Transgenic News and Research

RSS

Study suggests Golgi as potential drug target for Alzheimer's treatment

Alzheimer's disease (AD) progresses inside the brain in a rising storm of cellular chaos as deposits of the toxic protein, amyloid-beta (Aβ), overwhelm neurons. An apparent side effect of accumulating Aβ in neurons is the fragmentation of the Golgi apparatus, the part of the cell involved in packaging and sorting protein cargo including the precursor of Aβ. But is the destruction the Golgi a kind of collateral damage from the Aβ storm or is the loss of Golgi function itself part of the driving force behind Alzheimer's? This was the question for Yanzhuang Wang, Gunjan Joshi, and colleagues at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as they set out to uncover the mechanism damaging the Golgi, using a transgenic mouse and tissue culture models of AD to look at what was going on.

6 Dec 2014

Ligand indazole chloride improves motor function, study shows

Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease of the brain and spinal cord, affects about 2.3 million people worldwide (400,000 in the United States). Affecting more women than men, it can be seen at any age, although it is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40.

2 Dec 2014

VE-PTP potential treatment target for retinal and choroidal vascular diseases

Targeting vascular endothelial-protein tyrosine phosphatase, which negatively regulates TIE2 activation, could help to stabilise retinal and choroidal blood vessels, researchers report.

1 Dec 2014

Researchers identify mechanism linked to brain damage

Researchers have discovered a mechanism linked to the brain damage often suffered by stroke victims--and are now searching for drugs to block it.

27 Nov 2014

Authors review current progress in developing transgenic pig models for human diseases

Genetically engineered pigs, minipigs, and microminipigs are valuable tools for biomedical research, as their lifespan, anatomy, physiology, genetic make-up, and disease mechanisms are more similar to humans than the rodent models typically used in drug discovery research.

24 Nov 2014

Mice may hold clues in development of ADHD, autism and bipolar disorder

A darting mouse may hold an important clue in the development of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism and bipolar disorder, according to a study by a Vanderbilt University-led research team recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

11 Nov 2014

Light-activated diabetes drug: an interview with Dr David Hodson

We've known about chemicals that can be light-activated for about five to ten years now. They’ve mainly all been applied to neurons and, more specifically, the retina. Nobody has ever really looked at any tissues outside of the nervous system.

5 Nov 2014

New research findings on Graves' disease to be highlighted at ATA meeting

A unique mouse model of Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes hyperthyroidism, and new research findings that may help improve the treatment of Graves' disease will be highlighted in oral and poster presentations at the 84th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association, October 29-November 2, 2014, in Coronado, California.

30 Oct 2014

New research on barcoding tool that tracks origin of blood cells challenges scientific dogma

A 7-year-project to develop a barcoding and tracking system for tissue stem cells has revealed previously unrecognized features of normal blood production: New data from Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Boston Children's Hospital suggests, surprisingly, that the billions of blood cells that we produce each day are made not by blood stem cells, but rather their less pluripotent descendants, called progenitor cells.

6 Oct 2014

Rosuvastatin promotes bone growth in mice with achondroplasia symptoms

Skeletal dysplasia is a group of rare diseases that afflict skeletal growth through abnormalities in bone and cartilage. Its onset hits at the fetal stage and is caused by genetic mutations.

18 Sep 2014

Sigma-Aldrich enters into new gene editing partnership with U-M Medical School's Vector Core

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation announced today it has entered into a new gene editing partnership with the University of Michigan Medical School's Vector Core. Under the partnership, Sigma-Aldrich will provide the Vector Core with Sigma CRISPR technology, experimental design consultation, and dedicated gene editing bioinformaticians.

18 Sep 2014

GILZ protein key to preventing bone loss, researchers report

A small protein named GILZ appears to protect against the bone loss that often accompanies arthritis and its treatment, researchers report.

15 Sep 2014

Scientists apply iPS cell technology to Huntington's disease transgenic monkey model

Creating induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells allows researchers to establish "disease in a dish" models of conditions ranging from Alzheimer's disease to diabetes.

8 Sep 2014

Zebrafish and virus help scientists map the living brain

A virus and a zebrafish are helping scientists map the living brain. "You can kinda draw a diagram and see how cells within it are connected in a functioning brain," said Dr. Albert Pan, neuroscientist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.

26 Aug 2014

Understanding neuron development: an interview with Dr. Brock Grill, The Scripps Research Institute

There’s a big difference between understanding coordination and actually building connectivity. In terms of building connectivity, several molecules have been identified that control this process and a lot has been learned from both genetic and biochemical research in a variety of different systems, particularly studies in the nematode C. elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila and mice.

22 Aug 2014

Research validates Myc inhibition as effective therapeutic strategy for glioma

Research led by the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) evidence the most conclusive preclinical results to-date validating Myc inhibition as a therapeutic strategy in glioma - a highly agressive tumor type that notoriously outsmarts current anti-cancer therapies.

19 Aug 2014

Notch signaling also plays important role in onset of obesity and Type 2 diabetes

A Purdue University study shows that Notch signaling, a key biological pathway tied to development and cell communication, also plays an important role in the onset of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, a discovery that offers new targets for treatment.

8 Aug 2014

Biologists identify signaling pathway that switches on calorie-burning process in brown fat cells

Biologists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified a signaling pathway that switches on a powerful calorie-burning process in brown fat cells.

1 Aug 2014

FDA approves Ruconest for treatment of acute attacks in adolescent patients with HAE

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved Ruconest, the first recombinant C1-Esterase Inhibitor product for the treatment of acute attacks in adult and adolescent patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE).

18 Jul 2014

ADSC transplantation promotes adult neurogenesis in brains of Alzheimer's disease mice

Recent evidence has demonstrated that transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells can stimulate neurogenesis in the brain of adult rat or mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and improve tissue and function injury under the condition of cerebral ischemia.

14 Jul 2014