Laboratory News and Research

RSS

Tumor suppressor, Retinoblastoma, represses DNA replication genes during cellular senescence

A frequently mutated gene in human cancers is the reitnoblastoma (RB) gene, which controls a potent tumor suppression pathway.

15 Apr 2010

Study: Atorvastatin may slow down MS progression

A UCSF-led study examining the impact of statins on the progression of multiple sclerosis found a lower incidence of new brain lesions in patients taking the cholesterol-lowering drug in the early stages of the disease as compared to a placebo.

15 Apr 2010

Phase 1 clinical trial results of Achillion Pharmaceuticals' ACH-1625 to be presented at EASL meeting

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today presented data from the Company's ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of ACH-1625 to treat hepatitis C at the European Association for the Study of the Liver's International Liver Congress taking place at the Reed Messe Wien Congress Center in Vienna, Austria from April 14-18, 2010.

15 Apr 2010

Gene causing progressive form of hair loss identified

A team of investigators from Columbia, Rockefeller and Stanford Universities has identified a new gene involved in hair growth, as reported in a paper in the April 15 issue of Nature. This discovery may affect future research and treatments for male pattern baldness and other forms of hair loss.

15 Apr 2010

Thermo Fisher Scientific opens global food testing laboratory in Dreieich, Germany

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today opened a global food testing laboratory devoted solely to helping contain costly and life-threatening chemical contamination crises. The Food Safety Response Center, located in Dreieich, Germany, is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and staffed by world-class chemists who will quickly mobilize to aid governments and businesses facing an unknown food safety threat involving chemical contaminants.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 15 Apr 2010

Gene defect promotes aggressive forms of ovarian cancer

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered how mistakes in a key gene drive the early stages of aggressive ovarian cancers. This could improve diagnosis of aggressive forms of the disease and lead to new treatments, according to a study published in the Journal of Pathology this month.

15 Apr 2010

Phase I clinical trial of DFMO initiated to treat children with neuroblastoma

A new Phase I clinical trial sponsored by the Vermont Cancer Center at the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care has opened to test the investigational drug DFMO, or alpha-difluoromethylornithine, as a treatment for the pediatric cancer neuroblastoma.

15 Apr 2010

Bedtime video-games have no significant effect on adolescents’ sleep patterns

A study in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine suggests that playing a video game before bedtime has only a mild effect on the sleep of older male teens.

15 Apr 2010

Potential new drug for treatment of MS to be presented at AAN Annual Meeting

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine will present several studies at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, including a potential new drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and surprising trends showing a reduction in the disease's severity. The meeting will take place April 10-17 in Toronto.

15 Apr 2010

Researchers identify new strategy for treating acute myeloid leukemia

Researchers have identified a self-feeding "vicious circle" of molecules that keeps acute leukemia cells alive and growing and that drives the disease forward.

15 Apr 2010

New cardiac CT technology promises low radiation exposure and improved image quality

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally and a tremendous burden on the healthcare system. Better detection of hardening or clogging of arteries and other blood vessels before symptoms occur is needed.

15 Apr 2010

New experimental compound offers hope for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Researchers from the Sackler Center at Weill Cornell Medical College have designed a new class of drugs that targets BCL6, a master regulatory protein responsible for causing the most common type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

15 Apr 2010

Researchers develop new method to identify genetic variation in active genes

Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a new method for identifying genetic variation, including mutations, in active genes. Hopes are strong that the method represents an important research tool that will lead to the development of new diagnostic tests.

15 Apr 2010

BRAMS selected to provide DSP tools to investigate brain plasticity in humans

Sonomax Technologies Inc. has been selected by Montr-al's International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research to provide miniaturized, real-time, in-ear, digital signal processing devices to investigate experience-dependent brain plasticity in humans.

15 Apr 2010

Research team to receive AACR Team Science Award

The fourth annual American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award will be given to Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Research Team at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010. This research team is comprised of interdisciplinary investigators from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

15 Apr 2010

UA Superfund Research Program to study contaminated dust, water and health issues

Metal-laden dust and contaminated water, and their health effects, will be the focus of multiple projects for the University of Arizona's Superfund Research Program during the next five years. The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences recently notified UA that the Superfund Research Program, funded since 1989, will receive an additional $14 million in grant funding through 2015 to conduct the research.

15 Apr 2010

NIH awards Corgenix Medical $600,000 grant to develop diagnostic tests for Ebola and Marburg virus

Corgenix Medical Corporation, a worldwide developer and marketer of diagnostic test kits, including innovative products for emerging pathogens and lethal viruses, today announced a major extension of the collaborative effort to combat important viral diseases.

15 Apr 2010

Beckman Coulter awarded new agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners for laboratory systems and supplies

Beckman Coulter, Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of products that simplify, automate, and innovate complex biomedical testing, announced that effective April 1, 2010, it has been awarded a new agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners, the group purchasing unit of Premier, Inc., to provide a full range of core laboratory systems and supplies. Premier is one of the nation's largest healthcare purchasing networks, with more than 2,300 member hospitals and 64,000 additional healthcare sites.

From Beckman Coulter Diagnostics 15 Apr 2010

Swine flu shots important before peak season, say experts

According to reports only 13% of the adult population in Singapore has a natural immunity to H1N1 influenza or influenza A. Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) clinical director Leo Yee Sin led this research and emphasized on the importance of vaccinations with the new three in one vaccines in case of a return of the disease.

15 Apr 2010

Excessive cleanliness can cause allergies

Allergies have become a widespread in developed countries: hay fever, eczema, hives and asthma are all increasingly prevalent. The reason? Excessive cleanliness is to blame according to Dr. Guy Delespesse, a professor at the Universit- de Montr-al Faculty of Medicine.

15 Apr 2010