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Study identifies new hypervariable regions in human gut viruses

A growing body of evidence underscores the importance of human gut bacteria in modulating human health, metabolism, and disease. Yet bacteria are only part of the story. Viruses that infect those bacteria also shape who we are. Frederic D. Bushman, PhD, professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, led a study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that sequenced the DNA of viruses -- the virome -- present in the gut of healthy people.

20 Mar 2012

New solid state NMR method can help visualize structure of proteins

A new method to reveal the structure of proteins could help researchers understand biological molecules - both those involved in causing disease and those performing critical functions in healthy cells.

20 Mar 2012

Technique developed to identify rogue clustering proteins in brain diseases

Australian researchers have developed a novel technique that tracks proteins “behaving badly” and may have found a way that leads to new treatments for brain disease. The team believes the discovery could help in the development of drugs to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's.

19 Mar 2012

Novel technique rapidly identifies and tracks location of diseased proteins inside cells

A research team led by the University of Melbourne, Australia, has developed a novel technique that tracks diseased proteins behaving badly by forming clusters in brain diseases such as Huntington's and Alzheimer's.

19 Mar 2012

Alnylam commences dosing in ALN-TTR02 Phase I clinical trial for TTR-mediated amyloidosis

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has initiated dosing in its Phase I clinical trial with ALN-TTR02, an RNAi therapeutic targeting the transthyretin (TTR) gene for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR). The study is aimed at evaluating the safety and tolerability of ALN-TTR02 in healthy volunteers.

19 Mar 2012

Researchers show how errant form of LYP can disrupt the immune system

Autoimmune diseases, such as Type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, are caused by an immune system gone haywire, where the body's defense system assaults and destroys healthy tissues. A mutant form of a protein called LYP has been implicated in multiple autoimmune diseases, but the precise molecular pathway involved has been unknown.

19 Mar 2012

East Asian BIM gene variant contributes to drug resistance in cancer

A multi-national research team led by scientists at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School has identified the reason why some patients fail to respond to some of the most successful cancer drugs.

19 Mar 2012

Paper describes results of BMT in models of Rett Syndrome

A paper published online today in Nature describes the results of using bone marrow transplant (BMT) to replace faulty immune system cells in models of Rett Syndrome. The procedure arrested many severe symptoms of the childhood disorder, including abnormal breathing and movement, and significantly extended the lifespan of Rett mouse models.

19 Mar 2012

Study reveals how Bdnf gene mutation contributes to severe obesity

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have revealed how a mutation in a single gene is responsible for the inability of neurons to effectively pass along appetite suppressing signals from the body to the right place in the brain. What results is obesity caused by a voracious appetite.

19 Mar 2012

Klf4 protein an important regulator of inflammation: HNK study

Microglia are the first line defence of the brain and are constantly looking for infections to fight off. Overactive microglia can cause uncontrolled inflammation within the brain, which can in turn lead to neuronal damage. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Journal of Neuroinflammation shows that, honokiol (HNK) is able to down-regulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory enzymes in activated microglia via Klf4, a protein known to regulate DNA.

19 Mar 2012

Scientist generates mutant version of IL-2 protein to treat advanced cancers

The utility of a naturally occurring protein given, sometimes to great effect, as a drug to treat advanced cancers is limited by the severe side effects it sometimes causes. But a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist has generated a mutant version of the protein whose modified shape renders it substantially more potent than the natural protein while reducing its toxicity.

19 Mar 2012

Oral BRAF inhibitor can extend survival to 16 months for patients with MM

An international team of researchers from the United States and Australia, including researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have found that the oral BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (PLX4032) when tested in a phase II clinical trial offered a high rate of response in patients with previously treated metastatic melanoma and who had the BRAF mutation.

17 Mar 2012

ApoE4 gene could cause early loss of synapses in Alzheimer's disease

Today, researchers at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (BRNI) at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia reported a significant advance in understanding how different forms of the ApoE gene raise the risk for Alzheimer's disease.

17 Mar 2012

Deletion of Hms1 protein inhibits Candida albicans infection

Scientists at the University of Toronto have found a molecular mechanism that plays a key role in the transition of Candida albicans yeast into disease-causing fungus-one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infection.

17 Mar 2012

HGF/C-MET signaling pathway plays a key role in gestational diabetes development

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified a cell-signaling pathway that plays a key role in increasing insulin secretion during pregnancy and, when blocked, leads to the development of gestational diabetes.

17 Mar 2012

Results from AspenBio Pharma's AppyScore trial on appendicitis to be presented at SAEM meeting

The results from AspenBio Pharma's 503-patient pilot study of AppyScore will be presented from the podium the upcoming West Region meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) being held in Las Vegas, March 16-17.

17 Mar 2012

Adalimumab may decrease vascular inflammation in patients with psoriasis

A clinical study co-led by the Montreal Heart Institute and Innovaderm Research Inc., which was presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, shows that a new treatment for psoriasis could be associated with a significant decrease in vascular inflammation, a major risk factor of cardiovascular disease.

17 Mar 2012

Repligen total revenue increases to $7,165,000 for quarter ended December 31, 2011

Repligen Corporation today reported financial results for the quarter and nine-month fiscal year ended December 31, 2011.

17 Mar 2012

BRG1 gene loss implies lack of response of cells to retinoic acid and steroids

Retinoic acid (vitamin A) and steroids are hormones found in our body that protect against oxidative stress, reduce inflammation and are involved in cellular differentiation processes. One of the characteristics of tumours is that their cells have lost the ability to differentiate; therefore these hormones have useful properties to prevent cancer. Currently, retinoic acid and steroids are being used to treat some types of leukaemia.

16 Mar 2012

Novel sensor selectively screens single molecules passing through nanopores

A novel type of sensor, based on nanometer-scale pores in a semiconductor membrane, is a step closer to practical use in applications such as analyzing the protein contents of a single cell. Researchers pioneering single-molecule nanopore sensor technology at the Technische Universit-t M-nchen (TUM) have shown its potential through a succession of experiments over the past few years.

16 Mar 2012