The prospect of doing human clinical trials with stem cells to treat diseases like multiple sclerosis may be growing closer, say scientists at UB and U of R who have developed a more precise way to isolate stem cells that will make myelin.
Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have identified a previously unknown mechanism that generates protective immune memory cells to fight recurring infections at the body’s mucosal linings – which include the mouth, the intestines, the lungs and other areas. These are the main entry points for many viruses and other infectious organisms.
University of Maryland researchers patented and licensed a “Bio-glue” that allows simulation of mechanical and chemical heartbeats from a single cell.
Using a modern version of open-wide-and-keep-this-under-your-tongue, scientists today reported taking the temperature of individual cells in the human body, and finding for the first time that temperatures inside do not adhere to the familiar 98.6 degree Fahrenheit norm. They presented the research at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held here this week.
Using an unusual human cell line of this type, Whitehead Institute researchers and their collaborators performed a genetic screen and identified a protein used by Ebola virus to gain entry into cells and begin replicating. The discovery may offer a new approach for the development of antiviral therapeutics.
For the first time ever, scientists are using computers and genomic information to predict new uses for existing medicines. A National Institutes of Health-funded computational study analyzed genomic and drug data to predict new uses for medicines that are already on the market.
Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have devised a gene therapy cocktail that has the potential to treat some inherited diseases associated with “misfolded” proteins.
For decades, scientists have studied a laboratory mouse model that develops signs of the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as they age. In a new study appearing in Nature Biotechnology, investigators at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have developed a new model of ALS, one that mimics sporadic ALS, which represents about 90 percent of all cases.
Researchers have built the first functional anal sphincters in the laboratory, suggesting a potential future treatment for both fecal and urinary incontinence.
Each year, plant diseases wipe out millions of tons of crops and waste valuable water resources. But a new discovery suggests that all pathogens attack plants via a surprisingly limited number of cellular targets. The finding could help researchers develop disease resistant crops and environmentally sustainable treatments for plant diseases.
Researchers who have been working for nearly a decade to piece together the process by which an enzyme repairs sun-damaged DNA have finally witnessed the entire process in full detail in the laboratory.
The discovery of the mechanism of action behind a novel class of anticancer drugs designed to disrupt cancer cell mitochondrial metabolism may be a major step toward furthering clinical trials of the agents.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed the first fluorescent protein that enables scientists to clearly "see" the internal organs of living animals without the need for a scalpel or imaging techniques that can have side effects or increase radiation exposure.
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have demonstrated a molecular strategy they say could make a much larger variety of tumors treatable with PARP inhibitors, a promising new class of cancer drugs.
A recent Kavli Futures Symposium focused on the progress, and promise, of evolving biological functions in the lab. Now, three Symposium participants discuss this remarkable research, and how it's drawing together diverse scientific fields.
A computer-based diabetes simulation tool developed by University of Virginia researchers is now commercially available, thanks to a partnership with Charlottesville-based medical research firm The Epsilon Group. The protocol is approved by the FDA as an alternative to animal testing of Type 1 diabetes control strategies.
According to the CDC, about 20 percent of Americans with HIV don’t know it, greatly increasing their risk of transmitting the virus.
The drug Incivek, when given in combination with two other medications, can dramatically increase the chances of people chronically infected with untreated genotype 1 hepatitis C virus achieving a viral cure.
Veritract, a University of Utah startup company, is developing a “Smart Feeding Tube” with a live camera and steering mechanism that enables doctors to place feeding tubes with much more accuracy than current technology allows. The company has just received $820,000 in an early round of funding.
Mayo Clinic investigators and collaborators from the United Kingdom cured well-established prostate tumors in mice using a human vaccine with no apparent side effects. This novel cancer treatment approach encourages the immune system to rid itself of prostate tumors without assistance from toxic chemotherapies and radiation treatments. Such a treatment model could some day help people to live tumor free with fewer side effects than those experienced from current therapies.
Biogen Idec is working with the NC State Poole College of Management's Executive Programs to develop the organization's future leaders in its pharmaceutical operations and technology business unit.
Now a new study reports that reovirus has the potential to treat certain lung cancer patients, when the reovirus is combined with two other substances known as paclitaxel and carboplatin.
It has been an exciting time for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student Kinsley French. During the Rensselaer commencement, French was awarded the J. Erik Jonsson Prize for her perfect 4.0 grade point average and high-caliber undergraduate research. She earned a dual major in mathematics and biology in just three and a half years.
A mutant gene long thought to accelerate tumor growth in thyroid cancer patients actually inhibits the spread of malignant cells, showing promise for novel cancer therapies, a Mayo Clinic study has found.
