reveal Neanderthal weaning

Posted: 24 May 2013 01:17 PM PDT

Most modern human mothers wean their babies much earlier than our closest primate relatives. But what about our extinct relatives, the Neanderthals?

A team of U.S. and Australian researchers reports in the journal Nature May 22 that they can now use fossil teeth to calculate when a Neanderthal baby was weaned. The new technique is based in part on knowledge gained from studies of teeth from human infants and from monkeys at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis.

Research highlights promising strategy to help vaccines outsmart HIV

Posted: 24 May 2013 11:06 AM PDT

A new discovery at Oregon Health & Science University highlights an ingenious method to ensure the body effectively reacts when infected with the highly evasive HIV virus that causes AIDS. The same team of researchers has been utilizing this unique approach to develop its own HIV vaccine candidate, which has so far shown promising results in animal studies. This latest research finding will be published in the May 24, 2013, edition of the journal Science.

Scientists Develop Powerful New Method for Finding Therapeutic Antibodies

Posted: 24 May 2013 09:27 AM PDT

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have devised a powerful new technique for finding antibodies that have a desired biological effect. Antibodies, which can bind to billions of distinct targets, are already used in many of the world’s best-selling medicines, diagnostics and laboratory reagents. The newly reported technique should greatly speed the process of discovering such products.

A new animal model gives insights into mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis

Posted: 24 May 2013 09:17 AM PDT

In Parkinson’s disease, the protein “alpha-synuclein” aggregates and accumulates within neurons. Specific areas of the brain become progressively affected as the disease develops and advances.