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New drug trial to target hereditary cancers

Cancer Research UK scientists at Newcastle University are starting the first UK trial of a new drug which targets the 'Achilles' heel' in hereditary forms of both breast and ovarian cancer.

28 Feb 2008

New understanding of structure and behavior of collagen

The structure and behavior of one of the most common proteins in our bodies has been resolved at a level of detail never before seen, thanks to new research performed at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.

27 Feb 2008

New insight into the fundamentals of Parkinson's disease

A single change in a protein may play a role in whether someone develops Parkinson's disease, say University of Florida Genetics Institute researchers writing in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Feb 2008

Tenofovir gel safe for daily use over an extended period

A vaginal microbicide that incorporates an antiretroviral (ARV) drug normally used to treat people with HIV is safe for sexually active HIV-negative women to use every day over an extended period, suggest results of a clinical trial of tenofovir topical gel.

27 Feb 2008

Enzyme Cdk1 may lead to new cancer therapies

With a four-year, $707,000 grant from the American Cancer Society, Yanchang Wang, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the Florida State University College of Medicine, hopes to learn how a particular enzyme could possibly help put the brakes on the runaway cell division process that occurs in many forms of cancer.

27 Feb 2008

New clues to bacterial antibiotic resistance

A team of scientists from the University Paris Descartes has solved the structure of two proteins that allow bacteria to gain resistance to multiple types of antibiotics, according to a report in EMBO reports this month.

26 Feb 2008

Powerful new cell research tool

The view into the inner world of living cells just got a little brighter and more colorful.

26 Feb 2008

Novel link between excessive nutrient levels and insulin resistance

For quite some time now, scientists suspected the so-called hexosamine pathway - a small side business of the main sugar processing enterprise inside a cell - to be involved in the development of insulin resistance.

22 Feb 2008

New understanding of how big molecules bind will lead to better drugs, synthetic organic materials

Biological and medical research is on the threshold of a new era based on better understanding of how large organic molecules bind together and recognise each other.

22 Feb 2008

Link between excessive food intake and insulin resistance

22 Feb 2008

Genetic defect causes immune deficiency and balance disorder

A genetic defect that causes a severe immune deficiency in humans may also produce balance disorders, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Iowa, The Jackson Laboratory and East Carolina University.

21 Feb 2008

Biochemists reveal details of mysterious bacterial microcompartments

UCLA biochemists and colleagues have answered an important question about the structure of microcompartments - the mysterious molecular machines that seem to be present in a wide variety of pathogens and other bacteria.

21 Feb 2008

Study identifies another strategy for normalizing tumor blood supply

Manipulating levels of nitric oxide (NO), a gas involved in many biological processes, may improve the disorganized network of blood vessels supplying tumors, potentially improving the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy.

21 Feb 2008

Discovery of gene expression pathway that influences process of oxidative stress

The same chemical reaction that causes iron to rust plays a similarly corrosive role in our bodies.

21 Feb 2008

Bacteria dupe human immune system by using invisibility cloak

Scientists at the University of York have characterised an important new step in the mechanism used by bacteria to evade our immune system.

20 Feb 2008

Risk factors for Parkinson's disease focus of new research

A new study demonstrates that high levels of MAO-B, an enzyme that regulates nerve activity in the brain, cause Parkinson's-like symptoms in mice genetically engineered to overexpress the protein.

20 Feb 2008

Discovery of a new anticoagulant

The discovery of a new anticoagulant with promising therapeutic value is reported on the 20th of February issue of the journal PLoS ONE1.

20 Feb 2008

Deadly E. coli bug now threatening communities outside of hospitals

Scientists are warning of the increasing threat from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria.

19 Feb 2008

Study offers insight into possible cause of lymphoma

The immune system's powerful cellular mutation and repair processes appear to offer important clues as to how lymphatic cancer develops, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this week in Nature.

18 Feb 2008

Tumor-targeting viral therapy slows neuroblastoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors

Researchers in a multi-institutional study led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center slowed the growth of two particularly stubborn solid tumor cancers - neuroblastoma and peripheral nerve sheath tumors - without harming healthy tissues by inserting instructions to inhibit tissue growth into an engineered virus, according to study results published in the February 15 Cancer Research.

18 Feb 2008