Protein Aggregation News and Research

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Range of biopharma solutions from Malvern Instruments extended by distribution agreement with Affinity Biosensors

Materials characterization company Malvern Panalytical. (Malvern Panalytical, UK) has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Affinity Biosensors LLC (Santa Barbara, CA, USA) which will extend the range of solutions that Malvern Panalytical offers to the biopharmaceutical sector.

From Malvern Panalytical 29 Oct 2012

Mitochondrial gene regulators involved in Huntington’s disease pathology

Researchers have identified two molecules involved in mitochondrial function that appear to be important in the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease.

16 Jul 2012

CLR01 blocks toxic aggregations of proteins in mouse model of Parkinson's

Millions of people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a disorder of the nervous system that affects movement and worsens over time. As the world's population ages, it's estimated that the number of people with the disease will rise sharply. Yet despite several effective therapies that treat Parkinson's symptoms, nothing slows its progression.

2 Mar 2012

Helmholtz Association grant for research on diseases caused by protein misfolding

Professor Erich Wanker of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and of the Excellence Cluster Neurocure is to receive EUR 675 000 in funding from the Helmholtz Association over the next two years. The grant shall be used to accelerate the search for active agents to treat diseases that are caused by protein misfolding. These include Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

24 Feb 2012

Studies identify genes and small molecules against protein conformational diseases

Two related studies from Northwestern University offer new strategies for tackling the challenges of preventing and treating diseases of protein folding, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cancer, cystic fibrosis and type 2 diabetes.

7 Jan 2012

Clinical trial planned in Australia and the USA to help patients with ‘orphan’ disease

Prana Biotechnology Limited announced today that researchers are planning recruitment for a phase II clinical trial of the experimental drug PBT2 in Huntington’s patients. There are currently no treatments for the genetic, neurodegenerative disease; Australia is increasingly seen as a leader in the development of therapies for neurologic disorders. Huntington’s often affects young adults and progressively impacts the body, mind and emotions. The disease causes incapacitation and death about 15-25 years after onset.

12 Sep 2011

Specific yeast protein can promote spontaneous prion formation

It's a chicken and egg question. Where do the infectious protein particles called prions come from? Essentially clumps of misfolded proteins, prions cause neurodegenerative disorders, such as mad cow/Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, in humans and animals.

25 Jul 2011

Accelrys releases Discovery Studio software for biotherapeutics research

Accelrys, Inc., a leading scientific enterprise R&D software and services company, today announced a new release of the Discovery Studio life sciences modeling and simulation software.

14 Jul 2011

Cell Biosciences announces acquisition of Brightwell Technologies

Cell Biosciences, Inc. today announced that it has acquired Brightwell Technologies, Inc. of Ottawa, Ontario for approximately U.S. $9 million in cash.

12 May 2011

UH chemist receives prestigious Sloan award for next-generation computer memory

Investigating the building blocks for next-generation computer memory has earned a University of Houston chemist his third Tier One research award.

10 May 2011

New insights into dynamics of amyloid fibrils

A research study, published yesterday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, demonstrates that the aggregation of amyloid-beta proteins into amyloid fibrils characteristic of Alzheimer's disease is not irreversible, as previously thought.

15 Apr 2011

Basic Yellow 1 dye extends lifespan in healthy nematodes, slows Alzheimer's disease-like pathology in worms

Basic Yellow 1, a dye used in neuroscience laboratories around the world to detect damaged protein in Alzheimer's disease, is a wonder drug for nematode worms. In a study appearing in the March 30, online edition of Nature, the dye, also known as Thioflavin T, (ThT) extended lifespan in healthy nematode worms by more than 50 percent and slowed the disease process in worms bred to mimic aspects of Alzheimer's.

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

Scientists discover fundamental mechanism behind toxic protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases

Protein aggregation underlies several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's chorea or Parkinson's. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, now discovered a fundamental mechanism which explains how toxic protein aggregation occurs and why it leads to a widespread impairment of essential cellular functions.

20 Jan 2011

Over expression of transcription factor improves neurological function in HD transgenic mice models

Over expressing a transcription factor that promotes the increase in number of mitochondria greatly improves the neurological function of transgenic mice models for Huntington's disease, researchers today told the American Society of Cell Biology's 50th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

15 Dec 2010

New findings provide new clues on pathogenetic mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease

Pathological protein deposits linked to Alzheimer's disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy can be triggered not only by the administration of pathogenic misfolded protein fragments directly into the brain but also by peripheral administration outside the brain.

22 Oct 2010

New study signals hope for treatment of rare neurodegenerative disease

A new study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists signals hope for treatment of a neurodegenerative disease and a new model for understanding the mechanism at work in other more common neurodegenerative disorders.

23 Sep 2010

WisTa Laboratories announces collaborative R&D agreement with Bayer Schering Pharma

WisTa Laboratories Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of TauRx Pharmaceuticals, announced today that they have entered a collaborative R&D agreement with Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany, which could redefine the way Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related disorders are currently being diagnosed and treated.

4 Jun 2010

High sensitivity of Zetasizer Nano proves essential for protein aggregation studies

Dr Martin Muschol, Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida’s (USF) Department of Physics and his team are carrying out important research to gain a better understanding of protein aggregation phenomena, including protein crystallization and amyloid fibril growth. Using the Zetasizer Nano ZS, from Malvern Panalytical (Malvern Panalytical, UK), the USF researchers have been able to perform temperature controlled static and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements of protein hydration, protein interactions and aggregation kinetics in vitro.

From Malvern Panalytical 15 Apr 2010

Agilent Technologies introduces new ion exchange and size exclusion columns for analysis of bio-molecules

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced the availability of new ion exchange and size exclusion columns specifically designed for the analysis of bio-molecules including monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, peptides, vaccine products and DNA/RNA. The columns provide robust, reproducible and high-resolution solutions for biopharmaceutical manufacturers to effectively monitor the safety, efficacy and stability of their products.

17 Mar 2010