Biomedicine News and Research

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Scientists explain the existence of intrinsic chirality in ordinary nanocrystals

A team of scientists from ITMO University and Trinity College Dublin published first experimental results showing that ordinary nanocrystals possess intrinsic chirality and can be produced under normal conditions as a half-and-half mixture of mirror images of each other.

18 Jun 2015

UIC study shows that brain cell density remains constant in normal aging

New, ultra-high-field magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the brain by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago provide the most detailed images to date to show that while the brain shrinks with age, brain cell density remains constant.

14 Jun 2015

Simple process for obtaining induced pluripotent stem cells without use of reagents

For their ability to differentiate into other cell types, the embryonic stem cells hold a large potential in the medical industry. Their use, however, poses ethical questions due to the fact that in order to obtain them, it is necessary to destroy the embryo. For this reason, medical researches use the so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). In fact, it is possible to reprogram adult cells that can be obtained by simply drawing blood and making them "regress" to a similar state to that of embryonic stem cells.

10 Jun 2015

Novel biosensor chip measures pH, temperature, drugs and metabolism-related molecules

The future of medicine lies in ever greater precision, not only when it comes to diagnosis but also drug dosage. The blood work that medical staff rely on is generally a snapshot indicative of the moment the blood is drawn before it undergoes hours - or even days - of analysis.

30 May 2015

Lafora rare disease could be aggravated by oxidative stress

Neurodegenerative Lafora disease usually becomes apparent through seizures during adolescence and puberty and occurs as a consequence of defects in glycogen metabolism and in the cellular mechanisms that are responsible for its disposal. Researchers at the University of Valencia have led a study in which they propose that Lafora rare disease could be aggravated by oxidative stress.

22 May 2015

New findings could help better understand neurodegenerative diseases

Researchers at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), of the University of Luxembourg, have, under Dr. Manuel Buttini, successfully measured metabolic profiles, or the metabolomes, of different brain regions, and their findings could help better understand neurodegenerative diseases.

18 May 2015

LaVision BioTec announces the first International Users’ Meeting on their UltraMicroscope

LaVison BioTec, developers of advanced microscopy solutions for the life sciences, announces the dates and venue of the first international users' meeting on their UltraMicroscope light sheet microscopy products.

7 May 2015

Link between dDsk2 protein and neurodegenerative diseases identified

Until today, the proteins known as ubiquitin receptors have been associated mainly with protein degradation, a basic cell cleaning process. A new function now described for the protein dDsk2 by the team headed by Ferran Azorín, group leader at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and CSIC research professor, links ubiquitin receptors for the first time with the regulation of gene expression.

29 Apr 2015

Global changes in cancer cells' epigenome may determine disease progression

Genomic studies have illuminated the ways in which malfunctioning genes can drive cancer growth while stunting the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy and other treatments. But new findings from Weill Cornell Medical College investigators indicate that these genes are only partly to blame for why treatment that was at one point effective ultimately fails for about 40 percent of patients diagnosed with the most common form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

21 Apr 2015

New research links megalin protein with malignant melanomas

Today it is not possible to predict spreading from malignant melanomas. Melanoma metastases are furthermore extremely difficult to eliminate as traditional treatment such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy is mostly ineffective. Only ten per cent of the patients survive once they reach an advanced stage with distant metastases.

16 Apr 2015

New metabolic blood profile method could help predict breast cancer

According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women both in the developed and less developed world, and in the long term the scientists hope that the new method will lead to better prevention and early treatment of the disease.

16 Apr 2015

DFG selects 10 researchers to receive 2015 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize

This year's recipients of the most important prize for early career researchers in Germany have been announced. The selection committee, appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), has chosen ten researchers, five women and five men, to receive the 2015 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes.

10 Apr 2015

UAB scientists create alternative to the use of viruses in gene therapy

A team of scientists from the Institute for Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the UAB has produced an alternative to the use of viruses in gene therapy. The researchers synthesised nanoparticles which act as artificial viruses, capable of surrounding DNA fragments and releasing them as therapeutic agents, with no biological risk, into the interior of the cells.

9 Apr 2015

MDC scientists find solution to increase efficiency of precise genetic modifications

CRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful new tool for editing the genome. For researchers around the world, the CRISPR-Cas9 technique is an exciting innovation because it is faster and cheaper than previous methods. Now, using a molecular trick, Dr. Van Trung Chu and Professor Klaus Rajewsky of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch and Dr. Ralf Kühn, MDC and Berlin Institute of Health, have found a solution to considerably increase the efficiency of precise genetic modifications by up to eightfold.

30 Mar 2015

Study finds clustered cardiometabolic risk factors in children

Lifestyle-related cardiometabolic risk factors cluster already in children in the same way as in adults, according to research from the University of Eastern Finland. A cardiometabolic risk score was used to evaluate cardiometabolic risk in different age groups.

25 Mar 2015

Copenhagen researchers develop secure way of measuring apo-M protein in human blood

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen are the first in the world to develop a secure way of measuring the important protein apo-M. This could prove relevant for research into diseases such as diabetes, arteriosclerosis and sclerosis.

23 Mar 2015

Super-resolution microscopes reveal the link between genome packaging and cell pluripotency

In 1953 Watson and Crick first published the discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA. They were able to visualize the DNA structure by means of X-Ray diffraction. Techniques, such as electron microscopy, allowed scientists to identify nucleosomes, the first and most basic level of chromosome organisation

13 Mar 2015

ERC project aims to identify new treatments for prostate cancer

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Consolidator Grant to ICREA researcher Xavier Salvatella, head of the Molecular Biophysics Lab at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona).

13 Mar 2015

Researchers develop quantum radar that can detect objects invisible to conventional systems

A prototype quantum radar that has the potential to detect objects which are invisible to conventional systems has been developed by an international research team led by a quantum information scientist at the University of York.

28 Feb 2015

New tool provides molecular details about how mutations affect cellular processes

Today in the journal Nature Methods, the laboratory headed by ICREA researcher Patrick Aloy, at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, presents a computational tool that allows a greater understanding of the genetic causes of complex diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes.

27 Feb 2015