T Cell News and Research

Latest T Cell News and Research

Researchers identify genes affected by Methotrexate (MTX)

A Queen's University study of fruit flies that may revolutionize the way birth defects are studied has identified the genes affected by a widely-prescribed drug known to cause birth defects.

26 Nov 2005

Fear gene discovered

In the Nov. 18 issue of Cell, researchers report the discovery of a gene that controls the ability to react with appropriate fear to impending danger.

26 Nov 2005

South Korean cloning pioneer responds to accusations

South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk has defended himself in the media following allegations over ethics violations that have seen his groundbreaking work plunged into controversy.

24 Nov 2005

Compound from Salinispora (marine bacteria) kills blood cancer cells

An anti-cancer compound derived from bacteria dwelling in ocean-bottom sediments appears in laboratory tests to be a potent killer of drug-resistant multiple myeloma cells, and potentially with less toxicity than current treatments, report Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers in the November issue of Cancer Cell.

21 Nov 2005

Carbonic anhydrase and CO2 sensing during Cryptococcus neoformans growth, differentiation, and virulence

By using pathogenic fungi as model systems for understanding fungal diseases, two groups of researchers are reporting new work that offers insight into how carbon dioxide (CO2) governs the morphogenic changes that allow pathogenic fungi to survive in different environments and invade the human body

21 Nov 2005

Critical role of p53 gene

Fruit flies can live significantly longer, and remain healthy, when activity of the fly version of the tumor-suppressing protein p53 is reduced in nerve cells.

21 Nov 2005

Newly identified protein may help improve treatment for lung cancer

Researchers hope that a newly identified protein can one day help improve treatment for lung cancer. The findings are reported by researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

21 Nov 2005

Acoustics experts say medical sound pollution is widely recognized, rarely addressed

Announcements blare from overhead speakers. Electronic devices beep. Heating and cooling systems rumble. Employees and visitors speak loudly.

21 Nov 2005

Nanotechnology and biochemistry provide new way to study T cell signaling

Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley, combining nanotechnology with biochemistry, have created unique synthetic membranes that, for the first time ever, enable them to directly control signaling activity in living T cells from the immune system. Already their experiments have yielded surprising results.

21 Nov 2005

American physicians may be too liberal in their use of blood transfusions

In an analysis of some 24,000 patient records, the researchers found that Americans rushed to the hospital with heart attack symptoms have significantly higher rates of bleeding and transfusions after treatment than similar patients throughout the world.

21 Nov 2005

Sperm stem cells research provides exciting findings

New experiments that prevented rat sperm stem cells from changing permanently into sperm have brought researchers one step closer to coaxing such cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, capable of growing into many other types of cells in the body.

20 Nov 2005

Drug pravastatin may provide a previously unknown cardiovascular benefit

The drug pravastatin, which is used widely to decrease high cholesterol, may provide a previously unknown cardiovascular benefit in addition to lowering lipids.

20 Nov 2005

Stem cell microenvironment reverses malignant melanoma

Northwestern University researchers have demonstrated how the microenvironments of two human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines (federally approved) induced metastatic melanoma cells to revert to a normal, skin cell-like type with the ability to form colonies similar to hESCs.

20 Nov 2005

Study reveals how T cells analyze and react to the signals of infection at the immunological synapse

The immune system is highly complex. The cast of characters alone required to marshal an immune response to a foreign invader can number in the millions as the body's soldiers, T cells, are called into action.

20 Nov 2005

New genes that regulate longevity

In an effort to understand the molecular mechanisms that control aging, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers and their colleagues have now uncovered 10 new genes that regulate longevity in yeast. The studies also suggest a new model for how aging is slowed when caloric intake is restricted.

20 Nov 2005

Stem cells to repair heart tissue soon after a heart attack

Stem cells derived from human heart tissue develop into multicellular, spherical structures called cardiospheres that express the normal properties of primitive heart tissue, smooth muscle and blood vessel cells, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

20 Nov 2005