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New research lays groundwork for developing treatments for asthma, COPD

In diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the body produces too much mucus, making breathing difficult. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides clues to potentially counteract inappropriate mucus production.

18 Mar 2015

New research identifies promising drug therapy target for breast cancer

The genome of a cell is under constant attack, suffering DNA damage that requires an army of repair mechanisms to keep the cell healthy and alive. Understanding the behavior of the enzymes defending these assaults helps determine how - and where - cancer gets its foothold and flourishes.

18 Mar 2015

Researchers reveal how omega-3 fatty acids inhibit growth of prostate cancer cells

Washington State University researchers have found a mechanism by which omega-3 fatty acids inhibit the growth and spread of prostate cancer cells. The findings, which are at odds with a 2013 study asserting that omega-3s increase the risk of prostate cancer, point the way to more effective anti-cancer drugs.

18 Mar 2015

Researchers identify promising new approach to treat pulmonary fibrosis

By uncovering the mechanism by which fibrous tissue cells in the lung multiply, researchers at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, along with colleagues in Mexico and Canada, have identified a promising new approach for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.

18 Mar 2015

Gentronix signs three-year technology access deal with SIMM

UK based Gentronix Limited, the specialist genetic toxicology company, today announced it has signed a three year technology access deal with one of China's most prestigious research intensive institutes, Shanghai Institute Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

18 Mar 2015

TSRI scientists successfully test potential preventative therapy for type 1 diabetes in animal models

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have successfully tested a potent synthetic compound that prevents type 1 diabetes in animal models of the disease.

18 Mar 2015

Laura De Laporte receives ERC grant to develop minimally invasive therapy for spinal cord injury

The research objective of Dr.-Ing. Laura De Laporte, junior group leader at DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen, is to develop a minimally invasive therapy for spinal cord injury. Her goal and her scientific approach to develop an injectable material with the ability to provide biochemical and physical guidance for regenerating nerves across the injury site, was selected by the European Research Council.

18 Mar 2015

Scientists examine how substances at low concentrations may impact human health

A public and scientific discussion is currently taking place focusing on the question whether substances at low concentrations may lead to health impairments in humans. For this reason, an increasing number of experimental studies to test such effects are currently conducted using different chemicals.

18 Mar 2015

DNA sequence determines flexibility, stability of DNA package inside microscopic cell

To pack two meters of DNA into a microscopic cell, the string of genetic information must be wound extremely carefully into chromosomes. Surprisingly the DNA's sequence causes it to be coiled and uncoiled much like a yoyo, scientists reported in Cell.

18 Mar 2015

Scientists identify how mRNA deciphers critical information within genetic code

Case Western Reserve scientists have discovered that speed matters when it comes to how messenger RNA (mRNA) deciphers critical information within the genetic code — the complex chain of instructions critical to sustaining life. The investigators' findings, which appear in the March 12 journal Cell, give scientists critical new information in determining how best to engage cells to treat illness — and, ultimately, keep them from emerging in the first place.

18 Mar 2015

Physicians, researchers to discuss advances in cancer immunotherapies at UChicago symposium

The Ben May Department for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago will hold a day-long symposium on cancer immunotherapy for physicians and researchers.

18 Mar 2015

New drug fails to prevent irreversible injury to the heart after angioplasty

Patients who received the new drug Bendavia before undergoing angioplasty or receiving a stent to clear blocked arteries after a heart attack showed no significant reduction in scarring as compared to patients given a placebo, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session.

18 Mar 2015

Study offers new neurological explanation for variability in roundworm's brain activity

Even worms have free will. If offered a delicious smell, for example, a roundworm will usually stop its wandering to investigate the source, but sometimes it won't. Just as with humans, the same stimulus does not always provoke the same response, even from the same individual. New research at Rockefeller University, published online today (March 12) in Cell, offers a new neurological explanation for this variability, derived by studying a simple three-cell network within the roundworm brain.

18 Mar 2015

Researchers develop new AFM system for imaging structural dynamics of living cells, neurons

While progress has been made over the past decades in the pursuit to optimize atomic force microscopy (AFM) for imaging living cells, there were still a number of limitations and technological issues that needed to be addressed before fundamental questions in cell biology could be address in living cells.

18 Mar 2015

Janssen Pharmaceutical to invest $10 million in global Dementia Discovery Fund

Johnson & Johnson today announced that its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies will invest $10 million in a new UK government-led global dementia discovery fund that will support innovative research to help find new ways to prevent and treat dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

17 Mar 2015

Active ingredient dextromethorphan may help people with Type 2 diabetes

The active ingredient dextromethorphan, which is contained in many over-the-counter cough remedies, has been shown to improve blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes (diabetes mellitus). That was the finding of a recent international study, in which the Center for Physiology and Pharmacology of MedUni Vienna played a significant part and which has now been published in the leading medical journal "Nature Medicine".

17 Mar 2015

Researchers find that exercise may slow tumor growth, improve chemotherapy

One way many cancers grow resistant to treatment is by generating a web of blood vessels that are so jumbled they fail to provide adequate oxygen to the tumor. With oxygen starvation, the tumor gains a sort of cloaking device that protects it from the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs and radiation, which are designed to seek out well-oxygenated tissue.

17 Mar 2015

Researchers team up to study stomach flu

Rice University bioengineers are teaming with colleagues from Baylor College of Medicine and MD Anderson Cancer Center to apply the latest techniques in tissue engineering toward the study of one of the most common and deadly human illnesses -- the stomach flu.

17 Mar 2015

CUMC researchers identify mechanism of kidney transplant tolerance

Columbia University Medical Center researchers have pinpointed the immune system mechanism that allows a kidney transplant to be accepted without lifelong immunosuppressive drugs, a significant step toward reducing or eliminating the need for costly and potentially toxic immunosuppressant drugs and improving long-term transplant success.

17 Mar 2015

Penn researchers find evidence of new culprit in colon cancer

Colon cancer is a heavily studied disease -- and for good reason. It is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and its numbers are on the rise, from 500,00 deaths in 1990 to 700,000 in 2010.

17 Mar 2015