Biology
News
19 Feb 2024
In a study recently published in Nature Genetics, researchers from Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University explore chromatin accessibility, i.e., endogenous access pathways to the genomic DNA, and its use as a tool for gene editing.
16 Feb 2024
Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Journal of Cell Science on a novel role of the small Ca2+-binding protein S100A11 in focal adhesion disassembly.
16 Feb 2024
At Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, four researchers in diverse fields of study – from urban planning to digital architecture – are working hard to reach sustainability goals.
15 Feb 2024
Excessive anxiety can lead to psychiatric disorders, but it is an evolutionary trait that has helped us survive by alerting us to potential dangers. Researchers at Tohoku University have investigated how astrocytes within the habenula, a region of the brain associated with emotional processing, can tune anxiety levels.
07 Feb 2024
Yokohama National University scientists are working towards creating a better tomorrow by addressing diverse challenges, from snow algae and tropical cyclones to AI cyberthreats, and much more.
02 Feb 2024
A study led by Duke-NUS Medical School has found an important connection between cancer, stem cells and the building blocks of cholesterol. Specifically, the research reveals how the enzyme FAXDC2 influences cancer cell growth and differentiation through its role in cholesterol synthesis, suggesting possible new approaches to cancer treatment.
29 Jan 2024
A new technology to increase visibility of cancer cells to the immune system using CRISPR has been developed, and could lead to a new way to treat cancer.
25 Jan 2024
Taiwan: Researchers from National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan, have made a discovery in the fight against Zika virus. Their study, published in the journal “Communication Biology,” reveals that people who have previously been exposed to dengue virus and Japanese encephalitis virus may have acquired immunity against Zika virus. This finding may shed new light on vaccine strategies in countries where these viruses are common.
24 Jan 2024
This week sees the launch of the first published content in Sustainable Microbiology, the new open access journal which will apply microbiology to sustainability. The journal is published by Applied Microbiology International.
22 Jan 2024
A water-soluble, luminescent europium complex enables evaluation of malignancy grade in model glioma tumor cells.
15 Jan 2024
Unleashing stem cells from dog urine, Electronic Tongue, Tapping into human motion energy, How neurons network, and A radical use for plastic bags. Plus Communicating science two decades on. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
11 Jan 2024
Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo create customizable polymer molds to produce cost-effective arrays of microneedles that can be used to uniquely identify pets with alphanumeric symbols instead of tags or collars.
11 Jan 2024
Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University report in Nano Letters how the flexibility of a protein hinge plays a crucial role in the transfer of proteins in key cell processes.
01 Jan 2024
Researchers from Osaka University have shown that a protein called HKDC1 is a new target of another protein, TFEB, and plays key roles in maintaining the stability of both mitochondria and lysosomes. HKDC1 is essential for mitophagy to remove damaged mitochondria, and mediates mitochondria–lysosome contact, which is critical for lysosomal repair. The role of HKDC1 in maintaining the stability of these organelles counteracts cellular senescence, revealing HKDC1 as a potential therapeutic target for age-related diseases.
26 Dec 2023
Researchers from Osaka University and Shenzhen Bay Laboratory found that neuronal activity induces gene expression at sites of acetylation by promoting the emergence of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), CREB binding protein (CBP), and RNA polymerase II. These proteins are targeted to the appropriate sites by CBP-mediated histone acetylation at activity-dependent gene loci.
26 Dec 2023
- Professor Kyung-In Jang’s research team at DGIST has developed a complex taste sensor that mimics the gustatory system and detects saltiness, sourness, bitterness, and sweetness in real-time.
- It is expected to be applied in various fields, including the food, cosmetics, and medicine industries
21 Dec 2023
A team of researchers has developed an innovative method to design complicated all-α proteins, characterized by their non-uniformly arranged α-helices as seen in hemoglobin. Employing their novel approach, the team successfully created five unique all-α protein structures, each distinguished by their complicated arrangements of α-helices. This capability holds immense potential in designing functional proteins.
20 Dec 2023
Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University report in Nature Communications a high-speed atomic force microscopy study of the structural dynamics of sodium ion channels in cell membranes. The findings provide insights into the mechanism behind the generation of cell-membrane action potentials.
20 Dec 2023
We’re all familiar with our body’s internal clock: it gives us cues on when to wake and when to rest, but it also can determine the rate and time of day at which your body most effectively heals wounds.
