Researchers from Oregon State University say they have resolved a controversy that cellular biologists have been arguing over for nearly 50 years, with findings that may aid research on everything from birth defects and genetic diseases to the most classic "cell division" issue of them all – cancer.

The exact mechanism that controls how chromosomes in a cell replicate and then divide into two cells, a process fundamental to life, has never been completely pinned down, researchers say. You can find the basics in any high school biology textbook, but the devil is in the details.

DALLAS, September 2 /PRNewswire/ --

With the conclusion of the CONNECTIONS(TM) Europe Summit in Berlin, event host and international research firm Parks Associates announced today the next Summit will take place in Nice, France, on March 31, 2009.

CONNECTIONS(TM) Europe Summit ended on August 29 following a day of strategic sessions with speakers, sponsors, and attendees representing over 60 companies, organizations, and media firms. Parks Associates analysts moderated all sessions, which focused on growth opportunities for new media and entertainment products, services, and applications.

AMSTERDAM, September 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantium announced today that it has entered into a master services agreement with Chevron Energy Technology Company for the application of high-throughput technologies in the development of catalysts in the oil and gas field.

Avantium specializes in high-throughput methodologies that enable scientists to conduct parallel experiments on a very small scale, under industrial conditions and at a very high speed.

This agreement allows Chevron Energy Technology Company to access high-throughput methodologies as part of the suite of tools used in the development of catalysts.

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colorado, September 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Terje Laugerud to Assume Global SAP Responsibility

CIBER, Inc. (NYSE: CBR), today announced that Terje Laugerud, CEO of its European and Eastern Asia/Pacific operations, will assume full responsibility for CIBER's SAP Practices on a global basis.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010927/CBRLOGO)

MADRID, Spain, September 2 /PRNewswire/ --

SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR), a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, today announced that Luis Torres has joined the company as managing director, market development southern Europe. In this newly created role, he is responsible for working with public policy officials, industry colleagues and solar advocates to grow solar markets throughout southern Europe.

Scientists have designed, developed and tested new molecular tools for stem cell research to direct the formation of certain tissue types for use in drug development programmes.

A collaborative team of scientists from Durham University and the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) have developed two synthetic molecules which can be used to coax stem cells to 'differentiate' - that is, transform into other forms of tissue.

Their use could also help reduce the number of animals used in laboratory research. The team's results are published in the current issue of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry.

CALGARY, Canada, September 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncolytics Biotech Inc. ("Oncolytics") (TSX:ONC, NASDAQ:ONCY) announced today that following U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review, the Company is initiating a U.S. Phase 2 clinical trial using intravenous administration of REOLYSIN(R) in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with K-RAS or EGFR-activated tumours. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Miguel Villalona-Calero, Professor Division of Hematology/Oncology and Department of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The origin of the microscopic meteorites that make up cosmic dust has been revealed for the first time in new research out yesterday.

The research, published in the journal Geology, shows that some of the cosmic dust falling to Earth comes from an ancient asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. This research improves our knowledge of the solar system, and could provide a new and inexpensive method for understanding space.

Cosmic dust particles, originally from asteroids and comets, are minute pieces of pulverised rock. They measure up to a tenth of a millimetre in size and shroud the solar system in a thin cloud. Studying them is important because their mineral content records the conditions under which asteroids and comets were formed over four and a half billion years ago and provides an insight into the earliest history of our solar system.

One day soon, you may be able to pinpoint the geographic origins of your ancestors based on analysis of your DNA.

A study published online this week in Nature by an international team that included Cornell University researchers describes the use of DNA to predict the geographic origins of individuals from a sample of Europeans, often within a few hundred kilometers of where they were born.

"What we found is that within Europe, individuals with all four grandparents from a given region are slightly more similar genetically to one another, on average, than to individuals from more distant regions," said Carlos Bustamante, associate professor of biological statistics and computational biology at Cornell and the paper's senior author. John Novembre, an assistant professor in the University of California-Los Angeles' Department of Ecology and Evolution, was lead author of the study that also included researchers from GlaxoSmithKline, the University of Chicago and the University of Lausanne (Switzerland).

The ocean as an ecological and physical system is unmatched in its complexity but researchers are getting closer. A team of scientists is studying the complex ocean upwelling process by mimicking nature – pumping cold, nutrient-rich water from deep within the Pacific Ocean and releasing it into surface waters near Hawaii that lack the nitrogen and phosphorous necessary to support high biological production.

The researchers are harnessing the power of the ocean to conduct their experiments, using the up-and-down motion of waves to pump deep water to the surface. Their next step is to create a pump that can withstand the rigors of the rugged Pacific and then see if the biology follows the physics.

The theory behind the experiment was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series and the initial test of the pumps and their effect in the open ocean is getting its own documentary on the Discovery Channel, scheduled to air September 5th.