Discoveries
Light-sensing worms provide a new tool for the study of vision and eye disease
July 7, 2008 - C.elegans do not possess eyes and are believed to lack responses to light. Shawn Xu and colleagues now report a novel photophobic response in these worms, and map this behavior to a group of sensory neurons. Phototransduction may be conserved between nematodes and vertebrates.
Secrets of cellular signaling shed light on new cancer stem cell therapies
April 9, 2008 - By revealing the inner workings of a common cell-to-cell signaling system, University of Michigan biologists have uncovered new clues about mysterious and contentious creatures called cancer stem cells.
The aim is to use so-called Notch inhibitors to attack cancer stem cells, the small fraction of stem cells inside a tumor that help it survive and that fuel its growth.
New results from the U-M's Dr. Ivan Maillard and his colleagues showed that blood-forming stem cells in mice survive just fine when the Notch signaling pathway is experimentally blocked.
Carroll and colleagues develop new chemical probe to profile redox-regulated proteins
March 17, 2008 - LSI faculty member Kate S. Carroll and research partners have published a new paper titled "A chemical approach for detecting sulfenic acid-modified proteins in living cells" in the latest edition of the journal Molecular Biosystems. Carroll's group has developed a probe that could help researchers study oxidative stress in living cells. Oxidative stress has been implicated in phenomena as diverse as aging, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.
Klionsky and colleagues publish new autophagy findings in Nature
February 28, 2008 - LSI faculty member Daniel J. Klionsky and research partners have published a new paper titled "Autophagy fights disease through cellular self-digestion" in the most recent edition of Nature.
U-M researchers release most detailed global study of genetic variation
February 20, 2008 - University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues at the National Institute on Aging have produced the largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation, a treasure trove offering new insights into early migrations out of Africa and across the globe.
U-M Researchers Identify Cells That Cause Nervous System Disease
February 4, 2008 - Two teams of University of Michigan researchers have tracked down the cells responsible for neurofibromatosis type 1, a disfiguring, incurable condition and one of the most common hereditary disorders.
LSI researchers reveal missing link in a heart disease pathway
December 20, 2007 - University of Michigan scientists, led by U-M structural biologist John Tesmer, and their colleagues have helped characterize a previously unknown link in the chain of biochemical reactions implicated in some forms of heart disease.
LSI faculty Noah Rosenberg featured in Science News for Siberia-Americas genetic link
December 5, 2007 - LSI faculty member Noah Rosenberg was featured in Science News for his recent joint publication in PLoS Genetics on the genetic link between Siberia and the Americas, via Alaska.
Read the Science News article at sciencesnews.org
Noah Rosenberg interviewed about new genetic link found between Siberia and native peoples of North America
From the Alaska Public Radio Network website:
A new study finds a genetic link for many Native people in North America with certain populations in Siberia. University of Michigan genetics professor Noah Rosenberg was a principal author of the study.
Listen to the interview with LSI faculty Noah Rosenberg on aprn.org
Read the study at plosjournals.org
Sean Morrison interviewed on WJR about new stem cell discoveries
November 21, 2007 - LSI faculty and director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology is interviewed on News/Talk 760 WJR about stem cell discoveries published earlier this week.
Listen to the interview on wjr.com's podcast site (mp3)
Comment on breaking research in Cell and Science
November 20, 2007 - This research seems to be very well done and follows on the heels of similar work by the Yamanaka laboratory in mouse cells that was independently confirmed by other laboratories. The discovery that it is possible to reprogram adult human cells to pluripotency using a simple combination of genes is an important breakthrough...
U-M biochemists add new molecular weapon to their arsenal
November 8, 2007 - University of Michigan researchers have acquired a new molecular tool that could help them transform a toxin from coral-reef bacteria into a next-generation cancer drug.
U-M scientists find new causes for neurodegeneration
October 23, 2007 - Diseases that cause neurons to break-down, such as Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (Mad Cow Disease), continue to be elusive to scientists and resistant to treatments.
A new finding from University of Michigan researchers demonstrates an unpredicted link between a virtually unknown signaling molecule and neuron health.
U-M researchers dispute widely held ideas about stem cells
...in this week's issue of the journal Nature, University of Michigan stem cell researcher Sean Morrison and his colleagues deal a mortal blow to the immortal strand, at least as far as blood-forming stem cells are concerned...
LSI team identifies gene that regulates blood-forming fetal stem cells
A new study led by LSI’s Sean Morrison adds to mounting evidence that stem cells in the developing fetus are distinct from both embryonic and adult stem cells.
Gene discovery aids understanding of common inherited neurological disorder
Scientists have identified the gene responsible for one type of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder, a common inherited neurological disease, thanks to the chance appearance of a strain of impaired "pale tremor" mice in a University of Michigan research laboratory...
LSI faculty Jiandie Lin featured in Nature
May 24, 2007 - Jiandie Lin is featured twice in this month's issue of Nature for his discoveries related to the PGC-1α protein and its impact on circadian rhythms.
Read the article and profile on Nature.com
New research from Lin Lab - A rhythm runs through it
Most life on earth, whether simple or complex, flows with the universal hum of circadian rhythms. Our sleeping, eating, and the way we burn energy are all governed by the ticking of our body clocks in relation to light and dark cycles.
Besides making us feel alternatively tired or wakeful, this 24-hour rhythm pulses with biochemical reactions throughout the body, turning on and off genes that instruct the liver to pump glucose, synthesize cholesterol, or burn fat. However, the means by which these processes are coordinated has been a mystery, until now...