14 Dec 2023
Scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School and their collaborators have come up with new methods to cultivate brain cells from stem cells to treat and study neurodegenerative diseases.
13 Dec 2023
A previously mysterious small RNA molecule in mice is found to play a crucial role in gene expression, and may be the first identified member of a new class of regulatory RNAs.
13 Dec 2023
"Amaterasu" particle: a new cosmic mystery, Geckos inspire robotic device, Targeting cancer while protecting healthy cells, Honey, I shrunk the bear, Two species lost to science spotted again. Plus New Science Communication Resources. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
13 Dec 2023
Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed an efficient, non-invasive, and pain-free method to generate canine-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). They identified six reprogramming genes that can boost canine iPSC generation by 120 times compared to conventional methods using fibroblasts. The iPSCs were created from urine-derived cells without the need for feeder cells, an impossible feat until now. Their findings are expected to advance regenerative medicine and genetic disease research in veterinary medicine.
11 Dec 2023
Scientists uncover genetic factors allowing for the early prediction of intestinal metaplasia patients who may have higher risks of developing stomach cancer, enabling early detection, diagnosis and targeted prevention.
08 Dec 2023
- DGIST Professor Dae-ha Seo's research team has successfully developed optical microscopy analysis technology, based on nanochemistry and machine learning, that can observe the phase separation phenomenon of the cell membrane
- The technology accurately analyzes the nanoenvironment of the cell membrane and is expected to greatly contribute to disease mechanism research and diagnostic technology
08 Dec 2023
Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences a computational method to predict the placement of proteins on AFM substrates based on electrostatic interactions.
05 Dec 2023
While anger and aggression are instinctive behaviors found across many species, leaving these emotions unchecked can lead to conflict and violence. In a recent study, researchers at Tohoku University demonstrated that neuronal-glial interactions in the cerebellum determine the degree of aggression exhibited by mice. This suggests that future therapeutic methods could adjust glial activity in the cerebellum to help reduce unwanted aggression.
04 Dec 2023
Pregnancy brings a rise in pancreatic beta cells – the cells that produce insulin. Shortly after birth, these cells return to their normal levels. The mechanisms behind this process had remained a mystery. But now a research group has revealed that white blood cells called macrophages ‘eat’ these cells.
04 Dec 2023
Decreasing pancreatic beta cell numbers – the only cells that produce insulin – is a leading cause of diabetes. In a promising development, a research group has revealed that stimulating autonomic vagal nerves connected to the pancreas can improve the function and also increase the number of pancreatic beta cells in mice.
30 Nov 2023
An international team of researchers led by Osaka Metropolitan University has elucidated the process by which the major flavonoids naringenin, apigenin, and genistein are metabolized in the body. These findings are fundamental in elucidating the correlation between the metabolism of flavonoids in the body and their potential health benefits.
Events
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Researchers
Department of Microbiology / Biomolecular Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA
Malaysia
Dr. Irina's research focuses on sustainability, including an analysis of environmental management, the urban environment, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and education for sustainable development, or ESD, and its application in real-world contexts.
Dr. Seong-Kyoon Choi is a senior researcher at the Division of Biotechnology of Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST)
Dr. Wookbong Kwon is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Division of Biotechnology of Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST)
Myungin Baek is currently an Assistant Professor at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST).
Eriko Kage-Nakadai is a professor at the Graduate School of Human Life Science of Osaka City University.
Prof. Miyabi Nakabayashi works on tropical ecology, especially on seed dispersal by mammals in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Recently, she is focusing on seed dispersal system of fig trees (Ficus spp.) and large-seeded plants such as durians.
Prof. Ann Marie Chacko lead the translational efforts for a portfolio of in vivo PET, SPECT, CT and optical imaging agents that span key therapeutic areas including oncology, immunology, infectious disease and neurobiology.
Prof Smith’s research programme primarily investigates the ecology and evolution of zoonotic viruses and the molecular epidemiology of human respiratory pathogens.
Prof. Chen’s current research covers research on bacterial antimicrobial resistance, virulence and tolerance in the veterinary, food and medical microbiology fields
Prof. Jinsoo Seo's research focuses on mechanisms of cellular dysfunction and cognitive decline in aging brain, genetic risk factors for neurodegeneration as well as the effect of environmental factors and lifestyle on Alzheimer's disease.
Prof. Jan is interested in how sensory processing interpret auditory inputs to the brain are transformed to underpin subjective perceptual qualities of sound such as pitch, timbre and sound source location, and how the brain learns to adapt to the statistical structure of the sounds in our environment to form efficient neural representations of sound and to support auditory scene analysis.
