B Cell News and Research

RSS

New gene implicated in Parkinson can delay onset of aging, extend life span

UCLA life scientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, they say, could have important implications for aging and disease in humans.

7 May 2013

Anavex invited to submit funding application for Phase 2a trial of ANAVEX 2-73

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. ("Anavex") (OTCQB: AVXL) today announced that it has been invited to submit a full grant application to the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation ("ADDF") for a Phase 2a trial of ANAVEX 2-73.

7 May 2013

Scientists halt tumour development through genetic manipulation of cytoskeleton in fly tissues

Cancer is a complex disease, in which cells undergo a series of alterations, including changes in their architecture; an increase in their ability to divide, to survive and to invade new tissues or metastasis.

7 May 2013

Kinase inhibitors: an interview with Jan Hoflack, CSO of Oncodesign

Kinase inhibitors are molecules that block the activity of kinases. Kinases are a specific class of enzymes. They are extremely important in signal transduction processes in the human body meaning that they actually regulate most of the physiological processes that take place in the body.

7 May 2013

Study offers new hope to patients suffering from laminopathies

Laminopathies are hereditary diseases that affect mainly the muscle tissue. These diseases include for example Emery-Dreifuss Muscular dystrophy, dilated cardiomyopathy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome.

7 May 2013

Scientists uncover unknown virulence factor in respiratory pathogen

To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells.

7 May 2013

Study; Media reports about supposedly hazardous substances may trigger nocebo effect in some people

Media reports about substances that are supposedly hazardous to health may cause suggestible people to develop symptoms of a disease even though there is no objective reason for doing so.

7 May 2013

Aeras receives grant to support the development of vaccines against TB, HIV and malaria

Aeras, a nonprofit biotech advancing TB vaccines for the world, the University of Oxford and Okairos, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in T-cell vaccines, today announced a $2.9 million grant to Aeras in support of a collaboration among the three parties to support the development of vaccines against tuberculosis, HIV and malaria.

7 May 2013

Neuroperspective reviews status and prospects of therapeutics for Parkinson's disease

NI Research, the leading publisher of independent research on the neurotherapeutics industry, has released the May issue of NeuroPerspective, which reviews the status and prospects of therapeutics for Parkinson's.

7 May 2013

Mutant protein contributes to Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome

A mutant protein responsible for Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome (HGPS) bars large proteins from entering the nucleus, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology.

7 May 2013

Prior administration of erythropoietin reduces need for blood transfusions

Anemia increases operative mortality and morbidity in non-cardiac and cardiac surgical procedures. Anemic surgical patients may require more blood transfusions, raising the risk of transfusion-related complications and increasing costs.

7 May 2013

Mutations in phosphatase Wip1 could be a new target for treating cancer

Researchers have uncovered mutations in the phosphatase Wip1 that enable cancer cells to foil the tumor suppressor p53, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The results could provide a new target for the treatment of certain cancers.

6 May 2013

Scientists create animal models by altering specific genes associated with a given disease

Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch, who helped transform the study of genetics by creating the first transgenic mouse in 1974, is again revolutionizing how genetically altered animal models are created and perhaps even redefining what species may serve as models.

6 May 2013

New technology can help save millions of infant lives

Thanks to new federal funding, low-cost, easily accessible technology invented by a Simon Fraser University engineering professor and his graduate students is closer to helping to save millions of infant lives.

6 May 2013

Rare mutation confers high risk of osteoporosis and certain cancers

deCODE genetics (an Amgen subsidiary) and Illumina, global leaders in analyzing and understanding the human genome, together with scientists from the National Hospital of Iceland and the University of Iceland reported today in the journal Nature the identification of a rare nonsense mutation that confers high risk of osteoporosis and osteoporosis related traits.

6 May 2013

Single antibody could be key to treating multiple myeloma

A single antibody could be the key to treating multiple myeloma, or cancer of the blood, currently without cure or long-term treatment.

6 May 2013

High levels of collagen in breasts are associated with breast cancer metastasis

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered why breast cancer patients with dense breasts are more likely than others to develop aggressive tumors that spread.

6 May 2013

Study: Combination of chemotherapy and nerve-protecting agents can prevent anemia

Cancer chemotherapy can cause peripheral neuropathy-nerve damage often resulting in pain and muscle weakness in the arms and legs. Now, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered that chemo also induces an insidious type of nerve damage inside bone marrow that can cause delays in recovery after bone marrow transplantation.

6 May 2013

Researchers explore biological processes of stem cell division

The human body contains trillions of cells, all derived from a single cell, or zygote, made by the fusion of an egg and a sperm. That single cell contains all the genetic information needed to develop into a human, and passes identical copies of that information to each new cell as it divides into the many diverse types of cells that make up a complex organism like a human being.

6 May 2013

Metallurgists use microwave oven to produce nanocrystal semiconductors

University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient photovoltaic solar cells and LED lights, biological sensors and systems to convert waste heat to electricity.

6 May 2013