Protein secrets of Ebola virus

 

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The current Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, which has claimed more than 2000 lives, has highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of the molecular biology of the virus that could be critical in the development of vaccines or antiviral drugs to treat or prevent Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

The current Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, which has claimed more than 2000 lives, has highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of the molecular biology of the virus that could be critical in the development of vaccines or antiviral drugs to treat or prevent Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Now, a team at the University of Virginia (UVA), USA -- under the leadership of Dr Dan Engel, a virologist, and Dr Zygmunt Derewenda, a structural biologist -- has obtained the crystal structure of a key protein involved in Ebola virus replication, the C-terminal domain of the Zaire Ebola virus nucleoprotein (NP).

The team explains that their structure reveals a novel tertiary fold that is expected to lead to insights into how the viral nucleocapsid is assembled in infected cells. The structure could also provide a basis for the design of drugs to halt infection in humans. "The structure is unique in the RNA virus world," Derewenda explains. "It is not found in viruses that cause influenza, rabies or other diseases." It distantly resembles the β-grasp protein motif found in ubiquitin, most likely the result of convergent evolution.

Like many other related viruses, Ebola virus contains a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA that encodes seven different proteins, one of which is known as the nucleoprotein (NP) for its ability to interact with the viral RNA genome. It is the most abundant viral protein found in infected cells and also inside the viral nucleocapsid. While five of the seven viral proteins have succumbed to structural characterization by X-ray crystallography, NP so far has resisted such attempts, although analogous proteins from other viruses have had their structures analysed.

The UVA team produced the Ebola protein using an engineered form of Escherichia coli bacteria as a protein factory. This allowed them to identify the boundaries of two globular domains and to crystallize the unique C-terminal domain spanning amino-acid residues 641 to 739. The study revealed a molecular architecture unseen so far among known proteins, the team says. There is existing evidence that the newly characterized domain is involved in transcription and the self-assembly of the viral nucleocapsid. As such, the results obtained by the UVA team will be useful in deciphering precisely how these various functions are accomplished by the virus; such a detailed description offers up a potential target for the design of anti-viral drugs.

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The above story is based on materials provided by International Union of Crystallography. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Paulina J. Dziubańska, Urszula Derewenda, Jeffrey F. Ellena, Daniel A. Engel, Zygmunt S. Derewenda. The structure of the C-terminal domain of theZaire ebolavirusnucleoprotein. Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography, 2014; 70 (9): 2420 DOI: 10.1107/S1399004714014710

Scientists come closer to the industrial synthesis of a material harder than diamond

 

 

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Diamond anvils malformed during synthesis of ultrahard fullerite. Note the dent in the center.

Researchers from the Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials in Troitsk, MIPT, MISiS, and MSU have developed a new method for the synthesis of an ultrahard material that exceeds diamond in hardness. An article recently published in the journal Carbon describes in detail a method that allows for the synthesis of ultrahard fullerite, a polymer composed of fullerenes, or spherical molecules made of carbon atoms.

In their work, the scientists note that diamond hasn't been the hardest material for some time now. Natural diamonds have a hardness of nearly 150 GPa, but ultrahard fullerite has surpassed diamond to become first on the list of hardest materials with values that range from 150 to 300 GPa.

All materials that are harder than diamond are called ultra hard materials. Materials softer than diamond but harder than boron nitride are termed superhard. Boron nitride, with its cubic lattice, is almost three times harder than the well-known corundum.

Fullerites are materials that consist of fullerenes. In their turn, fullerenes are carbon molecules in the form of spheres consisting of 60 atoms. Fullerene was first synthesized more than 20 years ago, and a Nobel Prize was awarded for that work. The carbon spheres within fullerite can be arranged in different ways, and the material's hardness largely depends on just how interconnected they are. In the ultrahard fullerite discovered by the workers at the Technological Institutefor Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (FSBITISNCM), C ₆₀ molecules are interconnected by covalent bonds in all directions, a material scientists call a three-dimensional polymer.

