Living Cells News and Research

RSS

Transplantation of tissue-engineered vein is a success and offers hope for patients who lack suitable veins for dialysis or bypass surgery

The first biologically tissue-engineered vein grown from a patient’s own stem cells has been successfully transplanted into a 10-year-old girl with portal vein obstruction, dramatically enhancing her quality of life.

15 Jun 2012

Engineered proteins demonstrate flu-fighting potency

Computer-designed proteins are under construction to fight the flu. Researchers are demonstrating that proteins found in nature, but that do not normally bind the flu, can be engineered to act as broad-spectrum antiviral agents against a variety of flu virus strains, including H1N1 pandemic influenza.

2 Jun 2012

TransCytos, Enginasion collaborate to develop new transfection technology

Enginasion and TransCytos announced today that their collaboration has resulted in a prototype 'transfection' technology that is designed to have a dramatic and positive impact on the drug-research industry.

22 May 2012

Research demonstrates how a living cell controls its growth process

A collaboration between Lehigh University physicists and University of Miami biologists addresses an important fundamental question in basic cell biology: How do living cells figure out when and where to grow?

19 May 2012

Event addresses FDA's recent draft guidelines for development of biosimilar products

Dr. Richard Dolinar, chairman of the Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines (Alliance) outlined five areas of concern that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should resolve before they allow biosimilar medications on the U.S. drug market in prepared testimony for the FDA's May 11th public hearing. The event addressed the FDA's recent draft guidelines for the development of biosimilar products.

14 May 2012

Automated way to record electrical activity inside neurons in the living brain

Gaining access to the inner workings of a neuron in the living brain offers a wealth of useful information: its patterns of electrical activity, its shape, even a profile of which genes are turned on at a given moment. However, achieving this entry is such a painstaking task that it is considered an art form; it is so difficult to learn that only a small number of labs in the world practice it.

7 May 2012

Researchers discover how dendritic cells exchange information to amplify immune response

Using a new fluorescent biosensor they developed, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered how a key set of immune cells exchange information during their coordinated assault on invading pathogens.

24 Apr 2012

Scientists uncover new layer of information in the genetic code

A hidden and never before recognized layer of information in the genetic code has been uncovered by a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) thanks to a technique developed at UCSF called ribosome profiling, which enables the measurement of gene activity inside living cells - including the speed with which proteins are made.

29 Mar 2012

New method to easily identify cause of rare diseases

Sanford Health Children's Research Center researcher, Kyle Roux, PhD, has revealed a new method of research that will allow the cause of disease—particularly rare diseases—to become more easily identified.

23 Mar 2012

Fraunhofer FIT software rapidly analyzes complex biological processes

At Analytica 2012, Fraunhofer FIT presents software that supports the search for new active pharmaceutical ingredients of cancer drugs. Through a high degree of parallelization, the software can analyze complex biological processes very fast, even with large amounts of data.

23 Mar 2012

FDA approves Organogenesis oral soft tissue regeneration product, GINTUIT

Today Organogenesis Inc., a business leader in the regenerative medicine field, announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GINTUIT (Allogeneic Cultured Keratinocytes and Fibroblasts in Bovine Collagen), a cell-based product that has been shown to predictably generate new and aesthetically appealing oral soft tissue (gum tissue).

12 Mar 2012

Salk scientists' discovery explains how a class of chemotherapy drugs works

The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews restitch anything that resembles a broken chromosome. If repair is impossible, the crew foreman calls in executioners to annihilate a cell. As unsavory as this last bunch sounds, failure to summon them is one aspect of what makes a cancer cell a cancer cell.

12 Mar 2012

Cartilage repair gel gives injuries a sporting chance

A cartilage gel being developed by tissue engineers and biochemists at the University of Sydney could bring increased mobility to people living with debilitating sports injuries.

5 Mar 2012

Researchers confirm how food poisoning bacteria hijack cell's sense of direction

Working in the emerging field of systems biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers mathematically predicted how bacteria that cause food poisoning hijack a cell's sense of direction and then confirmed those predictions in living cells.

2 Mar 2012

Study offers hope for novel approach to prevent AD

As scientists struggle to find an effective way to prevent Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison may have found a new approach to interrupting the process that leads to the devastating disease.

2 Mar 2012

ESOF 2012 science program launches today at AAAS meeting in Vancouver

The science program for Euroscience Open Forum 2012 (ESOF 2012) was officially launched today at the AAAS meeting in Vancouver.

20 Feb 2012

Foreign-born scientists to receive Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science

The Vilcek Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of its annual Vilcek Prizes in Biomedical Science, honoring the contributions of foreign-born scientists.

16 Feb 2012

FDA lays guidelines for “biosimilar” biotech drugs

The proposed rules, issued on Thursday, require studies showing that the generic copies are “highly similar” to the originals, but there are several ways that might be proven. Because of their complexity, generic copies of biotech drugs - first introduced in the 1980s - are known as “biosimilars.” The worldwide market for copies of biotech medicines will grow to $3.7 billion by 2015, from just $243 million in 2010, as more than 30 branded biologics with sales of $51 billion lose patent exclusivity, according to market analysis firm Datamonitor.

12 Feb 2012

Nanosize titanates may inhibit growth of oral cancer and bacterial cell lines

Sometimes bigger isn't better. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory have successfully shown that they can replace useful little particles of monosodium titanate (MST) with even tinier nano-sized particles, making them even more useful for a variety of applications.

1 Feb 2012