Potential therapeutic applications of autophagy
April 2007 - LSI faculty Jason E. Gestwicki and Daniel J. Klionsky discuss their research in the recent issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discoveries.
Read the abstract
Link to article forthcoming
Asymmetric Inheritance of Mother Versus Daughter Centrosome in Stem Cell Division
LSI faculty member Yukiko Yamashita and colleagues recently published a report on adult stem cells in Science.
When good cells go bad by the fat company they keep
A new study by LSI Director Alan Saltiel and collaborators links obesity, inflammation and diabetes to macrophages, and is featured on the cover of the Journal of Clinical Investigation...
Turning Green Gunk to Gold, Anti-Cancer Gold
In a newly published study featured on the cover of the journal ACS Chemical Biology, a scientific team lead by University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute Research Professor David H. Sherman and researcher Zachary Q. Beck found the trick to turn the green gunk into gold...
Constructing a new cell structure featured on the cover of the Dec. 18 Journal of Cell Biology
Daniel Klionsky's lab at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute has come close to figuring out how specialized parts of cells make housekeeping their habit in the cover story of the current Journal of Cell Biology...
X.Z. Shawn Xu Lab: Tiny Worm Provides Model for the Genetics of Nicotine Dependence
November 6, 2006 - "It turns out that worms exhibited behavioral responses to nicotine that parallel those observed in mammals," said Xu, who's name is pronounced Shoo. "But it is much easier to identify novel functions of a gene in worms"...
Rosenberg Lab: Mapping Genetic Disease
October 23, 2006 - Snips from the DNA of only 270 people from just four world locations provide a reliable map of genetic disease variations in the human genome for nearly all populations around the world.
Noah Rosenberg's lab reports their findings about how the HapMap is a good indicator for testing human disease genes in a paper to be published in Nature Genetics."...
Stephen Weiss Lab Discovers Key Insights Into Cancer Metastasization
September 28, 2006 - A new finding from the laboratory of Stephen Weiss at the University of Michigan provides important insights into cancer cells’ most deadly characteristic -- their ability to invade tissues and metastasize throughout the body...
Turning Off A Tumor Signal
September 8, 2006 - The discovery of new cellular machinery leading to tumor cell growth in colorectal cancers points to a possible treatment. Researchers at the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan report in a study published September 8 in the journal Cell that a signaling factor important in cell growth also may play a role in turning normal cells into tumors...
Ringing in New Antibiotic Drugs
September 7, 2006 - When infections like Strep and tuberculosis become resistant to antibiotics, patients are in trouble. Infections become more difficult to treat as disease-causing bugs mutate in ways that render the most widely used drugs ineffective. Nearly all significant bacterial infections in the world are becoming resistant to the most commonly prescribed antibiotic treatments. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control has called antibiotic resistance one of the world’s most pressing public health problems....
Older Stem Cells Don't Just Wear Out, They Actively Shut Themselves Down
September 1, 2006 - The natural consequences of growing old include slower wound-healing and a brain that makes fewer new neurons because old tissues have less regenerative capacity. What has not been clear is why. A trio of papers published on-line Sept. 6 in the journal Nature shows that old stem cells don't simply wear out, they actively shut themselves down, probably as a defense against becoming cancerous from genetic defects that accumulate with age...
Michigan Team Singles Out Cancer Stem Cells for Attack
May 25, 2006 - Close on the heels of the discovery that cancer has its own rejuvenating stem cells, a University of Michigan research team has found a way to distinguish these bad-actors from the normal stem cells that they so closely resemble, and to kill the cancer stem cells without harming the normal stem cells in the same tissue...
LSI researchers isolate gene causing expanding waistline
May 5, 2006 - LSI research professors Alan Saltiel and Steve Weiss and their colleagues have found a gene that may cause obesity. The product of this gene acts as a metabolic pair of scissors, cutting through the collagen tissue network, subsequently freeing adipocyte cells to expand in the belly...
Rosenberg and Xu Receive Prestigious Fellowship
February 22, 2006 - LSI Research Assistant Professors Noah Rosenberg and Shawn Xu were among five recipients at UM honored with Sloan Research Fellowships.
Noah Rosenberg discovers that human genetic origins may be from Africa
Oct. 17, 2005 - A study on human origins by UM and Stanford researchers, including Dr. Rosenberg, was published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This same research on human evolution may also be used in tracking and circumventing the geographic spread of disease...
Janet Smith Uncovers Structure of Protein Involved in Vitamin B6 Biosynthesis
Jul. 29, 2005 - LSI research professor Janet Smith has elucidated the structure of an enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of vitamin B6, one of the many vitamins essential in the human diet. Her research is featured as the cover story in today's issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
John Tesmer examines cell membrane messengers
Dec. 9, 2005 - Tesmer's X-ray crystallographic analysis of G proteins in the plasma membrane involved in blood clot formation, heart disease, and blood pressure was published in this week's issue of Science.
Strep disrupts blood clotting to infect humans
August 26, 2004 - University of Michigan researchers have captured a glimpse of the endless arms race between infectious agents and the human immune system in a bacterium that uses a mimic of a human blood-clotting enzyme to advance its infection.
Kun-Liang Guan Shows Cell Size Controls May Play Role in Many Diseases
Nov. 26, 2003 - LSI research professor Kun-Liang Guan and postdoctoral fellow Ken Inoki have published an article in Cell that puts the missing piece into a biochemical chain of events and establishes a new connection between genetic diseases that had previously been thought unrelated.
