Amyloidosis News and Research

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Amyloidosis is the term applied to a group of conditions caused by deposits of an abnormal protein called amyloid. This rare but serious condition affects between 1 and 5 people in every 100,000 each year in the UK. The condition is mainly seen among the elderly.

Genomic study identifies MCU that regulates calcium transport into mitochondria

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and collaborators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Broad Institute, and the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), today announced new findings published in Nature.

20 Jun 2011

Endocrine Society honors BUSM professor with The Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award

Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, director of the General Clinical Research Center and professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, is this year's recipient of The Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award from the Endocrine Society for his scholarly work on the history of endocrinology.

18 Jun 2011

Alnylam's ALN-VSP Phase I trial data on liver cancer presented at ASCO 2011

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today the results from its Phase I clinical trial with ALN-VSP, a systemically delivered RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of advanced solid tumors with liver involvement.

6 Jun 2011

Isis receives $5M milestone payment from GSK for initiating ISIS-TTRRx Phase 1 study

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has earned a $5 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline related to the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical study for ISIS-TTRRx.

19 May 2011

Alnylam, Precision NanoSystems enter collaboration for discovery of novel small lipid nanoparticles

Precision NanoSystems, Inc. and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that the two companies have formed an exclusive collaboration focused on the discovery and development of novel lipid nanoparticles, known as small lipid nanoparticles ("sLNPs"), using microfluidics technology.

From Precision NanoSystems Inc. 20 Apr 2011

Alnylam to extend RNAi therapeutics research collaboration with AlCana and UBC

AlCana Technologies, Inc., The University of British Columbia, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that Alnylam has elected to extend the companies' RNAi therapeutics research collaboration for a third year.

7 Apr 2011

Alnylam defends against Tekmira complaint, files answer and counterclaim

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, has filed an answer and counterclaim to a complaint filed by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation in the Business Litigation Session (BLS) of the Massachusetts Superior Court.

7 Apr 2011

Discovery of 4 new genes associated with Alzheimer's

In the largest study of its kind, researchers from a consortium led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and the University of Miami identified four new genes linked to Alzheimer's disease. Each gene individually adds to the risk of having this common form of dementia later in life. These new genes offer a portal into what causes Alzheimer's disease and is a major advance in the field.

3 Apr 2011

Alnylam completes patient enrollment in ALN-VSP Phase I trial against liver cancer

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced that it has completed enrollment in its ALN-VSP Phase I multi-center, multinational, open label, dose escalation clinical trial.

1 Apr 2011

Amyloid plaques in normal older individuals may be early signs of Alzheimer's

Researchers using two brain-imaging technologies have found that apparently normal older individuals with brain deposits of amyloid beta - the primary constituent of the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients - also had changes in brain structure similar to those seen in Alzheimer's patients.

31 Mar 2011

Protein aggregation plays a significant role in cancer

Protein aggregation, generally associated with Alzheimer's and mad cow disease, turns out to play a significant role in cancer. In a paper published in Nature Chemical Biology, Frederic Rousseau and Joost Schymkowitz of VIB, K.U.Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel describe that certain mutations of p53, an important tumor suppressor, cause the protein to misfold in a way that the proteins start to aggregate.

29 Mar 2011

First continuous-flow total artificial heart transplant performed at THI

Doctors at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital have successfully implanted the first continuous-flow total artificial heart in a desperately ill patient facing imminent death.

24 Mar 2011

Alnylam to defend against Tekmira complaint

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, is reporting the filing of a complaint by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation in the Business Litigation Session (BLS) of the Massachusetts Superior Court. The complaint alleges misappropriation and misuse of information, amongst other allegations.

18 Mar 2011

Global settlement agreement reached in Tuschl patents litigation

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced the signing of a global settlement agreement among Alnylam, Max Planck Society ("Max Planck"), the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research ("Whitehead") and the University of Massachusetts ("UMass") resolving their ongoing litigation regarding the Tuschl patents.

16 Mar 2011

Nephros completes its shareholders rights offering, related private placement financing

Nephros, Inc., a medical device company developing and marketing filtration products for therapeutic applications, infection control, and water purification, today announced the completion of its rights offering and private placement that together will result in gross proceeds of approximately $3.2 million to Nephros.

5 Mar 2011

Scientist discovers new mechanism for regulation of gene expression

Dr. David Levin, Professor of Molecular & Cell Biology at Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine and Professor of Microbiology at Boston University School of Medicine discovered recently a novel, evolutionarily conserved mechanism for the regulation of gene expression.

4 Mar 2011

BUSM receives NIH grant to explore how chronic inflammation can lead to systemic diseases

A team of researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have been awarded a five-year, $7.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to explore how chronic inflammation can lead to systemic diseases.

20 Jan 2011

Alnylam presents ALN-VSP Phase I trial results for liver cancer

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today presented new clinical data from its ALN-VSP Phase I liver cancer trial in a presentation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Results from molecular analysis of human biopsy samples showed achievement of pharmacologically relevant siRNA drug levels in tissues.

5 Jan 2011

Altering balance among immune system cells could hold potential for T2D-associated inflammation treatment

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have demonstrated that certain T cells require input from monocytes in order to maintain their pro-inflammatory response in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The study also showed, for the first time, how a loss in homeostasis in this group of T cells most likely promotes chronic inflammation associated with T2D.

22 Dec 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals progress in delivery and translation of RNAi therapeutics

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, presented new data at the 2010 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies, being held in Honolulu, Hawaii, December 15-20.

17 Dec 2010