However, the methods providing production of this promising material on an industrial scale are not available yet. Practically, the superhard carbon form is of primary interest for specialists in the field of metals and other materials processing: the harder a tool is, the longer it works, and the more qualitatively the details can be processed.

What makes synthesizing fullerite in large quantities so difficult is the high pressure required for the reaction to begin. Formation of the three-dimensional polymer begins at a pressure of 13 GPa, or 130,000 atm. But modern equipment cannot provide such pressure on a large scale.

The scientists in the current study have shown that adding carbon disulfide (CS ₂ ) to the initial mixture of reagents can accelerate fullerite synthesis. This substance is synthesized on an industrial scale, is actively used in various enterprises, and the technologies for working with it are well-developed. According to experiments, carbon disulfide is an end product, but here it acts as an accelerator. Using CS ₂ , the formation of the valuable superhard material becomes possible even if the pressure is lower and amounts to 8GPa. In addition, while previous efforts to synthesize fullerite at a pressure of 13 GPa required heating up to 1100K (more than 820 degrees Celsius),in the present case it occurs at room temperature.

"The discovery described in this article (the catalytic synthesis of ultrahard fullerite) will create a new research area in materials science because it substantially reduces the pressure required for synthesis and allows for manufacturing the material and its derivatives on an industrial scale," explained Mikhail Popov, the leading author of the research and the head of the laboratory of functional nanomaterials at FSBI TISNCM.

 

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The above story is based on materials provided by Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. M. Popov, V. Mordkovich, S. Perfilov, A. Kirichenko, B. Kulnitskiy, I. Perezhogin, V. Blank. Synthesis of ultrahard fullerite with a catalytic 3D polymerization reaction of C60. Carbon, 2014; 76: 250 DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2014.04.075

Lack of sleep America's top health problem, doctors say

 

In this story:

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia: these are just a few of the recognized disorders that keep their afflicted from getting enough sleep. Nearly half of all Americans have difficulty sleeping.

Some people may show great bravado about getting a job done on little sleep. Some even brag about having trouble sleeping, claiming their work proves they didn't need the rest anyway. Yet the truth is that fatigue is dangerous. A growing collection of research indicates that America's sleep problems have reached epidemic proportions, and may be the country's number-one health problem.

The costs of not sleeping

We don't know what sleep is. We do know we need it to survive. Sleep restores us. Those who sleep fewer than six hours a night don't live as long as those who sleep seven hours or more.

Lack of sleep can be expensive: The National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimates that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion a year in higher stress and reduced workplace productivity.

It may also lead to personal and public tragedy. There are indications that the Challenger disaster, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown and the Exxon Valdez oil spill can all be partly linked to people suffering from a severe lack of sleep.

High-risk careers associated with little sleep

Dr. Serena Koenig, 13 hours into a 36-hour shift at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, admits that her grueling schedule allows no room for error.

"You do not have the luxury of being tired. You have to take care of that patient," she said. "If you make a mistake, that patient could be hurt by it and the fear of making mistakes keeps you clear thinking. I have never made a mistake because I have been tired."

Her hospital pays close attention to problems associated with sleep deprivation among health care workers, but only recent research has shown that sleeplessness is a major problem in many fields of work.

Pete Filbrick has been a truck driver for 30 years. He, too, has never made a mistake. But he knows what can happen.

"I haven't seen the figures on that, but I would think fatigue would play a pretty big role in almost any accident," Filbrick said.

Figures suggest that driver fatigue contributes to 30 to 40 percent of all heavy truck accidents. Many truckers simply can't recognize the point that their bodies are tired enough for them to fall asleep.

ScienceLives Interview with Teresa Woodruff

 

As a reproductive endocrinologist, Teresa Woodruff has spent the better part of her research career focusing on female reproductive health and infertility. As founder and director of the Institute for Women's Health Research, Woodruff has been an advocate for gender specificity in clinical trials, as a way to better understand the effects that various technologies and procedures have on women. As an educator and mentor, she encourages young women to pursue careers in the sciences, and helped develop the Oncofertility Saturday Academy to involve high school girls in college-level science. Credit: NSF

To better understand vertebrae, John Long's team studies real sharks to produce mechanical ones

 

Dive in with NSF-funded researcher John Long and his robotic sharks. A professor at Vassar College, Long, along with his team, studies real live sharks and their vertebral columns. The researchers then take their findings and design computer models and artificial vertebral columns to understand sharks' movement and biomechanics.

