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Geron collaborates to explore hESC-based product for Alzheimer’s disease

Geron Corporation today announced that it has entered into a collaboration jointly funded by Geron and a University of California Discovery Research and Training Grant to investigate the therapeutic potential of its human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based product, GRNOPC1, for Alzheimer’s disease. The company is currently developing GRNOPC1 for the potential treatment of spinal cord injury.

27 Jan 2010

Research reveals gene activation is linked to most aggressive type of brain cancer

Glioblastoma (GBM), the brain cancer better known for having killed Senator Ted Kennedy a few months ago, is the most aggressive and lethal of all brain tumours.

18 Jan 2010

M. D. Anderson researchers discover mechanism that helps glioblastomas evade immune attack

Cancer-initiating cells that launch glioblastoma multiforme, the most lethal type of brain tumor, also suppress an immune system attack on the disease, scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in a paper featured on the cover of the Jan. 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

18 Jan 2010

MedGenesis Therapeutix enters into license agreement with Amgen

MedGenesis Therapeutix Inc. ("MedGenesis"), a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing innovative treatments for patients with serious central nervous system (CNS) diseases, announced today that it has successfully entered into an agreement with Amgen Inc. ("Amgen"), granting MedGenesis an exclusive, worldwide license for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) protein in CNS and non-CNS indications, subject to the rights of a co-exclusive licensee for CNS indications in certain countries, as further described below.

12 Jan 2010

Nanoscaffolds could play a central role in tissue and organ reconstruction

Researchers from the University of Hong Kong and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have published a study in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (18:9), now freely available on line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct, that explores ways to successfully keep stem cells "forever young" during implantation by slowing their growth, differentiation and proliferation.

28 Dec 2009

RORalpha protein revealed as an essential regulator of inflammatory factors

How do the brain cells called astrocytes ensure the protection of neurons? By studying the protagonists in the protection and satisfactory functioning of neurons, scientists at the Laboratoire Neurobiologie des Processus Adaptatifs (CNRS/UPMC) have found a mechanism that clarifies the role of astrocytes.

15 Dec 2009

Moores UCSD Cancer Center awarded $20 million for cancer research

Researchers led by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Director Dennis A. Carson, MD, professor of medicine, and Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Cancer Stem Cell Research Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have been awarded $20 million over four years to develop novel drugs against leukemia stem cells.

28 Oct 2009

ALS patients' bone marrow cells capable of differentiating into nerve-supporting cells

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., a leading developer of adult stem cell technologies and therapeutics, announced today that bone marrow cells taken from ALS patients were capable of differentiating into nerve-supporting cells.

5 Oct 2009

Researching the causes of Alzheimer's disease

The standard explanation for what causes Alzheimer's is known as the amyloid hypothesis, which posits that the disease results from of an accumulation of the peptide amyloid beta, the toxic protein fragments that deposit in the brain and become the sticky plaques that have defined Alzheimer's for more than 100 years.

23 Sep 2009

Monoamine oxidases responsible for personality and behaviour

Antisocial and aggressive behaviours represent a widespread and expensive social problem. Recent research has convincingly shown that there is a strong interaction between genetic inheritance and environment for development of personality and behaviour.

14 Sep 2009

Astrocytes play a key role in the generation of fMRI signals

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique widely used in studying the human brain. However, it has long been unclear exactly how fMRI signals are generated at brain cell level. This information is crucially important to interpreting these imaging signals. Scientists from the Academy of Finland's Neuroscience Research Programme (NEURO) have discovered that astrocytes, support cells in brain tissue, play a key role in the generation of fMRI signals.

29 Aug 2009

Antibiotic functioning as an off switch being developed for gene therapy of Parkinson's disease

A common antibiotic can function as an "off switch" for a gene therapy being developed for Parkinson's disease, according to University of Florida researchers writing online in advance of September's Molecular Therapy.

29 Aug 2009

Scientists study the impact of nerve growth factors for treating Parkinson's disease

Scientists in the Academy of Finland's Neuroscience Research Programme have reported promising new results with potential implications for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. They have been studying the impacts of nerve growth factors in the treatment of PD, and their latest results show that a certain growth factor can be used to halt the progress of damage brought on by a nerve poison and possibly even restore the function of damaged cells.

28 Aug 2009

Researches report new results that may help in better treament for patients with Parkinson's disease

28 Aug 2009

Discovery of key factor that stimulates brain cancer cells to spread

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that the activity of a protein in brain cells helps stimulate the spread of an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). In a move toward therapy, the researchers showed that a small designer protein can block this activity and reduce the spreading of GBM cells grown in the laboratory.

19 Aug 2009

Discovery of new mechanism controlling neuronal migration

The molecular machinery that helps brain cells migrate to their correct place in the developing brain has been identified by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

15 Jul 2009

Brain's immune system may cause chronic seizures

Chronic seizures caused by traumatic head injuries may result from chemicals released by the brain's immune system attempting to repair the injured site, according to a study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.

6 Jul 2009

Inflammation of microglia may not be associated with dementia in Alzheimer's disease

The idea that anti-inflammatory drugs might protect people struggling with dementia from Alzheimer's disease has received a blow with the online release of a study of human brain tissue in Acta Neuropathologica.

15 Jun 2009

Cell's split personality is a major discovery into neurological diseases

Researchers at the Université de Montreal (UdeM) and the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University have discovered that cells which normally support nerve cell (neuron) survival also play an active and major role in the death of neurons in the eye.

7 May 2009