Cell Development News and Research

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Stem cells could provide sperm for infertile males

Researchers have been successful in creating sperm-producing germ cells from stem cells in a lab and transferred them into infertile mice, which after the treatment were able to produce healthy offspring. This new development could help thousands of infertile men become fathers if the method proves similarly effective in humans.

5 Aug 2011

Studies reveal new set of mutations linked with head and neck cancer

Powerful new technologies that zoom in on the connections between human genes and diseases have illuminated the landscape of cancer, singling out changes in tumor DNA that drive the development of certain types of malignancies such as melanoma or ovarian cancer.

29 Jul 2011

Brigham and Women's Hospital receives NIH Program of Excellence in Glycosciences award

The laboratory of Robert Sackstein, MD, PhD, of the Dermatology Department at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), has been granted a prestigious Program of Excellence Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to support investigations in glycobiology: the discipline which studies how sugars direct biologic processes.

8 Jul 2011

U-M researchers a step closer to developing treatments for aging and chronic diseases

As our bodies first form, developing cells are a lot like children put on the school bus with their names and addresses pinned to their shirts. The notes identify one as a future heart cell, another as a liver cell, a third as a neuron. And that's what they each grow up to be. But once those cells reach adulthood, changes to those original marching orders caused by aging, disease and other stressors like smoking can precipitate a kind of identity crisis, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have found.

2 Jul 2011

Investigators to examine how Ephb2 gene causes ependymoma in children

Armed with new grant support, investigators at Nationwide Children's Hospital plan to examine how a common gene of the nervous system leads to the development of a devastating brain tumor, ependymoma.

2 Jun 2011

CAMH scientist identifies gene responsible for Joubert syndrome

A new study involving Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has found a gene connected with a type of intellectual disability called Joubert syndrome.

13 May 2011

Study offers means of activating T cells to fight disease without antigenic triggers

For much of the time our T cells-the white blood cells that act as the police of the immune system-are in what immunologists call a "quiescent state," a sort of standby mode. For years, scientists have wondered if quiescence occurred by default or whether T cells need to work at remaining silent.

6 May 2011

New discoveries in stem-cell technology

A scientist at the Gladstone Institutes has made two significant stem-cell discoveries that advance medicine and human health by creating powerful new approaches for using stem cells and stem-cell-like technology.

26 Apr 2011

Worm protein controls key aspects of secretion of growth factors out of cells

Research in the worm is shedding light on a protein associated with a number of different human cancers, and may point to a highly targeted way to treat them.

22 Apr 2011

Key regulator of fat cell development may provide a target for obesity and diabetes drugs

New research by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and collaborating institutions has identified a key regulator of fat cell development that may provide a target for obesity and diabetes drugs.

8 Apr 2011

USPTO issues notice of allowance to Mirna's mir34a patent application

Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed patent claims related to the therapeutic application of the potent tumor suppressor microRNA, mir34a.

7 Apr 2011

Lilly presents results of JAK2, Hedgehog inhibitor preclinical cancer studies at 102nd AACR

Eli Lilly and Company announced results today from two preclinical studies of molecules that target genetic mutations and disable specific signaling pathways that can lead to cancer. The studies evaluated two unique molecules – a JAK2 inhibitor and a Hedgehog inhibitor – with results presented during the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 102nd Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla.

5 Apr 2011

Scientists identify biomarker for lung cancer chemoprevention

Scientists have identified a biomarker for measuring the success of lung cancer chemoprevention, an emerging frontier in the fight against this disease that has long been stymied by a lack of measureable outcomes. These study results were presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held April 2-6.

4 Apr 2011

Glenmark initiates IND enabling studies of GBR 401 anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody in B cell lymphomas

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals announces the discovery and initiation of IND enabling studies of a Novel Biological Entity (NBE) lead candidate, GBR 401, an anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody. GBR 401 is developed completely in-house by Glenmark's Biologics Research Centre located in Switzerland.

1 Apr 2011

NCI awards Case Western Reserve with $1.6 million grant for cancer research

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has received a $1.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study how tumor cells avoid detection by the body's immune system, allowing cancer to develop and spread.

1 Apr 2011

Research: CREBBP mutation may help cancer resist steroid treatment, fuel ALL's return

Despite dramatically improved survival rates for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, relapse remains a leading cause of death from the disease. Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators identified mutations in a gene named CREBBP that may help the cancer resist steroid treatment and fuel ALL's return.

10 Mar 2011

DNA methylation patterns can accurately detect early bowel cancer

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered for the first time that DNA methylation patterns - a key process in cell development - could accurately detect early bowel cancer, according to research published in Gut, today.

3 Mar 2011

Researchers discover three genes that contribute to abnormal growth

By working with Canadians of French ancestry who suffer a rare genetic disease, researchers have discovered how three genes contribute to abnormal growth, making a breakthrough that will improve our understanding of many disorders such as foetal and childhood growth retardation, abnormal development of body parts and cancer.

2 Mar 2011

FDA grants miRagen's MGN-4893 orphan drug designation for treatment of polycythemia vera

miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patients' lives by developing innovative microRNA (miRNA)-based therapeutics for cardiovascular and muscle disease, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to the company's compound MGN-4893 for the treatment of polycythemia vera, a myeloproliferative disease characterized by an overabundance of blood cells and platelets in the body.

18 Feb 2011

Lampreys may have dual immune defense system similar to that of humans

Biologists have discovered that primitive, predatory lampreys have structures within their gills that play the same role as the thymus, the organ where immune cells called T cells develop in mammals, birds and fish.

4 Feb 2011