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Study highlights new approach to produce coral snake antivenom from synthetically designed DNA

Coral snake venom carries significant neurotoxicity and human injuries can be severe or even lethal. Despite this, antivenom treatments are scarce due to challenges collecting adequate amounts of venom needed to produce anti-elapidic serum. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases highlights exciting new research from the Butantan Institute in Brazil using synthetically designed DNA to produce coral-snake antivenom.

4 Mar 2016

Healthy cells actively collaborate with tumours to promote growth of new blood vessels

Healthy cells actively collaborate with tumours by creating a mesh of collagen that encourages cancer cells to build new blood vessels, a new study shows.

4 Mar 2016

Study highlights use of 10x Genomics' GemCode technology platform for genomic analysis

10x Genomics, a company focused on improving and broadening the application of genomic information across healthcare and other industries, today announced the publication of a study that was enabled by the company's GemCode™ technology platform, a powerful new approach that allows researchers to discover previously inaccessible genomic information.

From 10x Genomics, Inc. 4 Mar 2016

MSU scientists identify new kind of stem cell that could advance regenerative medicine

Scientists at Michigan State University have discovered a new kind of stem cell, one that could lead to advances in regenerative medicine as well as offer new ways to study birth defects and other reproductive problems.

4 Mar 2016

Dietary broccoli may protect against liver cancer

Consumption of broccoli has increased in the United States over the last few decades as scientists have reported that eating the vegetable three to five times per week can lower the risk of many types of cancer including breast, prostate, and colon cancers.

4 Mar 2016

Researchers reveal link between mitochondrial dysfunction and Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy

Researchers at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have shown a link between mitochondrial dysfunction in corneal endothelial cells and the development of Fuchs' Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy.

4 Mar 2016

Dr. Benjamin Neale awarded Leena Peltonen Prize for Excellence in Human Genetics

The Leena Peltonen Prize for Excellence in Human Genetics was established in winter 2010 to recognize scientists who are in the early phases of their independent careers. The second award ceremony will take place at the University of Helsinki, Finland, on March 3, 2016.

3 Mar 2016

New MyGene2 web tool may help find genes influencing Mendelian disorders

A new web tool, MyGene2, will enable patients and their families to join clinicians and scientists in the search for genes underlying rare disorders. The sharing of health information also will improve knowledge about how gene variants influence symptoms and other clinical features of Mendelian disorders.

3 Mar 2016

Geneticists explore evolution of musical aptitude

Geneticists at the University of Helsinki and the National University of Singapore have teamed up to explore the evolution of musical aptitude in the first-ever empirical study of the evolution of music.

3 Mar 2016

Genetic errors may reduce heart attack risk, study finds

To reduce risk of heart attack, the benefits of a healthy lifestyle are clear. But genetics can still stack the deck. Some people's genes bestow a natural advantage — or disadvantage — in protecting against heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide.

3 Mar 2016

Scientists solve first 3-D structure of DNAzyme

DNA does not always adopt the form of the double helix which is associated with the genetic code; it can also form intricate folds and act as an enzyme: a deoxyribozyme. A researcher from Spain and other scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Germany) have solved the first three-dimensional structure of this biomolecule that has proved much more flexible than previously thought.

3 Mar 2016

Experts work towards optimizing global diabetes care

Diabetes is a significant global health problem, afflicting 382 million people worldwide with increasing prevalence rates and adverse effects on health, wellbeing, and society in general. In this special issue of the Annals of Global Health, "Global Dimensions of Diabetes Care," experts from around the world synthesize a core set of recommendations using information from 14 countries as a basis in order to work towards optimizing diabetes care globally - a critically important initiative to help stem the diabetes epidemic.

3 Mar 2016

Common blood test could help predict risk of second stroke

A new discovery about ischemic stroke may allow to doctors to predict a patient's risk of having a second stroke using a commonly performed blood test and their genetic profile.

3 Mar 2016

Highbush blueberry cultivars show resistance to soilborne pathogen

Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soilborne pathogen associated with root rot in many woody perennial plants. An extensive study from researchers in Oregon has identified a number of highbush blueberry cultivars that show resistance to the disease, as well as those varieties that are susceptible.

3 Mar 2016

U-M researchers develop novel mouse model of children's brain cancer

Children with brain cancer may soon get some help from mice with the same disease, thanks to new research from University of Michigan Medical School scientists and their colleagues.

3 Mar 2016

Inhibitors that activate brown fat may help treat diabetes, metabolic disorders

In recent decades, obesity has become a global problem. The disease goes hand in hand with a dramatic increase in the proportion of body fat. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research and the Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-associated Diseases at the University of Cologne have now succeeded in inhibiting a protein in mice that hampers activation of the useful "brown fat" in obese mice. When treated with inhibitors against this protein, obese mice exhibited a notable improvement of their glucose metabolism.

2 Mar 2016

Study provides first evidence that Zika virus may cause Guillain-Barré syndrome

Analysis of blood samples from 42 patients diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) during the Zika virus outbreak in French Polynesia provides the first evidence that Zika virus might cause GBS, a severe neurological disorder, according to new research published in The Lancet today.

2 Mar 2016

Blueberry Therapeutics set to create safe, effective nanomedicines to tackle unmet healthcare needs

Blueberry Therapeutics Ltd, a leading pharmaceutical company focused on the major medical problems of inflammation and infection, are exploring the anti-microbial agenda through the development of new anti-fungal drugs and treatments to tackle this important unmet healthcare need.

2 Mar 2016

New WHO report highlights ways to prevent, mitigate hearing loss in children

Nearly 32 million children across the world live with disabling hearing loss. A new World Health Organization (WHO) report, Childhood hearing loss: act now, here’s how, suggests that 60% of this can be prevented.

2 Mar 2016

MD Biosciences launches rapid assay to detect Zika virus

MD Biosciences, Inc. Clinical and Diagnostic Services Laboratory announces the release of its rapid assay to detect the virus in human blood and urine samples. The nucleic acid test can be performed in a few hours in blood, plasma, serum or urine samples.

1 Mar 2016