Monday,
31 October 2001
Switching on the fly genome [PDF]
A new method opens up the genome of one of biology's
most important model organisms.
For the first time, scientists at the European Molecular
Biology Laboratory [EMBL] have used a new technique
to monitor the activity of the complete genome of
the fruitfly, one of biology's most important model
organisms. The method, called SAGE, allowed them
to watch what happens as cells receive a signal
that helps form tissues. They discovered that hundreds
of fly genes respond when cells are stimulated with
a molecular signal called JNK. Their work is reported
in this month's issue of Developmental Cell.
Wednesday, 11 July 2001
EMBL selects heads for Hinxton and Monterontondo [PDF]
Nadia Rosenthal and Janet Thornton to expand research activities at the two sites.
This week the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
[EMBL] has appointed women to head two of its major
units: the European Bioinformatics Institute [EBI]
in Hinxton, UK, and the EMBL Mouse Biology Programme
in Monterotondo near Rome, Italy.
Monday, 9 July 2001
The over-efficient RNA [PDF]
Researchers identify a new means by which
a mutation leads to disease.
Scientists have now identified a few thousand
genes related to diseases, but in many cases they
still don't know how genetic defects actually disrupt
what happens in cells and cause the symptoms of
an illness. Researchers at Humboldt University in
Berlin and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
[EMBL] in Heidelberg have now found a new means
by which this can happen.
Wednesday, 4 July 2001
The RuNAway genome [PDF]
Does the proliferation of small parasitic genes lead to BSE and other spongiform diseases?
Toby Gibson, a researcher at the European Molecular
Biology Laboratory [EMBL] in Heidelberg, is not
the type of scientist to claim he has found The
Answer to the mystery of BSE and related diseases.
But Gibson has come up with an entirely plausible
theory that runs counter to current thinking about
the causes of such conditions.
Wednesday, 16 May 2001
European Bioinformatics Institute to receive unprecedented funding boost from the European Commission [PDF]
The European Bioinformatics Institute [EBI], one
of the chief providers of biological information
to scientists across the world, is to receive the
biggest ever single injection of funds into bioinformatics
infrastructure in Europe from the Commission of
the European Union. "In response to a group of related
proposals, we anticipate a contract under the Quality
of Life programme which will provide almost 20 million
Euro over three years to the EBI and a group of
twenty-five collaborators spread through eleven
nations," says Graham Cameron, Co-Head of the EBI.
The institute is an Outstation of the European Molecular
Biology [EMBL], with its headquarters Laboratory
in Heidelberg.
Tuesday, 10 April 2001
Michael J. Fox Foundation awards grant to EMBL researcher [PDF]
RÁdiger Klein's research group at the European Molecular
Biology Laboratory [EMBL] in Heidelberg has just
been awarded a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation,
created by the well-known American actor who suffers
from Parkinson's disease. The purpose of the Foundation
is to speed up research into Parkinson's disease,
which affects about one million people and is caused
by the degeneration of a specific set of cells in
the brain. Klein's group, which is working on the
molecular biology of neurons, is one of two European
groups to receive an award.
Tuesday, 5 March 2001
International Network for the sequencing of the Anopheles Gambiae [PDF]
An international network of Anopheles gambiae
researchers and genome sequencing centers meeting
at the Institut Pasteur has agreed to the general
principles and method of operation for sequencing
the genome of the mosquito most important for
the spread of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and
for making the information freely available through
public databases, together with all ancillary
genomic, genetic and biological information concerning
the mosquito. The mosquito genome sequence will
join those of the Plasmodium parasite and
the human host to provide malaria researchers
with the opportunity to identify new mechanisms
for controlling the malaria disease cycle which
requires the mosquito for transmission of the
malaria parasite to its human host.
Monday, 29 January 2001
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory awards its first PhD degree jointly with the University of Nijmegen [PDF]
Three-and-a-half years ago, Joep Muijrers arrived
at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in
Heidelberg, Germany from his home town of Maastricht
in the Netherlands to begin his doctorate in molecular
biology. Today he is receiving the first EMBL
PhD degree to be offered jointly with another
institute, the University of Nijmegen.
Wednesday, 24 January 2001
Conversations in the maze [PDF]
How two proteins switch roles to guide the development of the brain and blood vessels.
In classical mythology, there is the story of
how King Minos offered a prize to anyone who could
pull a string through the winding, maze-like interior
of a conch shell. The architect Daedalus won the
prize by tying a thread to an ant, placing the
insect at one end of the shell and a spot of honey
at the other end.
Friday, 12 January 2001
A formula for multiplying by two [PDF]
EMBL researchers identify a key mechanism in cell division.
There are roughly 100 trillion [100,000,000,000,000]
cells in each of our bodies, and every one was produced
by cell division: the initial fertilized egg split
into two daughter cells and then the numbers grew,
two by two. While each of these divisions has to
happen with absolute precision, a glance into a
dividing cell reveals what looks like utter chaos.
The immense, sprawling DNA molecules are copied
and then knotted up into huge clumps called chromosomes.
Tuesday, 9 January 2001
EMBL Researcher to receive Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine [PDF]
Dr. Iain W. Mattaj, scientific coordinator of the
European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] in
Heidelberg, Germany, will be awarded the prestigious
Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2001. Each year
the Swiss Louis-Jeantet Foundation awards the prize
to three scientists; they split a sum of 1.8 million
Swiss francs to be used to carry out new research
projects. In addition, each prize-winner receives
a personal award of 100,000 Swiss francs. The other
winners this year are Dr. Alain Fischer of Paris
and Dr. Alfred Wittinghofer of Dortmund. The presentation
ceremony will take place on April 27 in Geneva.
Wednesday, 3 January 2001
Tracing
our origins through gut development [PDF]
Researchers identify a new means by which a mutation leads to disease.
Ever since Darwin proposed that all the life on
earth evolved over millions of years from a few
common ancestors, people have wondered what these
creatures might have looked like. While it is
not so difficult to imagine the common ancestor
of man and chimpanzees, it is much harder to picture
that of distantly related animals, like man and
flies. |
