Putative medicines that mimic mutations

Genetic Mutations that Cause Coronary Artery Disease

Artifacts that mimic ballistic magnetoresistance

We have investigated the circumstances underlying recent reports of very large values of ballistic magnetoresistance (BMR) in nanocontacts between magnetic wires. We find that the geometries used are subject to artifacts due to motion of the wires that distort the nanocontact thereby changing its electrical resistance. Since these nanocontacts are often of atomic scale, reliable experiments wou...

KCNQ potassium channel mutations cause cardiac arrhythmias in Drosophila that mimic the effects of aging.

Population profiles of industrialized countries show dramatic increases in cardiovascular disease with age, but the molecular and genetic basis of disease progression has been difficult to study because of the lack of suitable model systems. Our studies of Drosophila show a markedly elevated incidence of cardiac dysfunction and arrhythmias in aging fruit fly hearts and a concomitant decrease in...

Benign lesions that mimic cancer: Ovarian

As ovarian masses are common in both preand in postmenopausal age, a life time risk of up to 5-10% to undergo pelvic surgery has been reported [1]. However, the likelihood of malignancy in these lesions is extremely low. Imaging, particularly, US and MRI, have been integrated as diagnostic tools to better define indications for adequate surgery and to guide referral to specialized centers. Imag...

Small-molecule regulators that mimic transcription factors.

Transcription factors (TFs) are responsible for decoding and expressing the information stored in the genome, which dictates cellular function. Creating artificial transcription factors (ATFs) that mimic endogenous TFs is a major goal at the interface of biology, chemistry, and molecular medicine. Such molecular tools will be essential for deciphering and manipulating transcriptional networks t...