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C. Erec Stebbins awarded prestigious EUREKA grant

C. Erec Stebbins, associate professor at The Rockefeller University, has been awarded an inaugural EUREKA grant from the National Institutes of Health for a project aimed at exploiting a bacteria-based “nanosyringe” as a means of delivering proteins into specific cells for therapeutic purposes. ...

Clinical study to examine role of vitamin D in kidney disease

Vitamin D is the key to preventing rickets and osteoporosis, but Rockefeller University scientists suspect it may also play a role in heading off atherosclerosis in people with chronic kidney disease. In a new clinical study, investigators at The Rockefeller University Hospital are examining pati...

Newly uncovered cells may be critical in psoriasis

Psoriasis, one of humanity’s oldest known diseases, has also been one of its most misunderstood. But in a new study that could change researchers’ perspective of the skin disorder and potentially lead to powerful new drug targets, Rockefeller University scientists have found that the source of p...

Rifamycin antibiotics attack tuberculosis bacteria with walls, not signals

Amid concerns about the rising number of new tuberculosis cases worldwide, researchers at Rockefeller University and their collaborators have reexamined and disproved a theory that describes how a potent class of antibiotics kills a deadly form of bacteria. The findings, which will appear in this...

Intensity of human environmental impact may lessen as incomes rise, analysis suggests

The richer you are, the more of the world’s resources you can afford to consume. But in many parts of the world, rising incomes are not having the proportionate effect on energy consumption, croplands and deforestation that one might expect, a new 25-year study shows. By examining a variety of go...

By amplifying cell death signals, scientists make precancerous cells self-destruct

When a cell begins to multiply in a dangerously abnormal way, a series of death signals triggers it to self-destruct before it turns cancerous. Now, in research to appear in the August 15 issue of Genes & Development, Rockefeller University scientists have figured out a way in mice to amplify the...

A snooze button for the circadian clock

We may use the snooze button to fine-tune our sleep cycles, but our cells have a far more meticulous and refined system. Humans, and most other organisms, have 24-hour rhythms that are regulated by a precise molecular clock that ticks inside every cell. After decades of study, researchers are sti...

Researchers solve structure of an enzyme vital for DNA repair

When dividing cells copy their DNA, mistakes can — and do — occur. To compensate, cells have a built-in system to correct these errors. That correction process isn’t thoroughly understood, but researchers are piecing it together bit by bit. Now, in the latest step toward solving this puzzle, R...

Molecular bridge serves as a tether for cell's nucleus

A cell’s nucleus — home of it its most precious contents — is a delicate envelope that, without support, is barely able to withstand the forces that keep it in place. Now, researchers have discovered a network of molecules in the nuclear membrane that provide the nucleus with rigidity and also...

A positive-feedback system ensures that cells divide

In the life of every cell, there’s a point of no return. Once it enters the cell cycle and passes a checkpoint known as “Start,” a cell will follow the steps it needs to divide — no matter what changes might occur in its environment. Now, in research appearing in the July 17 issue of Nature...