Hangover Helper Spinach and Pineapple Smoothie

 

Jasmina for Getty Images

This fast hangover helper smoothie is a great antidote to last night's overindulgences. Coconut water, spinach and pineapple with a touch of lime rehydrate the system rapidly and give your aching body a jolt of energy. Alcohol can leave us dehydrated; 15 minutes after drinking this you should notice a marked difference win your energy. It is full of digestion-boosting enzymes, anti-inflammatory phytonutrients, and liver cleansing citrus. Spinach provides massive doses of Vitamin K, A, C, the B vitamins and minerals, while pineapple bumps the vitamin C content of the smoothie to well over 100% of the RDA per serving. The combination of spinach and pineapple also delivers an excellent dose of manganese, a mineral that protects against free radical damage, balances our blood sugar and protects our skin and bone health matrix.

Ceramics don't have to be brittle: Incredibly light, strong materials recover original shape after being smashed

 

September 11, 2014

California Institute of Technology

Materials scientists have developed a method for creating new structural materials by taking advantage of the unusual properties that solids can have at the nanometer scale. They have used the method to produce a ceramic (e.g., a piece of chalk or a brick) that contains about 99.9 percent air yet is incredibly strong and can recover its original shape after being smashed by more than 50 percent.

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This sequence shows how the Greer Lab's three-dimensional, ceramic nanolattices can recover after being compressed by more than 50 percent. Clockwise, from left to right, an alumina nanolattice before compression, during compression, fully compressed, and recovered following compression.

Imagine a balloon that could float without using any lighter-than-air gas. Instead, it could simply have all of its air sucked out while maintaining its filled shape. Such a vacuum balloon, which could help ease the world's current shortage of helium, can only be made if a new material existed that was strong enough to sustain the pressure generated by forcing out all that air while still being lightweight and flexible.

Caltech materials scientist Julia Greer and her colleagues are on the path to developing such a material and many others that possess unheard-of combinations of properties. For example, they might create a material that is thermally insulating but also extremely lightweight, or one that is simultaneously strong, lightweight, and nonbreakable -- properties that are generally thought to be mutually exclusive.

Greer's team has developed a method for constructing new structural materials by taking advantage of the unusual properties that solids can have at the nanometer scale, where features are measured in billionths of meters. In a paper published in the September 12 issue of the journal Science, the Caltech researchers explain how they used the method to produce a ceramic (e.g., a piece of chalk or a brick) that contains about 99.9 percent air yet is incredibly strong, and that can recover its original shape after being smashed by more than 50 percent.

"Ceramics have always been thought to be heavy and brittle," says Greer, a professor of materials science and mechanics in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Caltech. "We're showing that in fact, they don't have to be either. This very clearly demonstrates that if you use the concept of the nanoscale to create structures and then use those nanostructures like LEGO to construct larger materials, you can obtain nearly any set of properties you want. You can create materials by design."

The researchers use a direct laser writing method called two-photon lithography to "write" a three-dimensional pattern in a polymer by allowing a laser beam to crosslink and harden the polymer wherever it is focused. The parts of the polymer that were exposed to the laser remain intact while the rest is dissolved away, revealing a three-dimensional scaffold. That structure can then be coated with a thin layer of just about any kind of material -- a metal, an alloy, a glass, a semiconductor, etc. Then the researchers use another method to etch out the polymer from within the structure, leaving a hollow architecture.

The applications of this technique are practically limitless, Greer says. Since pretty much any material can be deposited on the scaffolds, the method could be particularly useful for applications in optics, energy efficiency, and biomedicine. For example, it could be used to reproduce complex structures such as bone, producing a scaffold out of biocompatible materials on which cells could proliferate.

