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Displaying 1189 of 2890 articles.

New test for drug and alcohol addiction focuses solely on time of heaviest use

A new survey can quickly test for addiction to cocaine, heroin and alcohol simply by asking about the time in the person's life when he or she was drinking or using these substances the most, according to a study by Rockefeller University researchers. In the five-minute survey, only three answers...

Food traffic

Researchers develop new conceptual tool for describing ecological communities Ever since Charles Darwin wrote one of the first descriptions of a food web — outlining who eats whom — in 1838, biologists such as Rockefeller scientist Joel E. Cohen, Ph.D., Dr.P.H., have been studying patterns of e...

Gairdner Prize honors Rockefeller scientist Ralph Steinman, M.D.

Dendritic cells, discovered at Rockefeller in 1973, now a vehicle for immune-based therapies For the critical discovery of the immune system's sentinel dendritic cells, and for demonstrating that science can fruitfully harness the power of these cells and other components of the immune system to ...

First images of protein export in cells illuminate structural "highways" called microtubules as sole conduits of protein cargo

For the first time, scientists have viewed — and recorded on camera — the final pathway followed by a protein as it exits the body cell that created it. Once released from a cell, a protein is free to perform its duties as a neurotransmitter, hormone, cell surface receptor, or one of the many ot...

The protein's in the mail

New findings from Blobel lab enhance understanding of "ZIP Code" protein transport system A busy urban post office daily sorts thousands of letters and parcels, guiding each to a particular mailbox somewhere in the city. Each day, every cell of the human body manufactures millions of proteins whi...

Rockefeller scientists identify "natural" proteins that push stem cells to produce hair instead of skinRockefeller scientists identify "natural" proteins that push stem cells to produce hair instead of skin

The clearest picture to date of how two proteins determine the destiny of a stem cell that is genetically programmed to develop into either hair or skin epidermis is emerging with mouse embryos as models for human biology from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Rockefeller University. The sci...

Link found between estrogen, changes in brain structure, and learning and memory

Scientists at Rockefeller University have discovered how estrogen initiates physical changes in rodent brain cells that lead to increased learning and memory — a finding, the researchers contend, that illustrates the likely value of the hormone to enhance brain functioning in women. Their study, ...

Rockefeller researchers identify new mechanism that ensures accurate partitioning of genetic material in dividing cells

Every minute, the human body replaces 300 million of its dying cells with new ones through the vital biological process known as cell division. When dividing and multiplying, a "parent" cell must segregate with exquisite precision each of its 46 chromosomes so that two "daughter" cells inherit al...

Researchers unearth unusual enzyme lacking genetic code

"Brute force biochemistry" still required to isolate novel proteins Since their fiery beginnings on earth over three billion years ago, bacteria have evolved some unusual strategies for dealing with the problems of life, a kind of odd bag of tricks specialized for survival. The most recent idiosy...

Backstage with a command performer

B cell chromatin study strikes physiological chord Some cells sing with the chorus, while others unwittingly achieve fame on their own. The immune system's B cell is a true diva that spends its early days preparing for the ultimate audition. Its repertoire of possible antibodies to invading micro...