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New 3D hair follicle model to accelerate cure for baldness

Hair loss is a common disorder that affects many men and women due to aging or medical conditions. Current FDA-approved drugs can minimize further hair loss but are unable to regrow new hair. The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) has recently engineered a new hair follicle model that could help discover new drugs for hair regeneration.

Jul 19th, 2013

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A secret to making macrophages (w/video)

Biologists at the Caltech have worked out the details of a mechanism that leads undifferentiated blood stem cells to become macrophages - immune cells that attack bacteria and other foreign pathogens. The process involves an unexpected cycle in which cell division slows, leading to an increased accumulation of a particular regulatory protein that in turn slows cell division further. The finding provides new insight into how stem cells are guided to generate one cell type as opposed to another.

Jul 18th, 2013

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New methods to visualize bacterial cell-to-cell communication

Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a live-cell fluorescent labeling that makes bacterial cell-to-cell communication pathways visible. The communication between bacterial cells is essential in the regulation of processes within bacterial populations, such as biofilm development.

Jul 18th, 2013

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Time to investigate the whole human genome

How to cure malignant brain tumour? Why two cells from the same organism, in spite of having identical gene set up, have different shape and functions? How small variations in human genes determine changes in the way we think, feel and behave? Answers to such questions are sought by scientists from the new Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology of the Nencki Institute.

Jul 18th, 2013

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Researchers step closer to custom-building new blood vessels

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have coaxed stem cells into forming networks of new blood vessels in the laboratory, then successfully transplanted them into mice. The stem cells are made by reprogramming ordinary cells, so the new technique could potentially be used to make blood vessels genetically matched to individual patients and unlikely to be rejected by their immune systems, the investigators say.

Jul 16th, 2013

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Key step in molecular 'dance' that duplicates DNA deciphered

Scientists have captured new details of the biochemical interactions necessary for cell division -- molecular images showing how the enzyme that unwinds the DNA double helix gets drawn to and wrapped around its target. The research may suggest ways for stopping cell division when it goes awry.

Jul 14th, 2013

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