NASA opens its Apollo moon rock vault
Good Morning,
Nearly 40 years after the first human walked on the face
of the moon, NASA opens its moon rock vault to show reporters
and answer questions. Read the second article for more
details and what sort of tour is available to the public.
Until Tomorrow,
Erin
Scientists find promising new TB target
MADISON, Wis. - U.S. scientists studying how sugar units form
carbohydrate chains have pinpointed a promising way to target
medicines against tuberculosis. University of Wisconsin-
Madison researchers working with components of the tubercu-
losis bacterium said they identified an unusual process by
which the pathogen builds an important structural carbohy-
drate. In addition to its implications for human health, the
researchers said the mechanism offers insight into a wide-
spread, but poorly understood, basic biological function —
controlling the length of carbohydrate polymers. “Carbohy-
drate polymers are the most abundant organic molecules on the
planet, and it’s amazing that we don’t know more about (how
they) are made,” said Professor Laura Kiessling. “There’s not
much known about how length is controlled in these carbohy-
drate polymers.” The research team focused on an enzyme
called GlfT2 that is responsible for building a critical
carbohydrate component of the TB bacterial cell wall. The
GlfT2 enzyme is essential for bacterial survival and growth,
but the scientists said it has never been targeted by poten-
tial treatment methods. They said knowing the enzyme has two
binding sites — one for each end of a growing carbohydrate
– makes it an especially appealing drug target candidate.
Kiessling, graduate students John May and Rebecca Splain,
and postdoctoral fellow Christine Brotschi report their
research in the early online edition of the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
NASA opens its Apollo moon rock vault
HOUSTON - The U.S. space agency is planning to open its moon
rock vault and allow reporters a chance to conduct interviews
with NASA moon rock scientists. The laboratory vault contains
the moon rocks Apollo astronauts collected during their six
lunar missions. The July 2 interview opportunities at the
Apollo Lunar Sample Processing Lab and Storage Vaults at
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will take place nearly
40 years after humans first walked on the moon. The inter-
views, conducted using the NASA Television’s Live Interview
Media Outlet, will allow news organizations a chance to talk
with scientists who study the lunar samples. The public also
will have an opportunity to take a virtual tour of the lunar
sample lab and ask the scientists questions via Ustream and
Twitter from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EDT the same day. The public
can submit questions to Johnson’s Twitter account
@NASA_Johnson and via Ustream live during the event. The tour
and the question-and-answer session also will be broadcast
live online by NASA TV.
New York to pay stem-cell egg donors
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Beginning next year, scientists in New York
state can use taxpayer funds to pay women who donate their
eggs for stem cell research, officials said. Each egg donor
will be paid up to $10,000 for her time, expense and discom-
fort, said Dr. David Hohn, a spokesman for the Empire State
Stem Cell Board, established to oversee $600 million in
public funding for stem cell research. The policy should
increase the availability of eggs, letting scientists pursue
new avenues of research, Hohn told The Buffalo (N.Y.) News
in a story published Monday. The compensation policy is to
be based on the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s
guidelines for in vitro fertilization, with payments of more
than $5,000 to a donor requiring justification before an
oversight body at each research center, the News reported.
The new policy could make it easier to obtain eggs from
donors with genetic disorders, said Mark Noble, director of
the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute in
Rochester, N.Y. “Stem cell research offers the best shot
we’ve ever had to find treatments for many of these dis-
orders,” Noble said.