Toxin News and Research

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Research initiative focuses on microbial characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus (Sa) and methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) continue to be among the most common pathogens that overwhelm the immune system, causing serious skin, soft tissue and life-threatening blood-borne infections.

16 Oct 2014

New UCLA study reveals why people with autism experience neural stem cell overgrowth after birth

People with autism spectrum disorder often experience a period of accelerated brain growth after birth. No one knows why, or whether the change is linked to any specific behavioral changes.

10 Oct 2014

Probiotic yogurt protects children, pregnant women against heavy metal exposure

Yogurt containing probiotic bacteria successfully protected children and pregnant women against heavy metal exposure in a recent study.

7 Oct 2014

TyrRS enzyme protects DNA during cellular stress

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that an enzyme best known for its fundamental role in building proteins has a second major function: to protect DNA during times of cellular stress.

3 Oct 2014

New approach to solve global challenges in food security, emerging diseases and biodiversity loss

Solving global challenges in food security, emerging diseases and biodiversity loss requires evolutionary thinking, argues a new study published online in Science Express that was co-authored by Bruce Tabashnik of the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

30 Sep 2014

Fecal microbiota transplantation officially recommended for effective treatment of C. difficile infection

The transplantation of faecal microbiota from a healthy donor has been shown in recent clinical studies to be a safe and highly effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection and is now recommended in European treatment guidelines.

29 Sep 2014

MIT researchers use disarmed version of anthrax toxin to deliver cancer drugs

Bacillus anthracis bacteria have very efficient machinery for injecting toxic proteins into cells, leading to the potentially deadly infection known as anthrax. A team of MIT researchers has now hijacked that delivery system for a different purpose: administering cancer drugs.

26 Sep 2014

Three institutions collaborate to develop vaccine to treat pneumonia

The long-observed association between pneumonia and heart failure now has more physical evidence, thanks to research in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

26 Sep 2014

Leicester scientists lend a helping hand in fight against Alzheimer's and cancer

Chemists at the University of Leicester have reported a breakthrough in techniques to develop new drugs in the fight against diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's.

24 Sep 2014

Researchers reveal how humans get infected with cholera

Karl Klose, professor of biology and a researcher in UTSA's South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, has teamed up with researchers at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany to understand how humans get infected with cholera.

24 Sep 2014

Elusys completes phase 3 clinical program of obiltoxaximab in healthy adult volunteers

Elusys Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing antibody therapies to treat infectious disease, today announced it has completed three phase 3 healthy adult volunteer safety studies of obiltoxaximab (ETI-204).

23 Sep 2014

Soligenix awarded $24.7 million contract to advance development of Rivax vaccine

Soligenix, Inc., a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing products that address unmet medical needs in the areas of inflammation, oncology and biodefense, announced today that it has been awarded a contract valued at up to $24.7 million inclusive of options by the US Department of Health and Human Service's National Institutes of Health (specifically funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases or NIAID).

19 Sep 2014

Synthetic Biologics' SYN-005 antibody gets FDA Orphan Drug designation for Pertussis treatment

Synthetic Biologics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel anti-infective biologic and drug programs targeting specific pathogens that cause serious infections and diseases, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug designation to the Company's proprietary SYN-005 monoclonal antibody (mAb) combination for the treatment of Pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough.

15 Sep 2014

Center Director of Omni Eye Surgery describes promising option for managing lid disease

Omni Eye Services, a leading provider of ophthalmologic services at five locations in New York and New Jersey, today announced that Dr. Katherine M Mastrota, Center Director of Omni Eye Surgery in New York City, has written a treatment update for Contact Lenses Today describing a promising "new option for managing lid disease."

9 Sep 2014

Cholera against cholera: an interview with Dr Bruce Turnbull, University of Leeds

Cholera bacteria, and other types of bacteria that cause diarrheal diseases, infect your intestines where they release AB5 protein toxins – that is they have a single toxic A-subunit that is linked to a pentamer of B-subunits that act as the delivery vehicle to transport the A-subunit into the cells.

8 Sep 2014

Soligenix announces promising preliminary results from study on ricin toxin vaccine

Soligenix, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products to treat serious inflammatory diseases where there remains an unmet medical need, as well as developing several biodefense vaccines and therapeutics, announced today promising preliminary results from a preclinical study with its ricin toxin vaccine RiVax™, in a non-human primate (NHP) lethal aerosol exposure model.

2 Sep 2014

Gene therapy may offer significant advantages in prevention of botulism exposure

The current method to treat acute toxin poisoning is to inject antibodies, commonly produced in animals, to neutralize the toxin. But this method has challenges ranging from safety to difficulties in developing, producing and maintaining the anti-serums in large quantities.

30 Aug 2014