Biochemistry News and Research

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Rib-X Pharmaceuticals and MGH enter into collaborative research agreement

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs for the treatment of serious multi-drug-resistant infections announced today it has entered into a collaborative research agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

16 Dec 2009

QLT commences enrollment in QLT091001 Phase Ib trial of LCA pediatric patients

QLT Inc. today announced that it has initiated enrollment in a Phase Ib trial of QLT091001 in pediatric patients with Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), an inherited progressive retinal degenerative disease that leads to retinal dysfunction and visual impairment beginning at birth. QLT091001 is an orally administered synthetic retinoid replacement for 11-cis-retinal, which is a key biochemical component of the visual retinoid cycle.

15 Dec 2009

New technique may help diagnose treatments for Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer

Chemists and biologists from the University of Bath have developed a new technique that could be used to diagnose and develop treatments for age-related conditions like Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and cancer.

15 Dec 2009

Majority of women take natural menopause remedies for safe and effective solutions

When a woman starts going through menopause, her entire life can change without warning. Menopause symptoms can cause undesirable reactions in the body that runs the gamut from hot flashes and weight gain to mood swings, sleeplessness and irritability.

15 Dec 2009

Celebrex stops aspirin from doing its job effectively

Millions of Americans take Celebrex for arthritis or other pain. Many, if they are middle-aged or older, also take a low-dose aspirin tablet daily to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Yet they may be getting little protection, because Celebrex keeps the aspirin from doing its job effectively, a new study suggests.

15 Dec 2009

Case Western Reserve University grants option to startup Thermalin Diabetes

Case Western Reserve University has granted an 18-month, exclusive option to startup Thermalin Diabetes Inc. regarding a portfolio of insulin analogs. The company must reach certain milestones in order to exercise its option to obtain an exclusive license on therapies designed to help patients with diabetes.

14 Dec 2009

SOCS1 molecule prevents cancer-causing activity of cytokines, discover researchers

Canadian researchers have discovered a novel molecular mechanism that prevents cancer. In the December 11 edition of the prestigious journal Molecular Cell, scientists from the Universit- de Montr-al and the Universit- de Sherbrooke explain how they found that the SOCS1 molecule prevents the cancer-causing activity of cytokines, hormones that are culprits in cancer-prone chronic inflammation diseases such as Crohns, in smokers and people exposed to asbestos.

12 Dec 2009

Winner of the 2010 Avanti Young Investigator Award in Lipid Research

Sarah L. Keller, a professor of chemistry and adjunct professor of physics at the University of Washington, has been named the winner of the 2010 Avanti Young Investigator Award in Lipid Research for her innovative and cutting-edge studies on membrane lipids.

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

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

Senior research scientist to receive 2009 Astellas USA Foundation Award

Fredrick Khachik, Ph.D., a senior research scientist in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park, has been chosen to receive a 2009 Astellas USA Foundation Award.

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

Winner of the 2010 Avanti Award in Lipids

The 2010 Avanti Award in Lipids, which recognizes outstanding research contributions in the area of lipid research, has been awarded to David W. Russell, the Eugene McDermott distinguished chair of molecular genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

11 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

Personality tests can predict success rate of medical students, says new study

With medical schools flooded with applications, three industrial-organizational psychologists have conducted a study to determine if giving personality tests to prospective students would enable admissions officers to better predict which applicants will be successful.

10 Dec 2009

TMZ and small molecule combination appears to lower tumor resistance

University of Florida researchers have found a way to use just a fraction of the normal dosage of a highly toxic, debilitating chemotherapy drug to achieve even better results against colon cancer cells.

9 Dec 2009

Bird influenza viruses have a variety of strategies to cross the species barrier

The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus used a new strategy to cross from birds into humans, a warning that it has more than one trick up its sleeve to jump the species barrier and become virulent.

9 Dec 2009

Neuroscientists suggest risky therapy for aging brain may be avoidable by focusing on hormone target

Estrogen seems to act like a middleman in its positive effect on the brain, raising the possibility that future drugs may bypass the carcinogenic hormone altogether while reaping its benefits.

8 Dec 2009

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Yale University expand agreement to explore new ribosome technology

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs for the treatment of serious multi-drug-resistant infections, announced today it has entered into a further license agreement with Yale University in the area of ribosome and antibiotic structure and function.

8 Dec 2009