For cooperation to persist in the often violently competitive realm of bacteria, cheaters must be kept in line. Two Indiana University Bloomington biologists have learned that in one bacterium, at least, bacterial cooperators can evolve to "police" the cheaters and arrest their bids for dominance.
Seattle BioMed’s Aderem shares Insight into rational vaccine development using new approaches.
A group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell researcher Su-Chun Zhang reports it has been able to direct embryonic and induced human stem cells to become astrocytes in the lab dish.
The Center for Biotechnology (CFB) at Stony Brook University has established the Biotechnology Commercialization Fund to accelerate the development of promising biomedical technologies emerging from Stony Brook University. Created with support from the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR) and the Office of the Vice President for Research at Stony Brook University, the Fund will immediately help develop six technologies in partnership with researchers University-wide.
A discovery reported from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that micrometer-sized droplets of liquid crystal, which have been found to change their ordering and optical appearance in response to the presence of very low concentrations of a particular bacterial lipid, might find new uses in a range of biological contexts.
Grantees honored as finest in field of biotechnology.
Scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy have discovered an explanation of how stroke patients can achieve better recovery. A hormone that is associated with the growth hormone system has proved to benefit recovery during the later phases of rehabilitation after a stroke.
A uniquely collaborative study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies uncovered a novel mechanism that turns up glucose production in the liver when blood sugar levels drop, pointing towards a new class of drugs for the treatment of metabolic disease.
Boston University researchers discover that a simple compound — sugar – dramatically boosts the effectiveness of first-line antibiotics. Their findings appear in the May 12 issue of Nature.
A common, tiny tropical fish plays a key role in a new model for Cushing disease, giving researchers a powerful tool to conduct extensive searches for effective treatments for this serious hormonal disorder, testing up to 300 drugs weekly.
An international team of researchers led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has deciphered the genome of a tropical marine organism known to produce substances potentially useful against human diseases.
UCLA scientists have discovered a way to wake up the immune system to fight cancer by delivering an immune system-stimulating protein in a nanoscale container called a vault directly into lung cancer tumors, harnessing the body’s natural defenses to fight disease growth.
Only about half of new drugs approved in the last decade had comparative effectiveness data available at the time of their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and approximately two-thirds of new drugs had this information available when alternative treatment options existed, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA.
Results from the first year of a two-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial show that Avastin®, a drug approved to treat some cancers and is commonly used off-label to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is as effective as the more expensive FDA-approved drug Lucentis® for treating AMD.
Medical therapies may be developed to recover healthy proteins that are important to prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.
A class of drugs that shows promise in breast and ovarian cancers with BRCA gene mutations could potentially benefit colorectal cancer patients with a different genetic mutation, a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center finds.
An over-the-counter drug used to treat diarrhea combined with minocycline, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, could one day change the lives of those living with cystic fibrosis.
Transplanting cells from healthy adult livers may work in treating a genetic liver-lung disorder that affects millions of people worldwide, according to an animal study in the April 18 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Jayanta Roy-Chowdhury, M.D., professor of medicine and of genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, is the study’s senior author.
A discovery by Johns Hopkins scientists about how a single-celled fungus survives in low-oxygen settings may someday help humans whose immune systems are compromised by organ transplants or AIDS.
U-M doctors stress a balanced approach, but note older therapies can offset risks, costs of ‘biologics’.
Many of the newest weapons in the war on cancer come in the form of personalized therapies that can target specific changes in an individual’s tumor. By disrupting molecular processes in tumor cells, these drugs can keep the tumor from growing and spreading. At the forefront of this work are Binghamton University researchers, Susan Bane, and Susannah Gal, who are deploying a new tool in their study of an enzyme called tubulin tyrosine ligase, or TTL.
A natural hormone known to inhibit aging can also protect kidneys against renal fibrosis, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have demonstrated.
On Wednesday, May 4, as part of Perimeter Institute’s Public Lecture Series presented by Sun Life Financial, Dr. Leroy Hood, a pioneer in systems approaches to biology and medicine, will discuss emerging technologies that may transform medical research over the next decade.
The HIV Vaccine Trials Network plans to clinically test a novel vaccine product developed by GeoVax scientists that expresses human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in combination with inactivated HIV proteins.
The meaning of the standard fecal coliform test used to monitor water quality has been called into question by a new study that identified sources of Escherichia coli bacteria that might not indicate an environmental hazard.
A new study has demonstrated no significant benefit of taking the drug bosentan for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
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