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HIV Trial to Create New Immune Systems
June 18, 2013 10:05 am | by Cynthia Fox | Articles | Comments
People living with HIV will be treated with genetically engineered stem cells next month by the team of Nobel Prize-winning immunologist David Baltimore, PhD, Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology, California Institute of Technology. The goal: to create, in patients, new immune systems resistant to HIV.
The Collaborative RNA Dream
June 12, 2013 2:28 pm | by Christina Smith | Articles | Comments
Yesterday, the RNA Institute at New York’s State University at Albany opened its doors to reveal...
FDA-approved Stem Cell Trial Dramatically Slows ALS
May 30, 2013 1:34 pm | by Cynthia Fox | Articles | Comments
For two years, stem cells slowed the progression of Lou Gehrig’s disease, a condition with a two...
Crowd-Sourcing the Clones: A New Kind of Peer Review?
May 30, 2013 1:34 pm | by Cynthia Fox | Articles | Comments
Editors of PubPeer were used to getting only about 400 unique visits a day to their...
Drawing Pad Monitors Learning-disabled Brains
June 18, 2013 10:58 am | News | CommentsFor less than $100, University of Washington researchers have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that helps scientists see inside the brains of children with learning disabilities while they read and write. To create the system, researchers hollowed out a ballpoint pen and inserted two optical fibers that connect to a light-tight box in an adjacent control room where the pen’s movement is recorded.
Melanoma Tumors 'Eradicated' in Mice
June 17, 2013 11:10 am | News | CommentsResearchers eradicated most melanoma tumors by exposing them to a fast-acting virus, according to a report in the Journal of Virology. Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer and can spread throughout the body and even into the brain.
Technique Clears Major Diabetes Transplant Hurdle
June 17, 2013 11:04 am | News | CommentsResearchers have identified a way to trigger reproduction in the laboratory of clusters of human cells that make insulin, potentially removing a significant obstacle to transplanting the cells as a treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes.
Developmental Protein Regulates Cancer Spread
June 14, 2013 9:43 am | News | CommentsA protein used by embryo cells during early development, and recently found in many different types of cancer, apparently serves as a switch regulating the spread of cancer, known as metastasis, new research reports. Metastasis is responsible for 90 percent of cancer-related deaths.
US Court Rules Against Gene Patents
June 13, 2013 11:08 am | by BY JESSE J. HOLLAND - ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER | News | CommentsThe Supreme Court ruled today that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries. The high court's unanimous judgment reverses three decades of patent awards by government officials.
Females Fend Off Gut Diseases
June 12, 2013 9:36 am | News | CommentsAt least among mice, females have innate protection from certain digestive conditions, according to a new study. While it’s tricky to draw conclusions for human health, the findings could eventually help scientists better understand and treat the 1.4 million Americans suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases, or IBD.
New Human Cornea Layer Discovered
June 12, 2013 9:08 am | News | CommentsScientists have discovered a previously undetected layer in the cornea, the clear window at the front of the human eye. The breakthrough could help surgeons to dramatically improve outcomes for patients undergoing corneal grafts and transplants.
1-D to 3-D Genomics
June 11, 2013 11:21 am | News | CommentsNew breakthroughs in research on protein-DNA recognition may have profound implications for furthering research into cancer and other genetically based diseases. The research— which integrates two fields, genomics and structural biology— sheds light on the mechanisms underlying how proteins recognize their DNA binding sites by translating genome sequences into three-dimensional structures.
Tissue in Trouble Calls Out for Help to Restore Health
June 10, 2013 10:55 am | News | CommentsScientists have discovered a cellular process used by animals when a tissue is stressed and in molecular trouble from the expression of misfolded and damaged proteins: The tissue at risk attends to the trouble itself but also wisely calls out for help.
Bioengineered Vein Successfully Implanted
June 7, 2013 10:21 am | News | CommentsIn a first-of-its-kind operation in the United States, a team of doctors helped create a bioengineered blood vessel and transplanted it into the arm of a patient with end-stage kidney disease. The procedure is a milestone in the field of tissue engineering.
Evaluating Disease Biomarker Reliability
June 6, 2013 5:59 pm | by Arizona State University | News | CommentsThis year some 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women. Some of these patients will succumb to the disease, while others survive. Part of the enormous disparity in outcome has to do with the differing ways diseases like cancer affect individuals based on various factors. According to new research, how we study an illness can also depend on a feature of the disease itself – one known as heterogeneity.
Anesthesia Effects Depend on Age of Neurons, Not Patient
June 6, 2013 11:07 am | News | CommentsAs pediatric specialists become increasingly aware that surgical anesthesia may have lasting effects on the developing brains of young children, new research suggests the threat may also apply to adult brains. Researchers recently reported that testing in laboratory mice shows anesthesia’s neurotoxic effects depend on the age of brain neurons– not the age of the animal undergoing anesthesia.
