Life Sciences

Researchers Discover Master Metabolism Regulator with Links to Obesity, Heart Disease, and Malnutrition
Normal mice fed a diet deficient in leucine do not accumulate fat in their liver (left panel) whereas mutant mice that lack the GCN2 enzyme develop a massive accumulation of fat (severe hepatic steatosis), as seen in the right panel (red droplets). Credit: Douglas Cavener lab, Penn State
Research Yields New Insights into the Cause of Diabetes
The insulin-secreting beta cells (green) normally exhibit a perinuclear cap of proinsulin (orange in top panel) whereas proinsulin is spread throughout the cytoplasm (orange in bottom panel) in many beta-cells of PERK-deficient mice, which are diabetic because of insufficient secretion of insulin.
Dragonfly's Metabolic Disease Provides Clues about Human Obesity
Penn State researchers studied the dragonfly, Libellula pulchella, and discovered that a supposedly harmless parasite triggers metabolic disorders similar to those found in humans afflicted with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Credit: Ruud Schilder
Wilson to Represent Eberly College of Science as Student Marshal
Viral Marker of Human Migration Suspect
Viral Marker of Human Migration Suspect
Better Way Found to Locate DNA Packing Proteins in Genome
Bee Researchers Close in on Colony Collapse Disorder
New Method for Dating Art Prints and Early Books Borrows Know-How from Genetic Science
The print clock. In these models, close-ups of a carved woodblock (above) and engraved copperplate (below) are shown, corresponding to a curved black line on the print behind it, at two time periods. Image courtesy of Blair Hedges, Penn State
Giant Deep-Sea Tubeworm's Meal Ticket Comes in as a Skin Infection
Credit: Andrea D. Nussbaumer, Charles R. Fisher and Monika Bright Tubeworm artificial settlement cubes after one year deployment at the East Pacific Rise in 2500 m depth.
Methane-Belching Bugs Inspire a New Theory of the Origin of Life on Earth
More that twenty years ago, Penn State's James G. Ferry first isolated Methanosarcina acetivorans from anaerobic sediment beneath a kelp bed. Ferry and Christopher House, also at Penn State, have helped uncover the biochemistry this microbe uses to make vinegar out of carbon monoxide. Now they suggest that this a primitive version of this unique biochemistry may have fueled the metabolism of the first life forms on earth.
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