In the latest work, Greer and her students used the technique to produce what they call three-dimensional nanolattices that are formed by a repeating nanoscale pattern. After the patterning step, they coated the polymer scaffold with a ceramic called alumina (i.e., aluminum oxide), producing hollow-tube alumina structures with walls ranging in thickness from 5 to 60 nanometers and tubes from 450 to 1,380 nanometers in diameter.

Greer's team next wanted to test the mechanical properties of the various nanolattices they created. Using two different devices for poking and prodding materials on the nanoscale, they squished, stretched, and otherwise tried to deform the samples to see how they held up.

They found that the alumina structures with a wall thickness of 50 nanometers and a tube diameter of about 1 micron shattered when compressed. That was not surprising given that ceramics, especially those that are porous, are brittle. However, compressing lattices with a lower ratio of wall thickness to tube diameter -- where the wall thickness was only 10 nanometers -- produced a very different result.

"You deform it, and all of a sudden, it springs back," Greer says. "In some cases, we were able to deform these samples by as much as 85 percent, and they could still recover."

To understand why, consider that most brittle materials such as ceramics, silicon, and glass shatter because they are filled with flaws -- imperfections such as small voids and inclusions. The more perfect the material, the less likely you are to find a weak spot where it will fail. Therefore, the researchers hypothesize, when you reduce these structures down to the point where individual walls are only 10 nanometers thick, both the number of flaws and the size of any flaws are kept to a minimum, making the whole structure much less likely to fail.

"One of the benefits of using nanolattices is that you significantly improve the quality of the material because you're using such small dimensions," Greer says. "It's basically as close to an ideal material as you can get, and you get the added benefit of needing only a very small amount of material in making them."

The Greer lab is now aggressively pursuing various ways of scaling up the production of these so-called meta-materials.

 

California Institute of Technology. "Ceramics don't have to be brittle: Incredibly light, strong materials recover original shape after being smashed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140911135450.htm>.

 

 

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The above story is based on materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Kimm Fesenmaier. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. L. R. Meza, S. Das, J. R. Greer. Strong, lightweight, and recoverable three-dimensional ceramic nanolattices. Science, 2014; 345 (6202): 1322 DOI: 10.1126/science.1255908

Dendritic cells affect onset, progress of psoriasis

 

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Different types of dendritic cells in human skin have assorted functions in the early and more advanced stages of psoriasis report researchers in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. The scientists suggest that new strategies to regulate the composition of dendritic cells in psoriatic skin lesions might represent an approach for the future treatment of the disease.

"We urgently need new ways to treat psoriasis, treatments that will deliver improved benefits to patients and reduce the incidence of known side effects for existing drugs," says EMBO Member Maria Sibilia, a Professor at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, and one of the lead authors of the study. "Our experiments have revealed that increases in the number of plasmacytoid dendritic cells are important early triggers of the disease while other types of dendritic cells, the Langerhans cells, help to protect the balance of the immune response that is established during inflammation of the skin."

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that affects around 125 million people worldwide. Symptoms, which include the formation of red inflamed lesions that appear on the skin, vary from mild to severe. The disease is often associated with other serious health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and depression.

The researchers observed an increase in the accumulation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in the psoriatic lesions of patients as well as in mice that are model organisms for the study of the disease. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells are a specific type of immune cell that can infiltrate damaged tissue during the early phase of psoriasis. In contrast, the levels of another type of dendritic cells known as Langerhans cells, were significantly decreased in the lesions compared to healthy skin in humans and mice. If the levels of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in mice were decreased during the early stages of the disease then the symptoms of psoriasis were quelled. A similar decrease in Langerhans cells at an early stage of the disease had no effect. If the levels of Langerhans cells were reduced at advanced stages of the disease, the symptoms of psoriasis were exacerbated.

"The changes in the severity of symptoms we have observed related to changes in the composition of dendritic cells most likely impact the balance of inflammatory mediators at the site of disease. It may well be that by inducing favourable compositions of dendritic cells at the early stages of psoriasis we may be able to help reduce the effects of psoriasis by achieving a better balance of these mediators at the site of the disease. Further work is needed before we can say with any certainty if such an approach will lead to a viable clinical treatment for psoriasis."

