Laboratory News and Research

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Trojan horse approach designed to defeats drug-resistant bacteria

A new antimicrobial approach can kill bacteria in laboratory experiments and eliminate life-threatening infections in mice by interfering with a key bacterial nutrient, according to research led by a University of Washington scientist.

19 Mar 2007

Inflammation plays key role in the metastasis of prostate cancer

Many would assume that "mounting an immune response" or "having your body fight the cancer" is a good thing.

19 Mar 2007

Promising new pain-killing drug

A potential new pain-killing drug developed by medical scientists at the University of Leicester and Ferrara in Italy is to be discussed at a public lecture on 20th March.

19 Mar 2007

FDA clears Xpert EV test for meningitis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared for marketing a test that uses molecular biology to quickly detect the presence of viral meningitis.

19 Mar 2007

Blood pressure drug shows potential as lung cancer treatment

A hormone that is important in the control of blood pressure also shrinks lung cancer tumors in mice, suggesting a new way to prevent or treat the deadly cancer, according to scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

19 Mar 2007

15,595 meningitis cases this season in Africa

Two months into the dry season in the African "Meningitis Belt", 15,595 cases including 1,670 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from four countries: Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Uganda.

19 Mar 2007

Scientists decipher a signaling pathway crucially involved in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis, severely impair the lives of more than four million people worldwide. The development of effective therapies against these diseases requires an understanding of their underlying molecular mechanisms.

15 Mar 2007

Researchers use poliovirus to destroy neuroblastoma tumors in mice

The cause of one notorious childhood disease, poliovirus, could be used to treat the ongoing threat of another childhood disease, neuroblastoma.

15 Mar 2007

Discovery of new cell involved with cancer

Scientists have discovered a new type of cell that appears to play a role in the development of cancer – a highly volatile, precancerous stem cell that can either remain benign or become malignant, depending upon environmental cues.

14 Mar 2007

Chemical cues turn embryonic stem cells into cerebellar neurons

Embryonic stem cells have shown a great deal of promise for alleviating heart disease and regenerating organs. But for some of the conditions for which people hold out the most hope - Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, for example - there's been little evidence to date that stem cells can work.

14 Mar 2007

Disorderly protein brings order to cell division

The secret to the ability of a molecule critical for cell division to throw off the protein yoke that restrains its activity is the yoke itself - a disorderly molecule that seems to have a mind of its own, say investigators at St. Jude

13 Mar 2007

Antifungal drug kills tuberculosis bug

Scientists hoping to find new treatments for one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases say drugs used to treat common fungal infections may provide the answer.

From The University of Manchester 12 Mar 2007

European patent on stem cells may be a possibility

As long as the research meets the usual requirements for a patent, isolated embryonic stem cells should be considered for both method and product patents.

11 Mar 2007

Scientists test 'secret weapon' against tumours

Cancer Research UK scientists in Glasgow have devised a new method of attacking cancer cells. They report the findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

11 Mar 2007

Researchers discover a new mechanism that regulates stem cell division

Errors in stem cell division can give rise to tumours. By studying stem cells in the fruit fly, scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have identified one of the mechanisms that govern how these cells divide.

7 Mar 2007

New technology to help hospitals prepare for disasters

Johns Hopkins emergency medicine specialists have developed a tool to help hospitals prepare for disasters with the potential to overwhelm services.

6 Mar 2007

Mayo Clinic tests engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new Phase I clinical trial testing an engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that currently has no cure. This is the third of a series of molecular medicine studies in patients testing the potential of measles to kill cancer.

5 Mar 2007

The model for end-stage liver disease

A review of the studies on the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) found that it is an accurate predictor of survival of patients with a variety of liver diseases, is particularly useful in allocating organs for liver transplants, and can also be used to help determine the course of treatment in certain cases. However, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the model and efforts at refining will continue.

5 Mar 2007

Shyness, genetics and parents

New research from the Child Development Laboratory at the University of Maryland shows that shyness in kids could relate to the manner in which a stress-related gene in children interacts with being raised by stressed-out parents.

5 Mar 2007