The Fight Against Genome Parasites
June 5, 2013 10:23 am | News | CommentsIn the gonads of animals, genome parasites, such as transposons, pose a serious threat to evolutionary fitness. To protect genomic integrity, animals evolved the so-called piRNA pathway to silence the deleterious transposons. Researchers have now identified almost 50 genes that play important roles in the piRNA pathway of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Neuron Circuits Overexcited in Fragile X Brains
June 4, 2013 10:58 am | News | CommentsThe genetic malady known as Fragile X syndrome is the most common cause of inherited autism and intellectual disability. Brain scientists know the gene defect that causes the syndrome and understand the damage it does in misshaping the brain's synapses, but how this abnormal shaping of synapses translates into abnormal behavior is unclear. Now, researchers believe they know.
Microscopy Company Donates Microscopes for LA Internship Program
June 3, 2013 12:18 pm | News | CommentsCarl Zeiss Microscopy LLC, announces that it donated high-end research microscope instruments as part of an innovative training program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The program brings minority Los Angeles area high school students into working laboratories, and entices them with the excitement of scientific discovery.
Altered Gut Microbiota Can Predict Diabetes
May 30, 2013 10:39 am | News | CommentsIntestinal bacteria may have a greater influence on us than was previously thought. In a recent study, researchers showed that patients with Type 2 diabetes have an altered gut microbiota. Their findings have led to a new model to identify patients at increased risk of developing diabetes.
Scientists Announce Top 10 New Species
May 24, 2013 9:11 am | News | CommentsAn amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach, a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge and the smallest vertebrate on Earth are just three of the newly discovered top 10 species selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University.
NYU Researchers Took Chinese Bribes
May 20, 2013 3:37 pm | by BY TOM HAYS - ASSOCIATED PRESS | News | CommentsThree New York University researchers from China divulged results from a federally funded study to Chinese competitors in exchange for tuition, rent and other expenses, federal prosecutors say. Yudong Zhu, a U.S.-educated NYU professor, and Xing Yang, a lab engineer, were released on bail after appearing in federal court in Manhattan to face commercial bribery and other charges. They left court without speaking to reporters.
'Lifespan Machine' Monitors Worm Aging
May 20, 2013 12:00 pm | by Harvard Medical School | News | CommentsThe worm’s tail wriggles, a micrometer-scale twitch. A scanner captures the new posture. Software recognizes the motion. Life goes on in the Lifespan Machine, a new system devised in the lab of Walter Fontana that, essentially, counts dead worms.
Osteoarthritis Progression Halted
May 20, 2013 10:30 am | News | CommentsScientists have turned their view of osteoarthritis (OA) inside out. Literally. Instead of seeing the painful degenerative disease as a problem primarily of the cartilage that cushions joints, they now have evidence that the bone underneath the cartilage is also a key player and exacerbates the damage.
Nanogel Secretes Insulin on Demand
May 16, 2013 11:49 am | News | CommentsInjectable nanoparticles developed at MIT may someday eliminate the need for patients with Type 1 diabetes to constantly monitor their blood-sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin. The nanoparticles were designed to sense glucose levels in the body and respond by secreting the appropriate amount of insulin, thereby replacing the function of pancreatic islet cells, which are destroyed in patients with Type 1 diabetes.
New Drug Slows Alzheimer's
May 15, 2013 10:17 am | News | CommentsA drug developed by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, known as J147, reverses memory deficits and slows Alzheimer's disease in aged mice following short-term treatment. The findings may pave the way to a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease in humans.
Gel Implant Restores Paralyzed Nerves
May 14, 2013 11:33 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers has invented a method for repairing damaged peripheral nerves. Through a biodegradable implant in combination with a newly-developed Guiding Regeneration Gel (GRG) that increases nerve growth and healing, the functionality of a torn or damaged nerve could ultimately be restored.
Product Roundup: Fume Hoods and Biological Safety Cabinets
May 10, 2013 2:34 pm | News | CommentsIn any laboratory, safety of both the researchers and the samples are integral to a successful experiment. Fume hoods and biological safety cabinets offer protection from hazardous fumes with proper ventilation that will ensure the safety of all scientists in the laboratory and the samples they are working with.
Protein Reverses Age-related Heart Failure
May 10, 2013 10:53 am | News | CommentsResearchers have identified a protein in the blood of mice and humans that may prove to be the first effective treatment for the form of age-related heart failure that affects millions of Americans. When the protein was injected into old mice, the hearts were reduced in size and thickness, resembling the healthy hearts of younger mice.
