A Berkeley Lab study shows that at microscopic dimensions, the age-related loss of bone quality can be every bit as important as the loss of quantity in the susceptibility of bone to fracturing. While medical treatments to date have focused on age-related loss of bone mass, the age-related loss of bone quality is an independent factor.

Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a probe for monitoring hydrogen peroxide levels in mice that enables them to track the progression of cancerous tumors or infectious diseases without harming the animals or even having to shave their fur. This new probe is based on luciferase, the enzyme that gives fireflies their glow.

Berkeley Lab researchers developed a unique cell-based fluorescent assay that enabled them to identify a means by which fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, suppresses the activity of the TREK1 potassium channel. TREK1 could be an important new target for antidepressant drugs.

The world’s foremost experts in ion-beam cancer therapy meet at Oakland’s Claremont Hotel October 26 through 29 to examine the international success of this unique therapy, explore future developments, and ask tough questions – including why this extraordinary medical advance is making great strides in Europe and Asia but is lagging in the country where it was invented and developed – principally at Berkeley Lab.

Through a combination of remote instrumentation,
JPEG-style image compression and other key enhancements, Berkeley Lab researchers have been able to apply Magnetic Resonance Imaging to materials flowing through microfluidic “lab-on-a-chip” devices with unprecedented spatial and time resolutions.

Berkeley Lab scientists delivered nearly 100 presentations at the American Chemical Society’s Fall 2010 national meeting in Boston, August 22-26, 2010. Major areas of emphasis included chemistry for medical applications. Here are some highlights.

Synthetic biology can not only provide a simple and much less expensive means of making artemisinin, the most powerful anti-malaria drug in use today, but can also help extend the drug’s effectiveness. Bundling microbial-based artemisinin as part of an anti-malarial drug “cocktail” rather than selling it as a monotherapy should delay or even prevent malaria parasites from developing resistance. Recently, there have been reports of malaria parasites in West Africa showing some signs of resistance to plant-based artemisinin.