 

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The above story is based on materials provided by EMBO. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Elisabeth Glitzner, Ana Korosec, Patrick M. Brunner, Barbara Drobits, Nicole Amberg, Helia B. Schonthaler, Tamara Kopp, Erwin F. Wagner, Georg Stingl, Martin Holcmann and Maria Sibilia. Specific roles for dendritic cell subsets during initiation and progression of psoriasis. EMBO Molecular Medicine, September 2014 DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201404114

Anemia: One-minute point-of-care test shows promise in new study

 

Erika Tyburski is shown with a prototype device for point-of-care testing of anemia. The device could enable more rapid diagnosis of the common blood disorder and allow inexpensive at-home self-monitoring of persons with chronic forms of the disease.

Credit: Gary Meek

 

The disposable self-testing device analyzes a single droplet of blood using a chemical reagent that produces visible color changes corresponding to different levels of anemia. The basic test produces results in about 60 seconds and requires no electrical power. A companion smartphone application can automatically correlate the visual results to specific blood hemoglobin levels.

By allowing rapid diagnosis and more convenient monitoring of patients with chronic anemia, the device could help patients receive treatment before the disease becomes severe, potentially heading off emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Anemia, which affects two billion people worldwide, is now diagnosed and monitored using blood tests done with costly test equipment maintained in hospitals, clinics or commercial laboratories.

Because of its simplicity and ability to deliver results without electricity, the device could also be used in resource-poor nations.

A paper describing the device and comparing its sensitivity to gold-standard anemia testing was published August 30 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Development of the test has been supported by the FDA-funded Atlantic Pediatric Device Consortium, the Georgia Research Alliance, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the Georgia Center of Innovation for Manufacturing and the Global Center for Medical Innovation.

"Our goal is to get this device into patients' hands so they can diagnose and monitor anemia themselves," said Dr. Wilbur Lam, senior author of the paper and a physician in the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Department of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine. "Patients could use this device in a way that's very similar to how diabetics use glucose-monitoring devices, but this will be even simpler because this is a visual-based test that doesn't require an additional electrical device to analyze the results."

The test device was developed in a collaboration of Emory University, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology -- all based in Atlanta. It grew out of a 2011 undergraduate senior design project in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. In 2013, it was among the winners of Georgia Tech's InVenture Prize, an innovation competition for undergraduate students, and won first place in the Ideas to SERVE Competition in Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business.

Using a two-piece prototype device, the test works this way: A patient sticks a finger with a lance similar to those used by diabetics to produce a droplet of blood. The device's cap, a small vial, is then touched to the droplet, drawing in a precise amount of blood using capillary action. The cap containing the blood sample is then placed onto the body of the clear plastic test kit, which contains the chemical reagent. After the cap is closed, the device is briefly shaken to mix the blood and reagent.

"When the capillary is filled, we have a very precise volume of blood, about five microliters, which is less than a droplet -- much less than what is required by other anemia tests," explained Erika Tyburski, the paper's first author and leader of the undergraduate team that developed the device.

Blood hemoglobin then serves as a catalyst for a reduction-oxidation reaction that takes place in the device. After about 45 seconds, the reaction is complete and the patient sees a color ranging from green-blue to red, indicating the degree of anemia.

A label on the device helps with interpretation of the color, or the device could be photographed with a smartphone running an application written by Georgia Tech undergraduate student Alex Weiss and graduate student William Stoy. The app automatically correlates the color to a specific hemoglobin level, and could one day be used to report the data to a physician.

To evaluate sensitivity and specificity of the device, Tyburski studied blood taken from 238 patients, some of them children at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the others adults at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute. Each blood sample was tested four times using the device, and the results were compared to reports provided by conventional hematology analyzers.

The work showed that the results of the one-minute test were consistent with those of the conventional analysis. The smartphone app produced the best results for measuring severe anemia.

