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Fluorescent-probe in worm creates real-time "view" of cellular stress

Scientists at the University at Buffalo have created a mutant worm that changes color when it moves. The color change is generated by an optical sensor called stFRET. The sensor is composed of a pair of fluorescent molecules connected by a molecular spring that is inserted into structural proteins in the worm's cells.

16 Jun 2008

Evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered how evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems.

15 Jun 2008

European researchers take lid off the genome

European researchers have made significant progress unravelling how genes are governed and why this sometimes goes wrong in disease.

15 Jun 2008

Nanoparticles trigger built-in cell-death signal to overcome drug resistance

One of the most vexing problems in treating cancer is the propensity of tumors to develop resistance to a wide range of anticancer drugs. Over 70 percent of ovarian cancer patients, for example, have drug-resistant tumors at the time of their initial diagnosis, and virtually all patients who relapse have drug-resistant tumors.

15 Jun 2008

Scientists identify molecular trick that may explain part of Salmonella's fierceness

Salmonella is serving up a surprise not only for tomato lovers around the country but also for scientists who study the rod-shaped bacterium that causes misery for millions of people.

15 Jun 2008

Researchers find gamma-secretase modulators being tested for Alzheimer’s work in unexpected and beneficial ways

Researchers at Mayo Clinic, with their national and international collaborators, have discovered how a class of agents now in testing to treat Alzheimer's disease work, and say they may open up an avenue of drug discovery for this disease and others.

11 Jun 2008

Scientist deciphers language bacterial cells use to 'talk' to each other - also discovers how to quell their conversation

Understanding the way bacterial cells "talk" to each other could lead to more effective methods for fighting the often persistent and serious infections caused by the biofilms they form, says a Texas A&M University professor of chemical engineering who not only has deciphered their language but also discovered how to quell their conversation.

11 Jun 2008

Australian researchers find important piece of Alzheimer's puzzle

Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) neuroscientists at UQ have discovered a new way to reduce neuronal loss in the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease.

11 Jun 2008

Addicted cells provide early cancer diagnosis

Scientists at the Institute of Food Research have detected subtle changes that may make the bowel more vulnerable to the development of tumours.

10 Jun 2008

MicroRNA play a significant role in some human cancers

A new study demonstrates that microRNAs can modulate the expression of well known tumor-specific oncogenic translocation proteins and may play a significant role in some human cancers. The research, published by Cell Press in the June issue of the journal Cancer Cell, is likely to lead to new strategies for treating some specific lymphomas and leukemias.

9 Jun 2008

Scientists identify a key regulator of DNA mutations

As a general rule, your DNA is not something you want rearranged. But there are exceptions - especially when it comes to fighting infections. Since the number of microbes in the world far surpasses the amount of human DNA dedicated to combat them, specialized cells in the immune system have adopted an ingenious, if potentially disastrous, strategy for making antibodies. These cells, called B lymphocytes, intentionally mutate their own DNA to ward off invaders they have never seen before.

9 Jun 2008

New molecular mechanism for colorectal cancer

Scientists in Portugal just found a new molecular mechanism behind colorectal cancer in which a mutated and a normal, but over-expressed, gene cooperate and are both needed to create the disease.

4 Jun 2008

CSL Behring study shows extended half-life recombinant VIIa leads to longer biologic activity

CSL Behring today presented results of a pre-clinical study that not only demonstrates the feasibility of genetically fusing factor VIIa to human albumin, but that this therapeutic protein with a prolonged half-life can lead to a longer biologic effect.

3 Jun 2008

Genta announces initial trial results for novel drug for bone disease

Genta Incorporated has announced the release of final results from the Company's Phase 1 clinical trial of G4544, a proprietary small molecule that is intended as a treatment for diseases associated with accelerated bone loss. Results showed that the drug was very well-tolerated, and that blood levels were achieved in a range that is known to be clinically bioactive. The data were featured in a poster session at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago on Saturday, May 31, 2008.

2 Jun 2008

Yale researchers block transforming growth factor to clear up amyloid plaques in mice

Blocking a common immune system response cleared up plaques associated with Alzheimer's Disease and enabled treated mice to recover some lost memory, Yale University researchers report Friday in the journal Nature Medicine.

1 Jun 2008

Novel approach to drug insolubility strengthens PolyTherics patent estate

Polytherics Ltd, a biopharmaceutical spin-out company from Imperial College London and the London School of Pharmacy that specialises in the targeted application of polymers to biopharmaceuticals, has announced the grant of a European patent on the application of polymer complexation technology to improve drug efficacy.

28 May 2008

Global drug research programme comes to Diamond in Oxfordshire

Diamond has announced that USA-based global biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is the first industrial user at the UK's world class new research facility, Diamond Light Source

27 May 2008

Avoiding spleen removal for Cooley's anemia sufferers

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College may have discovered the precise role of a gene in one of the world's most common blood disorders, beta-thalassemia, commonly known as Cooley's anemia. Along with sickle-cell anemia, Cooley's anemia is the most commonly inherited disease in the world, affecting many people of Mediterranean descent, and 20 out of every 100,000 African-Americans. The World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000-100,000 children are born with the disease each year.

27 May 2008

Discovery on how an Helicobacter pylori toxin gets into cells

Helicobacter pylori is one tough bug. It can survive in the human stomach, a zone with a pH somewhere between that of lemon juice and battery acid. Now researchers have discovered how an H. pylori toxin gets into cells, a feat that helps the bacterium live in one of the most inhospitable environments in the body

26 May 2008