Latest Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Stories

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have harnessed a new drug discovery tool to identify a new player in the body's insulin secretion process. This finding could spark a completely new class of drugs to treat type 2 diabetes.In work published today (22 February) in Nature Chemical Biology researchers at the University of Oxford explain how they have exploited new technology to create a cheap and efficient method of drug discovery that will allow...

Researchers at the Babraham Institute near Cambridge, supported by the Alzheimer's Research Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), have discovered that the brain's circuitry survives longer than previously thought in diseases of ageing such as Alzheimer's disease. The findings were published today in the journal Brain.Alzheimer's disease causes nerve cells in the brain to die, resulting in problems with memory, speech and understanding. Little is known...

Aphids are emerging as sentinels of climate change, researchers at BBSRC-supported Rothamsted Research have shown. One of the UK's most damaging aphids "“ the peach-potato aphid (Myzus persicae) "“ has been found to be flying two weeks earlier for every 1°C rise in mean temperature for January and February combined. This year, the first aphid was caught on 25 April, which is almost four weeks ahead of the 42-year average. This work is reported in BBSRC Business, the quarterly research...

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have found a fast and effective way to investigate important aspects of human ageing. Working at the University of Oxford and The Open University, Dr Lynne Cox and Dr Robert Saunders have discovered a gene in fruit flies that means flies can now be used to study the effects ageing has on DNA. In new work published today in the journal Aging Cell, the researchers demonstrate the value of this model in...

Soldiers on sentry duty in hostile territory keep in regular radio contact with their colleagues to assure them that all is well and that they are safe to carry on their maneuvers. New research funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and published in Current Biology today (17 April) reveals that this is also a feature of the bird world and is very likely to be a rare example of truly cooperative behavior.Researchers from the University of Bristol, led by...

Scientists at the University of York have characterized an important new step in the mechanism used by bacteria to evade our immune system. It is an "˜invisibility cloak' which means that bacteria like Haemophilus influenzae, a common cause of ear infections in children, can move about the body without the risk of being attacked by the immune system. A multidisciplinary research team from the Departments of Biology and Chemistry at York have been studying how bacteria capture the molecule...

Recognizing people, objects or animals by the sound they make is an important survival skill and something most of us take for granted. But very similar objects can physically make very dissimilar sounds and we are able to pick up subtle clues about the identity and source of the sound. Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) are working out how the human ear and the brain come together to help us understand our acoustic environment. They have...

Scientists have developed a new technique that makes pesticides more effective by removing insects' ability to exhibit resistance. Their research will extend the effective life of current pesticides, significantly reduce the amount that needs to be sprayed and remove the need for farmers to move to stronger and more harmful chemicals. Researchers at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire, working with researchers in New South Wales, Australia have developed a way to counter the pests' most...

Faster method to create antibodies for disease research British scientists are pioneering a new technique to produce large numbers of antibodies quickly and reliably to help the study of dangerous bacteria. The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), is a critical area for study as bacteria such as streptococcus cause deadly blood infections and 'flesh eating bug disease'. Traditional methods of producing antibodies for research are slow and...

Research being published today by Nature (21 August) suggests that humans are not alone in wanting to conform and be like their neighbours but that chimpanzees also have an innate desire to be like everyone else. Researchers at St Andrews University, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), with international collaborators at Emory University in Atlanta, have demonstrated that chimpanzee communities have developed their own particular traditions by copying...