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Discovery of 'overdrive' protein could broaden drug design options

New research by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows for the first time that an important family of proteins known to function at the cell surface also functions at a site within the cell.

13 Feb 2008

Discovery that embryonic stem cells can be used to create functional immune system blood cells

A new study demonstrates for the first time that embryonic stem cells can be used to create functional immune system blood cells, a finding which is an important step in the utilization of embryonic stem cells as an alternative source of cells for bone marrow transplantation.

13 Feb 2008

Scientists reprogram human skin cells into embryonic stem cells

UCLA stem cell scientists have reprogrammed human skin cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells without using embryos or eggs.

12 Feb 2008

What do marathoners and heart failure patients have in common?

The new study shows that the fatigue that marathoners and other extreme athletes feel at the end of a race is caused by a tiny leak inside their muscles that probably also saps the energy from patients with heart failure.

12 Feb 2008

Potential method for repairing misspelling in DNA code that causes spinal muscular atrophy

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered a novel technique - that acts like a "spell-checker" for correcting a misspelling in the DNA code - to repair the defective gene that causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

12 Feb 2008

Toxic blue-green algae may provide new anti-cancer drugs

A collaborative team of researchers spearheaded by Dennis Carson M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has identified a potent new anti-cancer drug isolated from a toxic blue-green algae found in the South Pacific.

12 Feb 2008

Prion infection of neurons increases the free cholesterol content in cell membranes

A new study published in the online open access journal BMC Biology suggests that disturbances in membrane cholesterol may be the mechanism by which prions cause neurodegeneration and could point to a role for cholesterol in other neurodegenerative diseases.

12 Feb 2008

Discovery of previously unknown mechanism that leads to cleft palate

By creating a genetic mutation in zebrafish, University of Oregon scientists say they've discovered a previously unknown mechanism for cleft palate, a common birth defect in humans that has challenged medical professionals for centuries.

12 Feb 2008

How red blood cells nuke their nuclei

Unlike the rest of the cells in your body, your red blood cells lack nuclei.

12 Feb 2008

Gene therapy protocol at UCSD activates immune system in patients with leukemia

A research team at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reports that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with a gene therapy protocol began making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells.

12 Feb 2008

Discovery of possible target for prevention and treatment of pneumonia

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a key protein target that may be a crucial factor in the development of a vaccine to prevent and new therapies to treat pneumonia, the leading killer of children worldwide.

12 Feb 2008

Baxter's multiple-dose vial Heparin linked to severe allergic reactions

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that Baxter Healthcare Corporation has temporarily stopped manufacturing multiple-dose vials of the injectable blood-thinning drug heparin due to reports of serious allergic reactions and hypotension (low blood pressure) in patients who receive high "bolus" doses of the drug.

11 Feb 2008

Scientists find new cellular receptor for HIV

A cellular protein that helps guide immune cells to the gut has been newly identified as a target of HIV when the virus begins its assault on the body's immune system, according to researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

11 Feb 2008

Moss protein plays role in Alzheimer's disease

Preventing Alzheimer's from developing is a goal of Raphael Kopan, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and pharmacology at the Washington University School of Medicine.

11 Feb 2008

New insight into how iron gets deposited in the brain to cause some forms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's

Researchers at the University of Warwick and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur have discovered that the mechanism that we rely on to transport iron safely through our blood stream can, in certain circumstances, collapse into a state which grows long worm-like "fibrils" banded by lines of iron rust.

11 Feb 2008