The USA300 strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, colorized in gold, shown outside a white blood cell.

Bethesda, MD (Scicasts) - Scientists from the National Institutes of Health and University of Chicago have reported finding a promising treatment method that in laboratory mice reduces the severity of skin and soft-tissue damage caused by USA300, the leading cause of community-associated Staphylococcus aureus infections in the United States. According to the report, by neutralizing a key toxin associated with the bacteria, they found they could greatly reduce the damaging effects of the infection on skin and soft tissue. Community strains of S. aureus cause infection in otherwise healthy people and are considered extremely virulent, as opposed to hospital strains that infect people who already are weakened by illness or surgery.

Edinburgh, UK (Scicasts) – According to a report from the University of Edinburgh, Scientists at the Institute have built a clearer picture of how lengthy strands of DNA are concertinaed when our cells grow and divide, in a discovery could help explain how cell renewal can go wrong.

Baltimore, MD (Scicasts) - A hunt throughout the human genome for variants associated with common, late-onset Parkinson's disease has revealed a new genetic link that implicates the immune system and offers new targets for drug development.

Santa Barbara, CA (Scicasts) - Researchers at UC Santa Barbara demonstrate the synthesis of nanosize biological particles with the potential to fight cancer and other illnesses. The studies introduce new approaches that are considered "green" nanobiotechnology because they use no artificial compounds.

Top row, three different RNA objects rendered from molecular computer models: from left, RNA antiprism composed of eight RNAs, a six-stranded RNA cube, and a 10-stranded RNA cube. Bottom row, the corresponding three-dimensional reconstructions of the objects obtained from cryo-electron microscopy. Image by Cody Geary and Kirill A. Afonin

Copenhagen, Denmark (Scicasts) - While studying for her PhD in chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, Dr. Jeannette Bjerre demonstrated a novel concept involving a completely man-made chemical enzyme used as an antidote against natural toxins found in fruits and vegetables. The so-called chemzyme was able to decompose glycoside esculin, a toxin found in horse-chestnuts.

Dresden, Germany (Scicasts) - Transinsight, provider of semantic search technologies, releases the next version of its Enterprise Semantic Intelligence Knowledge Suite at the I-SEMANTICS Conference in Graz, Austria.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY (Scicasts)  – Vitamin D insufficiency is a risk factor for a number of diseases and thus, is a growing concern worldwide, as approximately one billion people may be vitamin D deficient. However, the biological basis for vitamin D deficiency predisposing to disease is poorly understood. In a report published online this week in Genome Research (www.genome.org), scientists have mapped the molecular interactions of the vitamin D receptor genome-wide, finding novel connections of vitamin D with genes related to autoimmune disease and cancer.

This is the fish, Macropteris maculatus, with antifreeze protein structure. Image by: Konrad Meister

Bochum, Germany (Scicasts) - Researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB) uncovered the mystery behind why fish do not freeze in the Arctic Ocean. The so-called anti-freeze proteins are special frost protection proteins that are found in the blood of these fish, which work much more efficiently than any household antifreeze sold today.

Cambridge, MA (Scicasts) - Human pluripotent stem cells, which can become any other kind of body cell, hold great potential to treat a wide range of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. However, scientists who work with such cells have had trouble growing large enough quantities to perform experiments — in particular, to be used in human studies. Furthermore, most materials now used to grow human stem cells include cells or proteins that come from mice embryos, which help stimulate stem-cell growth but would likely cause an immune reaction if injected into a human patient.

This shows cerebral arterial circulation showing the left brain hemisphere of a C57BL/6 mouse and the right hemisphere of BALB/c mouse. Note the difference typical for these strains in number of collaterals (red stars).

Chapel Hill, NC (Scicasts) – Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) have uncovered the genetic architecture which controls the growth of the "back-up" blood vessels that can provide oxygen to starved tissues in the event of a heart attack or stroke – also known as collateral circulation.

Tokyo, Japan (Scicasts) - World Fusion, the Japanese informatics management firm, today announced the creation of a sequence analysis service center with a bioinformatics infrastructure based on CLC bio's enterprise platform for high-throughtput sequencing data analysis, coupled with World Fusion's own Life Science Knowledge Bank (LSKB) bio knowledge database system.

This cross-section of skin shows rat thymic epithelial cells (green) contributing to hair follicles and sebaceous glands. Image by EPFL.

Lausanne, Switzerland (Scicasts) - Researchers have reported today that taking one type of cell and transforming it into another type is now possible, which may have vital ramifications for the field of organ regeneration. The research involved taking cells from the thymus and transforming them into skin cells.

Boston, MA (Scicasts) – Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have uncovered the genes that regulate MDM2, an oncogene that, in turn, regulates the tumour suppressor protein p53. But instead of an on-off switch for MDM2, the team found what looks like a dimmer switch, suggesting a more complicated signalling pathway that is sensitive to a changing environment.

Houston, TX (Scicasts) - The most robust statistical examination to date of our species' genetic links to "mitochondrial Eve" -- the maternal ancestor of all living humans -- confirms that she lived about 200,000 years ago. The Rice University study was based on a side-by-side comparison of 10 human genetic models that each aim to determine when Eve lived using a very different set of assumptions about the way humans migrated, expanded and spread across Earth.

Blacksburg, VA (Scicasts) - A software package developed by a professor at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and his colleagues to help researchers better understand the workings of biochemical networks now features an open source license, offering an ever wider range of benefits to its users.

Santa Clara, CA (Scicasts) - Agilent Technologies announced the latest version of its OpenLAB Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN), which offers scientists in analytical research and development an optimized workflow to document and share experiments and results.

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have uncovered a role for an essential cell protein in shuttling RNA into the mitochondria, the energy-producing 'power plant' of the cell. Image by: Maureen Heaster

Los Angeles, CA (Scicasts) – According to a report from The University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), researchers at the Institute's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have uncovered a role for an essential cell protein in shuttling RNA into the mitochondria, the energy-producing "power plant" of the cell.

London, UK (Scicasts) - Genetic differences that make some people susceptible to developing meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia, and others naturally immune, are revealed in a new study of over 6,000 people, published August 8, 2010 in Nature Genetics.

Madison, WI (Scicasts) - The influenza virus, scientists well know, is a crafty, shape-shifting organism, constantly changing form to evade host immune systems and jump from one species, like birds, to another, mammals.

A retina with the degenerative vision disease, retinitis pigmentosa.

Arlington, VA (Scicasts) – According to a report from the Office of Naval Research (ONR),  neurobiologists funded by the ONR have discovered a potential cure for degenerative vision diseases leading to terminal blindness. The solution, however, may be rooted in an unconventional therapeutic approach.

Scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland, are manipulating the proteins that cause blindness in mice. The scientists have successfully restored vision in the light-sensing cells of the retina.