Biochemistry News and Research

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NIEHS director to discuss health concerns with citizens

The director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) will visit Milwaukee to preside over a "Town Hall Meeting" in which the public can discuss with local, state and federal authorities how the physical environment underlies many of the health problems in Milwaukee.

26 Sep 2009

Androgen deficiency linked to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in collaboration with researchers from Lahey Clinic Northshore, Peabody, Mass., believe that androgen deficiency might be the underlying cause for a variety of common clinical conditions, including diabetes, erectile dysfunction, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease (CVD). These findings appear in the September/October issue of the Journal of Andrology.

25 Sep 2009

ethica Clinical Research, Matrix Pharma sign worldwide agreement

ethica Clinical Research Inc. ("ethica"), a Contract Research Organization (CRO) headquartered in Montreal, and Matrix Pharma Canada Inc. ("Matrix Pharma"), have announced the signing of an agreement, valued at CAD1.25 Million, that provides ethica with an exclusive, worldwide license to promote and use Matrix Pharma's proprietary research data analysis technology for life sciences applications, notably for the identification and optimization of biomarkers.

25 Sep 2009

Huachansu may slow cancer progression

Huachansu, a Chinese medicine that comes from the dried venom secreted by the skin glands of toads, has tolerable toxicity levels, even at doses eight times those normally administered, and may slow disease progression in some cancer patients, say researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

25 Sep 2009

NIH awards $2.5 million grant to University of Utah cardiologist

A pioneering model that a University of Utah cardiologist proposes as a cause of heart disease is the kind of creative thinking the National Institutes of Health (NIH) likes to see-and reward with one of its most prestigious honors, a $2.5 million 2009 Pioneer Award.

24 Sep 2009

TSPs can block cancer-triggering proto-oncogenes

A tiny bit of genetic material with no previously known function may hold the key to stopping the spread of cancer, researchers at Yale School of Medicine and Sichuan University in Chengdu, China report in two papers in the September 7-11 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

24 Sep 2009

StemCells pushing forward its SC Proven cell culture product business

StemCells, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEM) today announced organizational initiatives focused on growing its specialty SC Proven® cell culture product business and advancing the development and commercialization of its central nervous system (CNS) cell-based assay platforms for use in drug screening and drug development. These initiatives reflect the Company’s ongoing integration of the operations acquired from Stem Cell Sciences (SCS) Plc in April, and include new personnel appointments and a realignment of activities within the Company’s Cambridge, UK and Palo Alto, California locations.

23 Sep 2009

Update from Cannabis Science regarding its phytocannabinoid pharmaceutical products

Cannabis Science Inc. (NASD OTCBB: CBIS) an emerging pharmaceutical cannabis company, is pleased to report progress for its phytocannabinoid pharmaceutical products to help reduce ARDS-associated deaths from both the Avian and Swine Influenza infections.

22 Sep 2009

Biochemists are developing a new system to better understand antibiotic resistance

Rice University biochemists are developing a system of "evolutionary forecasting" to better understand the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.

22 Sep 2009

Gene variant shows a strong gender bias for cancer predisposition

Cancer predisposition resulting from the presence of a specific gene variant shows a strong gender bias, researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have demonstrated.

22 Sep 2009

Novel cleavage sites for enzyme caspase-3 identified

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have identified novel cleavage sites for the enzyme caspase-3 (an enzyme that proteolytically cleaves target proteins). Using an advanced proteomic technique called N-terminomics, Guy Salvesen, Ph.D., professor and director of the Apoptosis and Cell Death Research program of Burnham's NCI-designated Cancer Center, and colleagues determined the cleavage sites on target proteins and found, contrary to previous understanding, that caspase-3 targets α-helices as well as unstructured loops.

22 Sep 2009

Geron and Corning develop synthetic surface that supports the growth and differentiation of hESCs

Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) and Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) today announced the successful development of novel synthetic surface matrices demonstrated to enhance and support the scalable manufacturing and growth of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).

21 Sep 2009

H1N1 infected people continue to shed live virus days after the symptoms

ABC News and other outlets are reporting that two studies released on Tuesday suggest that people infected with the H1N1 virus continue to shed virus after the point where current recommendations say they can resume their normal activities.

19 Sep 2009

Research program to study personalized medicine

A new collaborative research program that will use the power of metabolomic profiling to help advance the concept of personalized medicine was announced September 17, 2009 by the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the Sarah W. Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center at Duke University Medical Center.

18 Sep 2009

Researchers study the role of stem cells in development of liver cancer

Penn State College of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Southern California, have taken an important step in understanding the role of stem cells in development of liver cancer.

18 Sep 2009

Study reveals microRNAs affect tumor progression

UCSF researchers have identified collections of tiny molecules known as microRNAs that affect distinct processes critical for the progression of cancer. The findings, they say, expand researchers' understanding of the important regulatory function of microRNAs in tumor biology and point to new directions for future study and potential treatments.

18 Sep 2009

Research reveals that reactive oxygen inhibition can limit cancer cell invasion

Researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have discovered that reactive oxygen species, such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, play a key role in forming invadopodia, cellular protrusions implicated in cancer cell migration and tumor metastasis.

17 Sep 2009

Protein aggregation is linked to many conformational diseases

Researchers at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have revealed the process by which proteins with a tendency to cause conformational diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy, familial amyloidotic cardiomyopathy, etc. finally end up causing them.

17 Sep 2009

Discovery of key molecule may yield new therapies for AIDS and cancer

Discovery by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers of an additional role for a key molecule in our bodies provides a further step in world-wide efforts to develop genetic regulation aimed at controlling many diseases, including AIDS and various types of cancers.

17 Sep 2009

New technique found that may prevent vision loss

Blocking a protein that battles infection may help thwart a common cause of vision loss in chronic diseases such as diabetes, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.

16 Sep 2009