|
A.
Advanced Technology to Rapidly Detect Airborne Bioterrorist Agents
Narrator: This is Science Today. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed an award-winning, advanced technology to rapidly detect the airborne release of bioterrorist agents. Eric Gard is the Lab's division leader of Defense Biology.
Gard: What we're developing is bioaerosol mass spectrometry, or what we call BAMS. And fundamentally the technology is designed to do very rapid biologic aerosol detection in the timeframe of seconds, rather than the timeframe that's currently possible with existing technology, which is on the hour timeframe.
Narrator: The unit, which is currently the size of three podiums, works by pulling particles suspended in the air into the instrument.
Gard: We essentially track each individual particle, get its size so we understand how large that particular particle is and then we shoot it with one laser to look for fluorescence properties. And that will tell us if it's just normal background material or whether it's a biological organism.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Three Molecules May Lead to New Drugs for Alzheimer's Disease
Narrator: This is Science Today. A team of scientists at the University of California , Santa Barbara has discovered three molecules that may be used to develop new drugs for Alzheimer's disease. Ken Kosik, co-director of the campus' Neuroscience Research Institute, says they found three small molecules that can inhibit an enzyme that is a key perpetrator of Alzheimer's disease.
Kosik: They're not yet drugs or medications – they have a long way to go, but what makes the work interesting is that these three molecules point us in a direction that will probably show us how to design drugs that may actually someday work as a treatment for the disease.
Narrator: Kosik says this is an area of research that is sorely needed because medications available now for Alzheimer's disease are inadequate.
Kosik: They're not of zero value, they do provide some symptomatic benefit, but right now, this research and other research that's going on are actually looking for ways to actually modify the disease process. Not just to do something that's going to affect the symptoms.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Biochemists Look for New Ways to Combat Parkinson's Disease
Narrator: This is Science Today. Understanding the molecular basis of Parkinson's disease and developing drugs to combat it is the goal of biochemist Tony Fink of the University of California , Santa Cruz . Fink and his colleagues recently discovered that rifampicin, an antibiotic long used to treat leprosy and tuberculosis shows promise fighting Parkinson's disease.
Fink: Because it's an approved drug, it was of some interest. I should mention that it does have some potential toxicity problems associated with large doses over long time periods. It adversely affects the kidneys. And that's partly why we're trying to find others that are better suited. Because they may have fewer side effects for example and they may be effective at lower concentrations. But there's always a balance between if something that's already approved and if it's effective, but maybe not quite effective as some as yet unapproved compound would be.
Narrator: In the lab, Fink found that rifampicin prevented the formation of protein fibrils linked to the death of brain cells in people with Parkinson's disease. The drug also dissolved existing fibrils. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
New Center to Study Emerging Infectious Diseases
Narrator: This is Science Today. One of only ten National Institutes of Health-funded centers in the nation dedicated to research aimed at countering bioterrorism and infectious disease will be established at the University of California , Santa Barbara . Microbiologist Peggy Cotter is project director of the Pacific-Southwest Regional Center for Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Research.
Cotter: There are funds available to study the organism that causes plaque and anthrax and also viral diseases. The hantaviruses, dengue and some of the other viruses.
Narrator: Many are emerging infectious diseases or have the potential to become that on their own – without the threat of bioterrorism, such as West Nile Virus.
Cotter: That's a classic example of an emerging infectious disease. Something that hasn't really been prevalent in this country, but we need to be prepared for and West Nile Virus didn't come here by bioterrorists. It came on its own through natural progression, the movement of organisms and other things around.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
An Age-Related Study of Memory and Gambling
Narrator: This is Science Today. Cognitive psychologists at the University of California , Santa Cruz have been studying how age-related changes affect the way older adults make and remember their choices in life.
Mather: We are also looking just more generally at what are factors that make emotional events memorable. So, things that are really intensely emotional get remembered more.
Narrator: Study leader, Mara Mather says the next step is to use eye-tracking techniques to look more carefully at what is the target of attention. For instance, Mather says they're looking into whether there might be an age difference in memory for gambling.
Mather: Older adults do a lot of gambling and I know from my research that there is this bias they have to remember more positive things. And gambling is set up where everybody's going to remember the wins more than the losses. So, it's already set up in a situation where you're going to be biased about what you've won or lost and if you're a little bit more on that scale, you might be more likely to go back and do again.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
|
