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Ajinomoto announces new fermentation initiative to produce amino acids

Ajinomoto announced today a new initiative to develop propriety fermentation technology for producing cystine and cysteine, amino acids important in a wide array of applications, including pharmaceuticals, flavorings, and cosmetics.

11 Dec 2009

NIH awards $14.6M for Eukaryotic Pathogen Genome Database Resource expansion

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Georgia have been awarded a five-year, $14.6 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the US National Institutes of Health, to expand and extend work on the Eukaryotic Pathogen Genome Database Resource, http://EuPathDB.org.

11 Dec 2009

Phosphatases can prevent inflammation and formation of blood clots

Polyphosphate from blood platelets plays a key role in inflammation and the formation of blood clots, scientists from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown. The study, which is presented in the prestigious scientific journal Cell, describes how this mechanism can be used in treatment.

11 Dec 2009

Prize4life partners with Jackson Laboratory on AML research

Prize4Life, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), is partnering with The Jackson Laboratory to help more researchers identify treatment candidates that increase the lifespan of mice that model ALS.

11 Dec 2009

Researchers identify new biological pathway of H1N1 transmission to human population

A new biological pathway by which the H1N1 flu virus can make the jump from swine to humans has been discovered by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley. Early test results indicate that a heretofore unknown mutation in one of the H1N1 genes may have played an important role in transmitting the virus into humans.

11 Dec 2009

Winners of the 2010 ASBMB-Merck Award

James A. Wells, professor and chairman of the department pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, and director of UCSF's small molecule discovery center, has been named the winner of the 2010 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-Merck Award for his pioneering studies in the field of protein engineering.

11 Dec 2009

Researchers find weakness in H1N1's method for evading detection by immune system

Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have found what they believe is a weakness in H1N1's method for evading detection by the immune system.

11 Dec 2009

Cardiac myosin-binding protein C identified as potential new diagnostic biomarker for heart attacks

Though they remain a leading killer, heart attacks can be effectively treated provided they can be rapidly diagnosed following initial onset of symptoms. In a study appearing in this month's Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, researchers have identified cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyBP-C) as a potential new diagnostic biomarker for heart attacks, one that may be particularly valuable for mild attacks in which traditional diagnostic proteins may not be abundant enough.

11 Dec 2009

Tasigna demonstrates greater efficacy over Gleevec in chronic Ph+ CML patients

In a large Phase III clinical trial, Tasigna (nilotinib capsules) demonstrated greater efficacy over Gleevec (imatinib) in the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML) in chronic phase. The new clinical data were just presented as a late breaking abstract at the 51st annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), in New Orleans, Louisiana.

11 Dec 2009

Scientists develop new model of skin cancer based on Src kinases

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have developed a new model of skin cancer based on the knowledge that a common cancer-related molecule called Src kinase is activated in human skin-cancer samples.

11 Dec 2009

Soyfood consumption linked to decreased risk of breast cancer, finds study

A major new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) finds that women with breast cancer would be well-served by including soyfoods in their daily diet. Soyfood consumption was significantly linked to a decreased risk of death and cancer recurrence among the breast cancer patients in this study.

11 Dec 2009

Mouse study shows delaying the ageing process may offer protection against Alzheimer’s disease

Aging is the single greatest risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. In their latest study, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that simply slowing the aging process in mice prone to develop Alzheimer's disease prevented their brains from turning into a neuronal wasteland.

10 Dec 2009

Cequent Pharmaceuticals' IND application for CEQ508 approved for clinical trial

Cequent Pharmaceuticals, a pioneer in the development of novel products to deliver RNAi-based treatments to prevent and treat human disease, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) approved Cequent's first IND (investigational new drug) application yesterday.

10 Dec 2009

FDA approves Azaya Therapeutics' Taxotere for Phase I clinical study

Azaya Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its lead product “ATI-1123,” a novel and improved formulation of Taxotere® (docetaxel), a leading chemotherapy drug with worldwide annual sales of over $2.8 billion.

10 Dec 2009

Vitamin K2 in Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica

Cyanotech Corporation, a world leader in microalgae-based, high-value nutrition and health products, today announced its Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica® has achieved another nutritional first. Already the most nutritious Spirulina in the world, it is also a good source of Vitamin K2.

10 Dec 2009

Cell transplants may yield new therapies for dementia patients

Nerve cells transplanted into brain-damaged rats helped them to fully recover their ability to learn and remember, probably by promoting nurturing, protective growth factors, according to a new study.

10 Dec 2009

Immune-based treatment promising for AD

The results of a new study on immune-based treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which was conducted at 30 sites around the country, will be published in the December 15 issue of Neurology®. Lead author, Stephen P. Salloway, MD, MS, director of the Butler Hospital Memory and Aging Program and a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, says that this 18-month phase two study on slowing the disease process in Alzheimer's patients offers promising results.

10 Dec 2009

Dermal stem cells may be useful for treating diabetic ulcers and neurological disorders

Scientists have discovered a new type of stem cell in the skin that acts surprisingly like certain stem cells found in embryos: both can generate fat, bone, cartilage, and even nerve cells.

10 Dec 2009

Robarts researcher identifies protein which regulates cell suicide

When cells experience DNA damage, they'll try to repair it. But if that fails, the damaged cells are supposed to self-destruct, a process called apoptosis. A cancer researcher at Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario has identified a protein that regulates apoptosis, a new discovery which has implications for both the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Caroline Schild-Poulter's findings are now published online in the journal Molecular Cancer Research.

10 Dec 2009

New protein discovery may serve as potential marker of drug addiction

Scientists are adding additional brush strokes to the revolutionary new image now emerging for star-shaped cells called astrocytes in the brain and spinal cord. Their report, which suggests a key role for astrocytes in morphine's ability to relieve pain and cause addiction, appears online in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, a monthly publication.

10 Dec 2009