Professor Ken's current research mainly focuses on the causes and treatments of neurodegenerative diseases. His lab has developed a nanomaterial-based technology for harvesting autologous neural stem cells from the brain of living subjects.
Guangshun Jiang does research in ecology and zoology with a special focus on big feline ecology and conservation research.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science
Krishna Institute of Allied Sciences
Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences
Deemed To Be University, Karad
Dr Yap is currently a senior lecturer and course coordinator for the Bachelor of Medical Bioscience at Monash University Malaysia. She is dedicated to toxin pharmacology and toxicology research. She has strong background in biomolecular modelling, proteomics, immunological and molecular pharmacology of bioactive toxins. She leads the Toxin Pharmacology Research Group. Her research group now focuses on molecular mechanisms of cytotoxin with the ultimate goal of developing next-generation biotherapeutics. Her research works have been featured in prominent media outlets, including the International Snakebite Awareness Day campaign. Besides active in research, she is also an education innovator who adopts various active learning strategies with technology. She teaches undergraduate units with an emphasis on student-cantered learning using the andragogy approach. Dr Michelle enjoys promoting STEM education to the public. She has organized and hosted several workshops and forums to advance the disciplines in medical sciences through research and education.
Ana Carina Manjua's current PhD work is in the design and fabrication of a biological inspired artificial microfluid platform for drug screening.
Frederico Castelo Ferreira's current research interest balances between fundamental and applied research, with potential translation into the market of sustainable products and processes.
Dr. Tengku Haziyamin Tengku Abdul Hamid's recent discovery of a novel strain has enabled a new patent to be drafted and was awarded gold medal in Malaysian Technology Expo 2021 for his new probiotic prototype called ProAquaVcare.
Dr. Indika Neluwa-Liyanage is a lecturer in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. His research focuses on the metabolic alterations underlying autism spectrum disorders and inherited metabolic disorders.
Greg Seong-Bae Suh is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Tomohiro Mochizuki is a specially-appointed assistant professor at Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) - Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Associate Professor Hajin Kim is a biomedical engineer at the Single Molecule Biophysics Laboratory, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea.
Yoon-Kyoung Cho is currently a group leader in the Center for Soft and Living Matter at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and a full professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in the Republic of Korea.
Jorge García Molinos is an aquatic ecologist broadly interested in global change ecology and macroecology.
The Neuroscience Research Group is a multi-disciplinary team investigating the nervous system. They are focusing on animal behavioral models for memory in the laboratory. They are studying the effects of food, such as Habbatus Sauda/Black cumin (Nigella sativa) and honey, on brain microstructures and memory. They also compare Islamic and neuroscience perspectives on issues like learning and sleep for children with and without autism spectrum disorders.
Babita Madan is an assistant professor at the Program in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.
David Virshup, M.D., is Director of the Programme in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology (CSCB) and Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School and is jointly appointed as Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University in North Carolina.
My current research is generally on the bioactive compounds, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties especially from agricultural by-product. Recently, I have found that these agricultural by-product has a promising potential to be used as biopesticide. They are not expensive, practical and will not significantly affect the environment and human health.
The prospect of favorably influencing brain health through dietary habits has gained much interest. My research interest explores the therapeutic potential of functional foods and phytonutrients as neuroprotectants against mitochondrial diseases and cerebral toxoplasmosis. The scientific findings support nutritional intervention as a viable strategy for the management of human brain disorders.
Giants in history
Korean parasitologist Seung-Yull Cho (16 November 1943 – 27 January 2019) is remembered largely for his pioneering works to control infections caused by helminthic parasites and his contribution to journal publishing.
Chinese agronomist Yuan Longping (7 September 1930 – 22 May 2021) developed the first varieties of the high-yield, hybrid rice that brought food security to multiple countries including China, which had been ravaged by food shortages as recently as the mid-20th century.
Minoru Shirota (April 23, 1899 – March 10, 1982) was a Japanese microbiologist who invented the popular fermented drink Yakult.
David T. Wong (born 1936) is a Hong Kong-born American neuroscientist who is best known for discovering the antidepressant drug fluoxetine, better known as Prozac.
Little is known about Ali, a teenager from Sarawak, Malaysia, who was chief assistant to the famous naturalist Alfred Wallace. Most of what is known comes from Wallace’s writings. Ali accompanied Wallace on expeditions throughout the Malay Archipelago from December 1855 to February 1862.
