Word: molecular
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...There is an explosion of activity," says Richard Wyatt, chief of neuropsychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Md. With computerized scanners, researchers are peering at the chemistry of the working mind. Meanwhile, molecular biologists are beginning to map abnormal behavior to specific strands of dna. And by tracing the action of drugs like clozapine for schizophrenia and Prozac (fluoxetine) for depression, scientists can link moods and feelings to the action of certain chemicals in the brain. The result is a burst of new ideas about how the mind works -- and what is going on when...
...scientists report that they are making progress. In both academic and private labs, molecular biologists are unraveling the complex process that produces allergies, and geneticists are homing in on the genes that direct it. "What has changed dramatically over the past decade is an appreciation of how the inflammatory response is orchestrated," says Dr. Stephen Wasserman, chairman of the medicine department at the University of California, San Diego. "We are beginning to understand the fundamental regulators of the entire process...
Most doctors are convinced that a faster, more successful cure for allergies is bound to come. Using molecular-biology techniques, researchers have already identified IgE receptors on the mast cell, basically little berths in which the antibody docks. If they can find or synthesize another substance that blocks those receptors, they can prevent IgE from docking and unleashing the mast cell's stream of debilitating chemicals. And as scientists isolate and analyze more and more human genes, they may find the ones that, when defective, cause allergic reactions. Such discoveries could quickly lead to precise tests for allergies and eventually...
...gray matter, where scalpels and lasers cannot reach them without doing irreparable damage to the patient's mind. That is why scientists were particularly excited by an ingenious experiment reported last week in Science magazine. The procedure is a form of gene therapy, but it turns conventional molecular engineering on its head. Rather than trying to inject good genes into cells that lack their beneficial properties, scientists have found a way to put bull's-eyes on tumor cells in order to shoot them dead...
...watchdog committee has already okayed a similar test on humans. The risks are high. The researchers will, in effect, be putting mouse genes directly into human brains. But the payoff could be great. Scientists are now searching for other inoperable cancers that might succumb to what they are calling "molecular surgery...