Laboratory News and Research

RSS

New method of delivering a dose of radioactive iodine

A new method of delivering a dose of radioactive iodine - using a man-made version of scorpion venom as a carrier - targets deadly brain tumors called gliomas without affecting neighboring tissue or body organs.

7 Aug 2006

Experimental drug trial victim has cancer

One of the men who suffered severe reactions to an experimental drug during a drug trial in London, UK, says he now has cancer.

6 Aug 2006

Researchers discover a cellular signal that aggravates the symptoms of multiple sclerosis

Depression, coordination and speech problems, muscle weakness and disability are just a few of the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

6 Aug 2006

For the first time, scientists watch neurons change in response to experience

Thanks to a new imaging system, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have gotten an unprecedented look into how genes shape the brain in response to the environment.

6 Aug 2006

New research may solve problem of vessels re-closing after angioplasty

Through studying pigeons with genetic heart disease, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have discovered a clue about why some patients' heart vessels are prone to close back up after angioplasty.

6 Aug 2006

Txr1 gene that affects human cancer cells' sensitivity to chemotherapy

Gene that affects human cancer cells' sensitivity to chemotherapy - an important finding in the effort to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

6 Aug 2006

Interleukin 21 may enhance the effectiveness of Herceptin

Preliminary research suggests that a drug that targets a particular type of breast cancer might be more effective if patients are also given a substance made by the body that stimulates certain immune cells.

6 Aug 2006

Researchers discover one of the malaria parasite's sneakiest tricks

Researchers have discovered one of the malaria parasite's sneakiest tricks--using dead liver cells to cloak and transport itself back into the bloodstream after leaving the liver.

4 Aug 2006

Turning the immune system against cancer

Medicine can now prevent a host of diseases with a mere shot of vaccine. Polio and smallpox are almost non-existent, and mumps and chicken pox are rarely seen nowadays.

4 Aug 2006

High blood pressure induces low fat metabolism in heart muscle

Hearts of non-diabetics with muscle thickening due to high blood pressure have an energy metabolism skewed in the opposite direction -- away from the use of fat for energy.

4 Aug 2006

Genomic expansion and diversification in a African sleeping sickness parasite allow it to evade host detection

A team of scientists headed by Dr. Sara Melville at the University of Cambridge has shown that the parasite known to cause African sleeping sickness has evolved an unusual chromosomal structure as a result of environmental adaptation.

3 Aug 2006

BRIT1 gene plays a pivotal role in DNA damage detection and repair

A single gene plays a pivotal role launching two DNA damage detection and repair pathways in the human genome, suggesting that it functions as a previously unidentified tumor suppressor gene.

3 Aug 2006

Better understanding of intravenous immunoglobulin

For years, researchers have struggled to understand how IVIG worked. It's ability to treat autoimmune diseases seemed to bean apparent contradiction.

3 Aug 2006

Specialized skin cells use GPS like mapping system to identify where they belong in the body

Until now it's been a mystery as to how adult skin, which consists of basically the same components all over the body, knows to grow hair in some areas like the scalp, while manufacturing sweat glands, calluses and fingerprint whorls in others

2 Aug 2006

Protein CD86 raises antibody output

Cancer immunologists here have discovered how a protein on the surface of antibody-making immune cells boosts the amount of antibody the cells make.

2 Aug 2006

Global sharing of avian influenza virus samples

OFFLU, the OIE/FAO joint network of expertise on avian influenza, will systematically make avian influenza virus sequences accessible to the entire scientific community.

2 Aug 2006

fMRI shows "gambling" structures in the brain

From gamblers playing blackjack to investors picking stocks, humans make a wide range of decisions that require gauging risk versus reward.

2 Aug 2006

Oral cancers - smoke and drink and up goes the risk!

Scientists in the UK have discovered that mouth cancer develops in two distinct ways which decides just how the serious the disease will be.

2 Aug 2006

Innovative approach for creating a cytomegalovirus vaccine

Each year, about 40,000 children are born infected with human cytomegalovirus, or CMV, and about 8,000 of these children suffer permanent disabilities due to the virus - almost one an hour.

2 Aug 2006