"The test doesn't require a skilled technician or a draw of venous blood and you see the results immediately," said Lam, who is also an assistant professor in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. "We think this is an empowering system, both for the general public and for our patients."

Tyburski and Lam have teamed up with two other partners and worked with Emory's Office of Technology Transfer to launch a startup company, Sanguina, to commercialize the test, which will be known as AnemoCheck™. The test ultimately will require approval from the FDA. The team also plans to study how the test may be applied to specific diseases, such as sickle cell anemia -- which is common in Georgia.

The device could be on pharmacy shelves sometime in 2016, where it might help people like Tyburski, who has suffered mild anemia most of her life. "If I'd had this when I was kid, I could have avoided some trips to the emergency room when I passed out in gym class," she said.

About a third of the population is at risk for anemia, which can cause neurocognitive deficits in children, organ failure and less serious effects such as chronic fatigue. Women, children, the elderly and those with chronic conditions such as kidney disease are more likely to suffer from anemia.

 

 

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Georgia Institute of Technology. "Anemia: One-minute point-of-care test shows promise in new study." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140912085108.htm>.

Protein appears to protect against bone loss in arthritis

 

September 12, 2014

Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University

A small protein named GILZ appears to protect against the bone loss that often accompanies arthritis and its treatment, researchers report. Arthritis as well as aging prompt the body to make more fat than bone, and the researchers have previously shown GILZ can restore a more youthful, healthy mix. It also tamps down inflammation, a major factor in arthritis, they say.

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A small protein named GILZ appears to protect against the bone loss that often accompanies arthritis and its treatment, researchers report.

Arthritis as well as aging prompt the body to make more fat than bone, and the researchers have previously shown GILZ can restore a more youthful, healthy mix. It also tamps down inflammation, a major factor in arthritis.

Now they have early evidence that GILZ might one day be a better treatment option for arthritis patients than widely used synthetic glucocorticoids, which actually increase bone loss, said Dr. Xingming Shi, bone biologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.

Their research is being presented at The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2014 Annual Meeting Sept. 12-15 in Houston.

In addition to bone loss, glucocorticoids, such as prednisone, produce other side effects, including diabetes. While GILZ is induced by glucocorticoids, directly overexpressing the protein appears to better target sources of bone loss and inflammation and avoid these serious side effects. .

For this study, the focus was tumor necrosis factor alpha, a proinflammatory cytokine that helps regulate immune cells and is a major player in arthritis. Tumor necrosis factor alpha primarily works though promoting inflammation, which is great if the target is cancer. However, when tumor necrosis factor alpha becomes dysregulated, it can also cause diseases like arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

To look specifically at the impact on bone loss, the researchers crossed mice bred to overexpress tumor necrosis factor alpha throughout the body with mice that overexpressed GILZ in just their mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cells produce the osteoblasts, which make bone. They also make fat, and when the cells stop making as much bone, they tend to make more of it. Shi's lab has shown that GILZ can coax mesenchymal stem cells back to making more bone and less fat.

While the mice that overexpressed only tumor necrosis factor alpha quickly developed arthritis along with significant bone and weight loss, those that also overexpressed GILZ had significantly less bone loss, Shi said.

"Our previous studies have shown that the GILZ transgenic mouse can make more bone," said Dr. Nianlan Yang, MCG postdoctoral fellow. "We wanted to see if GILZ would still have a bone protective effect in an inflammatory environment similar to arthritis."

Next steps include developing an oral medication, a peptide specifically, that increases GILZ expression rather than the genetic alterations the researchers have used in animal models, said Yang. She just completed a National Arthritis Foundation fellowship, which helped support that effort. They also want to see if GILZ can prevent arthritis from developing in the face of inflammation.

Glucocorticoids and GILZ are both produced naturally in the body. Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones that help regulate the body's use of the fuel glucose and dampen the immune response.

 

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Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. "Protein appears to protect against bone loss in arthritis." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 September 2014. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140912112423.htm

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The above story is based on materials provided by Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.