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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

National Institutes of Health funds for thymus research

The National Institutes of Health have awarded, as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, a two-year, $2 million grant to a University of Georgia genetics researcher and her colleagues for studies on the thymus, the organ in humans that produces disease-fighting T-cells.

18 Sep 2009

SEQUENOM's first laboratory developed cystic fibrosis test launched

SEQUENOM, Inc. today announced that the company's first laboratory developed test, the SensiGene(TM) Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Carrier Screening test, has been launched.

18 Sep 2009

Notice of Allowance issued by PTO for OSI's EGFR drug

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issued a “Notice of Allowance” in OSI’s reissue application for U.S. Patent No.5,747,498 (the ‘498) composition of matter patent for Tarceva® (erlotinib). The reissued patent will replace the original ‘498 patent and have the same November 2018 expiration date.

18 Sep 2009

Juvaris BioTherapeutics completes first close on Series B equity financing

Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing adjuvanted vaccines for infectious diseases, announced that it has completed the first close on its Series B equity financing of up to $25 million led by SV Life Sciences (SVLS) along with existing investor, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB).

18 Sep 2009

Rexahn to sign licensing and stock purchase agreements with Teva Pharmaceutical

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex: RNN), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company commercializing potential best in class oncology and central nervous system (CNS) therapeutics, today announced that it has reached an agreement to close on its previously announced licensing and stock purchase agreements with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited.

18 Sep 2009

Genome technology to examine brown tides on the East Coast

NOAA has awarded Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution $120,000 as part of an anticipated three-year, nearly $500,000 project, to determine how nitrogen and phosphorus promote brown tides on the East Coast. Funds were awarded through the interagency Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program.

18 Sep 2009

Stem Cell Culture Chip update to be presented at the World Stem Cell Summit

Fluidigm will provide the latest updates for its upcoming Stem Cell Culture Chip at the World Stem Cell Summit being held in Baltimore on September 21 – 23. This specialized integrated fluidic circuit will enable a variety of cell culture applications, including allowing stem cell researchers to simplify and automate protocols for turning differentiated cells into stem cells, and later fine tuning the reprogramming of those stem cells into targeted differentiated cells.

18 Sep 2009

80-unit patient housing facility for cancer patients and families

The SCCA House, an 80-unit patient housing facility for cancer patients and their families and caregivers, was dedicated today during ceremonies at its South Lake Union location. The facility is the second such "home away from home" building that is operated by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Rooms are scheduled to be available to SCCA patients by the end of the month.

18 Sep 2009

Study reveals that low invadolysin could reduce fat storage in lipids

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found that the protein invadolysin, which is essential for healthy cell division, is present in lipid droplets - the parts of cells used to store fat.

18 Sep 2009

Griffin Securities' report features stem cell hypothesis of cancer

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today that it has been featured in an in-depth report by Griffin Securities, a New York-based brokerage firm, highlighting the importance of the role that cancer stem cell (CSCs) targeting technology such as that employed by its lead product candidate, ICT-121, may play in developing future cancer treatments.

18 Sep 2009

Components of insulin-control system can reset body's biological clock

Many of the genes that regulate insulin also alter the timing of the circadian clock, a new study has found.

18 Sep 2009

Researchers link plasticity related gene-1 to lipid phosphates

In mice that are missing a protein found only in the brain, neural signals "go crazy," leaving the animals with epileptic seizures from a young age, researchers have found. The report in the September 18th Cell, a Cell Press publication, details what it is that happens when the protein encoded by plasticity related gene-1 (PRG-1) gets lost, revealing an important fine-tuning mechanism for brain function.

18 Sep 2009

Vitamin K prevents age-related conditions

An important analysis conducted by Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute scientists suggests the importance of ensuring optimal dietary intakes of vitamin K to prevent age-related conditions such as bone fragility, arterial and kidney calcification, cardiovascular disease, and possibly cancer. Vitamin K is concentrated in dark green plants such as spinach or Swiss chard, and is either not present or present in only small amounts in most multivitamin pills.

18 Sep 2009

Insulin metabolism regulates body's internal clock

While scientists have known for several years that our body's internal clock helps regulate many biological processes, researchers have found that the reverse is also true: Many common biological processes - including insulin metabolism - regulate the clock, according to a new study by investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and the University of California at San Diego.

18 Sep 2009

Research reveals that iPSCs similar to embryonic stem cells

A team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla have developed a safe strategy for reprogramming cells to a pluripotent state without use of viral vectors or genomic insertions. Their studies reveal that these induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are very similar to human embryonic stem cells, yet maintain a "transcriptional signature." In essence, these cells retain some memory of the donor cells they once were.

18 Sep 2009

New tool developed to provide precise and cost-effective data collection for drug discovery efforts

Cancer and cell biology experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have developed a new mass spectrometry-based tool they say provides more precise, cost-effective data collection for drug discovery efforts.

18 Sep 2009

GENova Biotherapeutics and Korean university sign strategic partnership agreement

GENova Biotherapeutics Inc. ("GENova") today announced that it has signed a LOI for a strategic partnership agreement with the Hospital Medical Information Department of Suncheon Cheongam University in Seoul, South Korea to gain access to its ground-breaking cancer stem cell research information.

18 Sep 2009

PSC activation mechanisms help develop novel therapeutic approaches for pancreatic fibrosis

Fibrosis is a key feature of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. The extensive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins fosters the development of an exocrine and endocrine organ insufficiency, and accelerates progression of the tumour. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) are the principal effector cells in pancreatic fibrosis. They are activated by profibrogenic mediators, which include, for example, cytokines and ethanol metabolites.

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