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Optical imaging can visualize cultured cancer cells' response to particular drug

Many cancer therapies target specific proteins that proliferate on the outside of some cancer cells, but the therapies are imperfect and the cancer does not always respond. Since it is beneficial for doctors to know as soon as possible how a cancer is affected by treatment, researchers from Vanderbilt University are striving to design tests that assess treatment response rapidly, accurately, and cost-effectively.

21 Dec 2011

Researchers discover how spinning microparticles can direct neuron growth

Researchers at UC Irvine and The University of Texas at Arlington have discovered how spinning microparticles can direct the growth of nerve fiber, a discovery that could allow for directed growth of neuronal networks on a chip and improve methods for treating spinal or brain injuries.

21 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: If not the health law, then what?; Shifting Medicare costs isn't enough

When President Barack Obama's health care reform was making its way through Congress, Republicans and other opponents registered plenty of criticisms: It was too generous, too inflexible and too centralized. But such concerns were brushed aside in the push to get a bill passed. Today, it's harder to ignore those flaws. Implementation of the program has brought tougher challenges than the administration led Americans to expect. So it has been obliged to make some major concessions to reality.

21 Dec 2011

Researchers discover one of vitamin E's normal body functions

It's rubbed on the skin to reduce signs of aging and consumed by athletes to improve endurance but scientists now have the first evidence of one of vitamin E's normal body functions.

21 Dec 2011

Vacc-4x nasal vaccine can effectively treat HIV

Thirty years after AIDS was first described, there is still no effective vaccine against the HIV virus. Worldwide, roughly 33 million people are HIV-positive. Researchers are working to find out whether a HIV vaccine developed by a Norwegian biotech company can be administered nasally.

21 Dec 2011

Study assesses evidence of immunosuppression in sepsis

An analysis of lung and spleen tissue from patients who died of sepsis revealed certain biochemical, cellular and histological findings that were consistent with immunosuppression, according to a study in the December 21 issue of JAMA.

21 Dec 2011

Scientists create functional model of native extracellular matrix

Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have created a functional model of the native extracellular matrix that provides structural support to cells to aid growth and proliferation. The model could lead to advances in regenerative medicine.

21 Dec 2011

University of Oxford scientists develop new candidate malaria vaccine

A new candidate malaria vaccine with the potential to neutralise all strains of the most deadly species of malaria parasite has been developed by a team led by scientists at the University of Oxford.

21 Dec 2011

Takeda enters agreement to acquire Intellikine

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Intellikine, Inc. today announced that Takeda America Holdings, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda, and Intellikine, a privately-held company focused on the discovery and development of innovative, small molecule drugs, have entered into an agreement for Takeda America Holdings to acquire Intellikine by cash.

21 Dec 2011

BMDCs can contribute to olfactory neurons through plasticity mechanism

Bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMDCs) have been recognized as a source for transplantation because they can contribute to different cell populations in a variety of organs under both normal and pathological conditions.

20 Dec 2011

Immunosuppressant combination improves survival of human spinal stem cells in ALS rat model

A team of researchers grafting human spinal stem cells into rats modeled with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," a degenerative, lethal, neuromuscular disease, have tested four different immunosuppressive protocols aimed at determining which regimen improved long-term therapeutic effects.

20 Dec 2011

Cutting cardiac sympathetic nerve may help control heart rhythms

What do sweaty palms and abnormal heart rhythms have in common? Both can be initiated by the nervous system during adrenaline-driven "flight or fight" stress reaction when the body senses danger.

20 Dec 2011

Hebrew University student wins Kaye Innovation Award for anti-cancer therapy

A strategy for inhibiting a protein that is associated with the spread of cancer has won for a Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ph.D. student in chemistry one of this year's Kaye Innovation Awards at the university.

20 Dec 2011

IRSF announces new grants for research into Rett syndrome

The International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) announced today that it is awarding over $1.5M to support 18 new grants designed to study a variety of diverse topics from basic science and disease pathology to developing treatments and outcome measures for Rett syndrome.

20 Dec 2011

Math model reveals that spatial tissue structure delays tumor formation

Cancer growth normally follows a lengthy period of development. Over the course of time, genetic mutations often accumulate in cells, leading first to pre-cancerous conditions and ultimately to tumour growth. Using a mathematical model, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in G-ttingen, University of Pennsylvania and University of California San Francisco, have now shown that spatial tissue structure, such as that found in the colon, slows down the accumulation of genetic mutations, thereby delaying the onset of cancer.

20 Dec 2011

Blocking EETs may represent novel strategy for cancer therapy

Recent findings in mice suggest that blocking the production of small molecules produced in the body, known as epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), may represent a novel strategy for treating cancer by eliminating the blood vessels that feed cancer tumors.

20 Dec 2011

Smoking in women associated with skin cancer: Study

A new study has found a link between tobacco use and skin cancer especially in women. The study found that women who had squamous cell skin cancer were more likely to have smoked than those who were free from the disease. And those who smoked at least 20 years were twice as likely to develop squamous cell skin cancer - a less aggressive form of skin cancer as melanoma.

19 Dec 2011

FDA nod for pediatric Berlin heart

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Berlin Heart for pediatric patients waiting for heart transplants. The ventricular assist device is similar to the one worn by former Vice President Dick Cheney but scaled down in size for children and babies.

19 Dec 2011

Phase I clinical study of Selexys SelG1 for sickle cell disease completed

Selexys Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has completed a Phase I clinical study of its lead compound SelG1, an antibody specific for the pro-inflammatory cell adhesion molecule P-selectin.

19 Dec 2011

Newgen acquires novel oncology development programs from Kanion

NewGen Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the acquisition of three novel oncology development programs from Kanion USA, Inc. and Kanion Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd..

19 Dec 2011