The techniques that make industrial pearl culturing possible were developed over a century ago at the Misaki Marine Biological Station in Japan. The station’s first director, Professor Kakichi Mitsukuri, emphasized to Kokichi Mikimoto in 1890 that stimulating pearl sac formation was important for pearl growth, and they went on to successfully develop methods for culturing pearls.
Indian organic chemist Asima Chatterjee (1917 to 2006) studied the medicinal properties of plant products, especially compounds known as vinca alkaloids.
Cyril Andrew Ponnamperuma (16 October 1923 – 20 December 1994) was a Sri Lankan chemist who was interested in the origins of life on Earth. His research in chemical evolution showed how inanimate molecules may have given rise to the building blocks of life – a process known as abiogenesis.
Motoo Kimura (13 November 1924 – 13 November 1994) was a Japanese theoretical population geneticist who is best remembered for developing the neutral theory of molecular evolution.
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a scientist and inventor who contributed to a wide range of scientific fields such as physics, botany and biology.
Rinchen Barsbold (born 21 December 1935) is a Mongolian palaeontologist and geologist who was instrumental in discovering and recovering one of the largest dinosaur collections in the world from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China.
Osamu Shimomura (27 August 1928 – 19 October 2018) was a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist who dedicated his career to understanding how organisms emitted light.
Woo Jang-choon (8 April 1898 – 10 August 1959) was a Korean-Japanese agricultural scientist and botanist.
Joo-myung Seok (November 13, 1908 – October 6, 1950) was a Korean butterfly entomologist who made important contributions to the taxonomy of the native butterfly species in Korea.
Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat (4 November 1897 – 7 February 1984) was an Indian botanist who studied plant chromosomes and genetics.
Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran (8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001) is best known for developing the Ramachandran plot to understand the structure of short chains of amino acids, known as peptides.
Hsien Wu (24 November 1893 – 8 August 1959) is widely regarded as the founder of biochemistry and nutrition science in China. He was the first to propose that protein denaturation was caused by the unfolding of the protein, instead of chemical alteration.
Rapee Sagarik (4 December 1922 – 17 February 2018) was Thailand’s renowned expert on orchids.
Maqsudul Alam (14 December 1954 – 20 December 2014) was a biologist from Bangladesh who is renowned for his research on genome sequencing
Barry Paw (29 August 1962 – 28 December 2017) was a biologist and oncologist who discovered several novel genes and their functions in red blood cells.
Susan Lim (14 February 1952 – 2 August 2014) was a Malaysian parasitologist who specialized in studying a class of flatworms, the Monogeans, which are parasites of fishes.
Kono Yasui (16 February 1880 – 24 March 1971) was a Japanese botanist who researched the genetics of poppies, corn and spiderworts and surveyed the plants that had been affected by the nuclear fallout after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hitoshi Kihara (1893 – 1986) was one of the most famous Japanese geneticists of the 20th century. One of his most significant contributions was identifying sex chromosomes (X and Y) in flowering plants.
Julian Arca Banzon (13 March 1908 – 13 September 1988) was a biochemist from the Philippines who was a pioneer in alternative fuel research. Banzon investigated the use of indigenous crops as sources of renewable fuels and chemicals.
Syed Qasim Mehdi (13 February 1941 – 28 September 2016) was a Pakistani molecular biologist who was a founding member of the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), which assessed human diversity by studying human migration, mutation rates, relationships between different populations, genes involved in height and selective pressure.
Rampa Rattanarithikul is a Thai entomologist who is a leading expert on mosquitoes. Rattanarithikul began her scientific career as a technician collecting mosquito specimens for the United States Operations Mission (USOM) malaria control program. Throughout her career, she discovered 23 species and officially described 13 others.
Michiyo Tsujimura (17 September 1888 – 1 June 1969) was a Japanese agricultural scientist and biochemist recognized for her research of green tea components.
Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann (23 November 1937 – 4 September 2005) was a Filipino-American scientist whose research focused on cyanobacteria and microorganisms that inhabit extreme environments.
Min Chueh Chang (10 October 1908 – 5 June 1991) was a Chinese-American biologist who studied fertilization in mammalian reproduction.
A Japanese surgeon, Tetsuzo Akutsu (20 August 1922 – 9 August 2007) built the first artificial heart capable of keeping an animal alive.