The genetics of a marine protozoan may overturn one of the long-held tenets of protein synthesis. According to conventional wisdom, the genetic code is unambiguous: each DNA triplet, or codon, corresponds to a single amino acid. But a study in this week's Science reports that in the wee waterborn creature Euplotes crassus, a single codon can code for two different amino acids, even within the same gene.

This... Click to continue

New observations of the early stages of tuberculosis infection may turn scientists' understanding of the bug's pathogenesis on its head: clumps of immune cells, called granulomas, long thought to protect hosts from the disease instead appear to be launching pads for the bacteria to further invade an infected individual, according to a study published in Cell this week.

The insight may spawn new approaches to treating TB, which annually infects and kills millions of people worldwide and is... Click to continue

The US Food and Drug Administration is raising hackles on Capitol Hill where lawmakers are peeved that the agency has paid a consultant more than one million dollars to raise the spirits of FDA employees.

Morale at the FDA seems to have hit an all time low, with internal and public voices levying criticisms against the agency for approving high-profile drugs that turned out to be unsafe. (See our December 2008 feature on morale problems at the FDA).

The ... Click to continue

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), an independent organization established by the government in 1997 to fund research infrastructure, announced a new C$45.5 million ($38.2USD million) program last month aimed at providing equipment and attracting researchers to Canadian institutions.

The scheme will jump start 251 projects across 44 universities under two funds: C$38.2 million ($32.1USD million) was awarded under the Leaders Opportunity Fund... Click to continue

A shortage of donated brain tissue is hampering research into diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and dementia, a team of British scientists warned yesterday (Jan. 6).

About 10,000 brains are used for scientific research in the UK. But researchers say that they need thousands more fresh organs from donors with both diseased and healthy brains. There are currently only 20 brains to study autism and 30 brains to research Alzheimer's in the country.

"There's a great opportunity to... Click to continue

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has teamed up with an American biotech company to develop the first commercial vaccine for cytomegalovirus (CMV), which kills or disables tens of thousands of infants every year.

Because CMV infection does not usually lead to detectable symptoms in otherwise healthy people, only a handful of researchers have endeavored to develop a CMV vaccine. In fact, the virus is one of the top causes of birth defects; a 1999 National Academy of Sciences report estimated... Click to continue