peptides news from FierceBioResearcher

National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST has issued its first-ever reference material designed to improve the performance and reliability of experiments to measure the masses and concentrations of peptides in biomolecular samples. The new reference material is expected to be an important tool in the analysis of proteins, both for disease diagnosis and drug discovery. Release

A team of scientists from MIT and the University of Hong Kong has developed a gel from peptides that is able to stop bleeding in animals in a matter of seconds. The gel then breaks down into amino acids which go to work on tissue repair. These researchers have already used the gel to spur the regrowth of brain cells as well as partially restore sight in hamsters. This new work in stopping bleeding may point the way to control bleeding during surgeries, which would in turn reduce the time …

Focusing on the role of an enzyme known as presenilin, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas say they have identified a second function that may play a big role in the development of Alzheimer's. Presenilins are already well known for cleaving amyloid precursor proteins to create amyloid ß-peptides that form plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's victims. Mutant presenilins present in 40 percent of familial cases of Alzheimer's also …