University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching.
For years, scientists have known that the genetic material called small RNA is key to our genetic makeup. But finding out what small RNA does hasn’t been easy. Now there's a way to turn off small RNAs and find out just how important they can be.
A drug once taken by people with HIV/AIDS but long ago shelved after newer, modern antiretroviral therapies became available has now shed light on how the human body uses its natural immunity to fight the virus—work that could help uncover new targets for drugs.
Researchers have combined bioactive peptides to stimulate wound healing. The peptides act by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels and promoting re-growth of tissue. Further development of these peptides could lead to a treatment for chronic and acute wounds. The study was published in PLoS ONE.
A new study led by nanotechnology and biotechnology experts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is providing important details on how proteins in our bodies interact with nanomaterials. In their new study, published in the Feb. 2 online edition of the journal Nano Letters, the researchers developed a new tool to determine the orientation of proteins on different nanostructures. The discovery is a key step in the effort to control the orientation, structure, and function of proteins in the body using nanomaterials.
Studying self-replicating genetic units, called plasmids, found in one of the world's widest-ranging pathogenic soil bacteria -- the crown-gall-disease-causing microorganism Agrobacterium tumefaciens -- Indiana University biologists are showing how freeloading, mutant derivatives of these plasmids benefit while the virulent, disease-causing plasmids do the heavy-lifting of initiating infection in plant hosts. The research confirms that the ability of bacteria to cause disease comes at a significant cost that is only counterbalanced by the benefits they experience from infected host organisms.
Although endocrine therapy for breast cancer has shown excellent results in controlling the disease, responsiveness to the therapy depends on whether or not there is expression of estrogen receptors in breast cancer cells. Research from the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, a nonprofit cancer, cardiovascular and diabetes research center located in Philadelphia, PA, reports on the effectiveness of a new molecule, Scriptaid that restores receptivity to endocrine therapy in breast cancer cell lines that had tested negative for the expression of estrogen receptors. The findings are reported in the Journal of Cellular Physiology.
Intestinal worm infections may not be all bad, according to a new study by William Gause and colleagues at UMDNJ- New Jersey Medical School. In research on mice, published in Nature Medicine, immune reaction to the presence of intestinal worms was found to promote wound healing in the lungs.
In the images of fruit flies, clusters of neurons are all lit up, forming a brightly glowing network of highways within the brain. It’s exactly what University at Buffalo researcher Shermali Gunawardena was hoping to see.
Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have solved the three-dimensional structure of a newly discovered type of gene-targeting protein that has shown to be useful as a DNA-targeting molecule for gene correction, gene therapy and gene modification. The findings are published online in Science Express on Jan. 5.
A national clinical trial testing the efficacy of a novel brain tumor vaccine has begun at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, the only facility in the Southeast to participate.
New silk-based microneedles can painlessly deliver precise doses of drugs over time and without refrigeration. Made under normal temperature and pressure using water, the microneedles can be loaded with sensitive biochemicals and maintain their activity. The biocompatible, biodegradable system could be applied to other biological storage needs.
Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a jelly-like material and wound treatment method that, in early experiments on skin damaged by severe burns, appeared to regenerate healthy, scar-free tissue.
A survey of more than 200 human embryonic stem cell researchers in the United States found that nearly four in ten researchers have faced excessive delay in acquiring a human embryonic stem cell line and that more than one-quarter were unable to acquire a line they wanted to study.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to design antibodies aimed at combating disease. The surprisingly simple process was used to make antibodies that neutralize the harmful protein particles that lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
A key protein that controls how the deadly plant poison and bioweapon ricin kills, has finally been identified by researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna, Austria. The discovery was made using a revolutionary new technology that combines stem cell biology and modern screening methods.
The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) opposed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposal to exclusively license the subject matter of a cancer-related proteonomics patent application filed by the Agency.
A team of Vanderbilt chemists have designed and successfully synthesized the largest artificial protein using a new approach that greatly expands scientists’ ability to create proteins unknown in nature.
A compound that mimics the effects of adiponectin, a beneficial protein that is produced by fat tissue in healthy weight individuals and may exhibit protective effects against cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory conditions and insulin resistance has been developed by an international consortium.
Any way you slice it, bread with critical nutrients could help combat severe malnutrition in impoverished regions. That is the goal of a group of Johns Hopkins undergraduate students who are enhancing common yeast so that it produces bread that yields Vitamin A.
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A new study demonstrates that mechanical forces affect the growth and remodeling of blood vessels during tissue regeneration and wound healing. The forces diminish or enhance the vascularization process and tissue regeneration depending on when they are applied during the healing process.
A genetically engineered clotting factor that controlled hemophilia in an animal study offers a novel potential treatment for human hemophilia and a broad range of other bleeding problems.
In the film Contagion, a virus outbreak occurs, killing thousands of people all over the world. In the final scene we discover that the global outbreak started after a fruit bat infected a pig. Complete fiction? Actually, there may be some elements of truth to it.
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.
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.
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.