Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

Talking about novel receptor genes expressed in human tissues . This morning's news featured, An international team of cell biologists has created heart tissue — complete with beat — in a test tube. The tissue culture contains three distinct cell types, each of which is important in functioning hearts, and is thus a step towards the advent of lab-grown heart-tissue transplants. To day, research is considerably accelerated by the use of scientific knowledgebase and informatics tools which aid researchers significantly minimize time and effort spent on knowledge transfer across their teams and in scientific study. Thanks to such tools which supplement lab work and act as comprehensive repertoire that make optimal use of the plethora of data available in literature and centralize it as a searchable tool to investigate the characteristics of functional ligand-receptor pairs and their potential use and applications. The research team led by Gordon Keller of the McEwen Centre for Regen...

Heart attacks are commonly caused by blood clots formed of blood platelets. A new research suggests that it should be possible to create a clot-busting pill that targets a receptor on the blood cells’ surface, something that high-risk patients could take at the first sign of chest pain. The key to such a pill is according to the research findings a receptor called αIIbβ3 on the platelets’ surface that is intimately involved in the aggregation process. Interfering with αIIbβ3 can prevent an unwanted thrombus and the three αIIbβ3 inhibitors currently on the market can do just that. But they also have side effects and risks and must be administered intravenously. Researchers at Rockefeller University have found a new molecule, called RUC-1 , that not only appears to sidestep these problems but, unlike existing drugs, could be taken orally.