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CWRU researcher to customize tobacco mosaic virus to treat human cancers

A Case Western Reserve University researcher has been awarded more than $3 million in federal and foundation grants to turn common plant viruses into cancer sleuths and search-and-destroy emissaries.

10 Mar 2016

MGH researchers identify how Shigella injects proteins into target host cells

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Infectious Diseases are investigating the mechanism by which several important pathogenic species of bacteria deliver proteins into the cells of the organisms they are infecting.

10 Mar 2016

Complex biomarker tests for molecularly targeted therapies lack evidentiary standards

Potentially useful biomarker tests for molecularly targeted therapies are not being adopted appropriately into clinical practice because of a lack of common evidentiary standards necessary for regulatory, reimbursement, and treatment decisions.

7 Mar 2016

El Niño may transport waterborne diseases across new shores

New research just published has highlighted how El Niño could be transporting and spreading waterborne diseases like cholera thousands of miles, across oceans, with significant impacts for public health.

2 Mar 2016

Preventing the spread of Zika: an interview with Professor John Oxford

The link between the Zika virus and Guillain-Barré on the one hand, and pregnancy and the virus affecting the fetus in terms of microcephaly on the other, is still not confirmed conclusively.

1 Mar 2016

"Neoehrlichiosis" Internationally Diagnosed And Successfully Treated In Patients Without Immunodeficiency For The First Time

The intercellular bacteria "Candidatus Neoehrlichia", as e.g. Borrelia, can be transferred by ticks. Approx. 4.2 % of indigenous ticks are infected with this rarely explored bacterium which, until today, has been exclusively identified as pathogenic bacterium in patients with an impairment of the immune system, such as in case of leukaemia, rheumatism or after organ transplantation.

1 Mar 2016

TTR protein causes autoimmune reaction in joints of juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or JIA, is the most common form of childhood arthritis. It appears to be an autoimmune disease, caused by antibodies attacking certain proteins in a person's own tissue. But no "autoantigens" -- the proteins triggering an immune attack -- have been linked to JIA.

27 Feb 2016

Luminex collaborates with University of São Paulo to validate multi-analyte Zika virus assay

Luminex Corporation today announced it is collaborating with the Laboratory of Molecular Evolution & Bioinformatics, Biomedical Sciences Institute, University of São Paulo, Brazil to validate a multi-analyte Zika virus assay developed by Luminex partner, GenArraytion, Inc.

26 Feb 2016

Genome sequencing shows association between STIs and Trachoma

For the first time, genome sequencing has been carried out on Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis), a bacteria responsible for the disease Trachoma - the world's leading infectious cause of blindness, according to a study in Nature Communications.

26 Feb 2016

New research shows copper can destroy MRSA in touch contamination

New research from the University of Southampton shows that copper can destroy MRSA spread by touching and fingertip contamination of surfaces.

24 Feb 2016

Food-based proteins can help address child malnutrition in developing countries

Contrary to popular belief among world relief workers, children in developing countries may not be eating enough protein, which could contribute to stunted growth, a Johns Hopkins-directed study suggests.

24 Feb 2016

Texas Children's Hospital, Houston Methodist Hospital jointly release country's first rapid test for Zika virus

Collaboration between two Texas Medical Center institutions has resulted in today's release of the country's first hospital-based rapid tests for the Zika virus.

23 Feb 2016

Study identifies new mechanism for controlling HIV replication

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that HIV infection of human immune cells triggers a massive increase in methylation, a chemical modification, to both human and viral RNA, aiding replication of the virus.

23 Feb 2016

Researchers explore how E. coli survives in the presence of effective predatory bacteria

The majority of disease-causing bacteria in the body are rendered harmless by the protective effects of the immune system. Those that manage to escape the immune system can be killed by antibiotics, but bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to more and more antibiotics.

22 Feb 2016

Calgary researchers develop new class of nanomedicines to treat autoimmune diseases

A new study from the University of Calgary could change the way researchers understand and treat autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

22 Feb 2016

Kellogg investigators develop new nanotechnology that has potential to kill tumor cells in the eye

Researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center have developed a new nanoparticle that uses a tumor cell's protective mechanism against itself -- short-circuiting tumor cell metabolism and killing tumor cells.

19 Feb 2016

New method could help scientists better predict disease-causing mutations in people's genes

Two researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have developed a method that could help clinicians and scientists better predict which mutations in people's genes could cause a disease and which would remain dormant.

18 Feb 2016

New treatment protects mice from MERS infection

In a new study, University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers have had promising results with a new treatment for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The study, published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, found a new treatment that protected mice from MERS infection.

18 Feb 2016

New UNC School of Medicine study shows how some bacteria can spread throughout the body

Bacteria have evolved thousands of clever tactics for invading our bodies while evading our natural defenses. Now, UNC School of Medicine scientists studying one of the world's most virulent pathogens and a separate very common bacterium have discovered a new way that some bacteria can spread rapidly throughout the body - by hitchhiking on our own immune cells.

16 Feb 2016

Anti-biofilm compounds show promise against drug-resistant bacteria associated with hospital-acquired infections

Researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute and School of Public Health have discovered a new class of anti-biofilm compounds derived from marine microorganisms that show promise against a drug-resistant bacterium commonly associated with hospital-acquired infections.