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New research units established for Japanese-German research collaboration

With its ten new Research Units, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is intensifying interdisciplinary and multiple-location collaboration among researchers pursuing specific scientific questions and new avenues of research.

17 Feb 2010

Study: Multiple genetic markers linked with CVD not associated with improvement in CVD risk prediction

Creation of a genetic risk score comprised of multiple genetic markers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) was not associated with significant improvement in CVD risk prediction in a study that included more than 19,000 women, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.

17 Feb 2010

Pacific Biosciences introduces partner program for SMRT DNA sequencing system

Pacific Biosciences, a private company developing a disruptive technology platform for real-time detection of biological events at single molecule resolution, today announced the launch of a partner program designed to work with best-in-class organizations providing complementary solutions to its Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT™) DNA sequencing system. The program will help customers rapidly and easily adopt its third-generation DNA sequencing solution into their discovery programs.

17 Feb 2010

Study: Researchers use genomics to decode blueprint of Plasmodium falciparum

Scientists battling malaria have earned a major victory. According to a Nature Genetics study, an international group of researchers has used genomics to decode the blueprint of Plasmodium falciparum - a strain of malaria most resistant to drugs that causes the most deaths around the world.

17 Feb 2010

Diagenode launches SX-8G IP-Star system for epigenetics

Diagenode, an innovative leader providing products and technologies for epigenetics, genomics and diagnostics, and the only provider of complete epigenetics solutions, announced today the launch of its innovative platform for automated epigenetics assays, the SX-8G IP-Star™ system ("IP-Star™).

16 Feb 2010

Effects of eco-toxicology on Zebra fish

Rasoul Nourizadeh-Lillabadi has shown that zebra fish can be used as models in order to study the effects of eco-toxicology on fish indigenous to Norway. The toxic substances used in the research project come from water effluent from the offshore industry and from organic material that had accumulated in the liver of burbot fish in the lakes of Mjøsa and Losna.

16 Feb 2010

Researchers find new risk factor for early-onset dementia

Examining brain tissue from over 500 individuals in 11 countries, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues found a new risk factor for the second-most-common cause of early-onset dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

16 Feb 2010

CNRS-Institut researchers identify 'virulence factor' that inhibits host immune response

Oncogenic retroviruses are a particular family of viruses that can cause some types of cancer. Thierry Heidmann and his colleagues in the CNRS-Institut Gustave Roussy-Université Paris Sud 11 "Rétrovirus endogènes et éléments rétroïdes des eucaryotes supérieurs" Laboratory have studied these viruses. They have identified a "virulence factor" that inhibits the host immune response and allows the virus to spread throughout the body.

16 Feb 2010

Allele-specific DNA methylation a widespread phenomenon, reveals IoP study

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King's College London, have identified numerous novel regions of the genome where the chemical modifications involved in controlling gene expression are influenced by either genetic variation or the parental origin of that particular stretch of DNA. This contradicts previous assumptions that epigenetic signals are generally equal across both copies of a given region of the genome, except at a small number of known imprinted genes.

15 Feb 2010

EMBL-EBI hosts ChEMBLdb online database

ChEMBLdb, an online database of information on the properties of more than half a million drug and drug-like small molecules and their targets, has been launched.

12 Feb 2010

IBM, VLSCI scientists to use Blue Gene supercomputer to study human disease

IBM today announced a Research collaboratory in Melbourne, Australia, where scientists from the Victorian Life Sciences Computational Initiative at the University of Melbourne and the IBM Research Computational Biology Center will use high performance computing – including IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer – to study human disease.

12 Feb 2010

ASU scientists develop versatile DNA reader to unlock DNA genetic code

Arizona State University scientists have come up with a new twist in their efforts to develop a faster and cheaper way to read the DNA genetic code. They have developed the first, versatile DNA reader that can discriminate between DNA's four core chemical components⎯the key to unlocking the vital code behind human heredity and health.

12 Feb 2010

Also in global health news: N. Korea harvest; Zimbabwe’s health system; malaria parasite; training India's rural health workers; Myanmar recovery; health in Uganda

ZimOnline examines Zimbabwe's health system, which the country's health minister, Henry Madzorera, says has improved, but is still in need of additional progress.

11 Feb 2010

Fluidigm releases amplicon tagging protocol for Illumina GA II next-generation sequencer

Fluidigm Corporation today announced the release of its amplicon tagging protocol for the Illumina GA II next-generation sequencer. The 48.48 Access Array integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) allows Illumina GA II users to automatically prepare sequencing-ready libraries from 48 individual samples at a time, for as little as $7 (U.S.) per sample.

10 Feb 2010

Bombarding DNA nucleotides and mammalian meat with ‘femto-neutrons’ open new path to femtomedicine

Bombarding DNA nucleotides and mammalian meat with ‘femto-neutrons’ has opened up the path to femtomedicine, an entirely new cancer diagnostics, it was reported today at First Global Congress on NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology in Houston, TX.

10 Feb 2010

Mapping of all fragile sites of yeast S.cerevisiae may lead to better understanding of cancer development

The research group of Dr. Fran-ois Robert, a researcher at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montr-al (IRCM), in collaboration with the team of Dr. Daniel Durocher (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute and University of Toronto) accomplished a technical breakthrough: they mapped all the fragile sites of a living organism, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The method used by the researchers can be applied to humans. This study has been published online today in the scientific journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

10 Feb 2010

Biology of lung cancer varies by age and gender

The biology of lung cancer differs from one patient to the next, depending on age and sex, according to scientists at Duke University Medical Center. The findings may help explain why certain groups of patients do better than others, even though they appear to have the same disease.

10 Feb 2010

Autism Speaks: Ten most significant autism research achievements in 2009

Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization has released its annual list of the 10 most significant research achievements to have impacted autism during the previous year. Every year, Autism Speaks documents the progress made toward its mission to discover the causes and treatment for autism spectrum disorders, and compiles a list of the 10 most significant research achievements to have impacted autism during the previous year.

10 Feb 2010

Data provide key information about epigenetic profiles for gastric cancer

Gastric cancer, one of the most common types of cancer, is associated with high mortality rates. In the last decades, a decrease in the worldwide incidence has been observed with some changes in the therapeutic and diagnostic options.

10 Feb 2010

Researchers explore cellular networks that regulate cell morphology

Cellular imaging offers a wealth of data about how cells respond to stimuli, but harnessing this technique to study biological systems is a daunting challenge.

9 Feb 2010