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New work on Akt's role in cancer stem cell biology

The protein kinase Akt is a key regulator of cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, survival, and death. New work on Akt's role in cancer stem cell biology from the lab of senior author Honglin Zhou, MD, PhD and Weihua Li, co-first author, both from the Center for Resuscitation Sciences, Department of Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Xiaowei Xu, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, appears in Molecular Cell.

21 Dec 2012

Scientists uncover TDP-43 protein as possible target for treatment of ALS, FTD

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center say they have new evidence that challenges scientific dogma involving two fatal neurodegenerative diseases - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) - and, in the process, have uncovered a possible therapeutic target as a novel strategy to treat both disorders.

20 Dec 2012

Klerokinesis may prevent some cancers from developing

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center have discovered a new form of cell division in human cells.

18 Dec 2012

EZH2 protein enables advanced prostate cancers to spread without stimulation by male hormones

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered a molecular switch that enables advanced prostate cancers to spread without stimulation by male hormones, which normally are needed to spur the cancer's growth. They say the finding could lead to a new treatment for prostate cancers that are no longer controlled by hormone-blocking drugs.

14 Dec 2012

LED light instantly triggers or reverses depression-like behavior in rodents

A specific pattern of neuronal firing in a brain reward circuit instantly rendered mice vulnerable to depression-like behavior induced by acute severe stress, a study supported by the National Institutes of Health has found. When researchers used a high-tech method to mimic the pattern, previously resilient mice instantly succumbed to a depression-like syndrome of social withdrawal and reduced pleasure-seeking - they avoided other animals and lost their sweet tooth.

13 Dec 2012

American Association of Anatomist announces winners of Young Investigator Awards

The American Association of Anatomist's (AAA) Young Investigator Awards combine three long-standing AAA awards-Bensley, Herrick, and Mossman-with the Morphological Sciences Award, all recognizing investigators in the early stages of their careers who have made important contributions to biomedical science through their research in cell/molecular biology, developmental biology, comparative neuroanatomy, or the morphological sciences.

12 Dec 2012

Scientists determine specific genetic switches that sync liver activity to the circadian cycle

When it's dark, and we start to fall asleep, most of us think we're tired because our bodies need rest. Yet circadian rhythms affect our bodies not just on a global scale, but at the level of individual organs, and even genes.

12 Dec 2012

Pfizer's PD0325901 experimental drug blocks untreatable NF1 tumors

Researchers conducting a preclinical study in mice successfully used targeted molecular therapy to block mostly untreatable nerve tumors that develop in people with the genetic disorder Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1).

11 Dec 2012

New study could help develop anti-inflammatory drugs with fewer side effects

10 Dec 2012

People with glaucoma show delayed eye movement reaction times

Rapid eye movements are significantly delayed in patients with glaucoma, even those in the early stages of the disease, research has found.

7 Dec 2012

Researchers unlock mechanisms of how the body converts dietary carbohydrates into fat

A gene that helps the body convert that big plate of holiday cookies you just polished off into fat could provide a new target for potential treatments for fatty liver disease, diabetes and obesity.

6 Dec 2012

Highlights for December 2012 issue of GSA’s Genetics journal

Listed below are the selected highlights for the December 2012 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, Genetics.

5 Dec 2012

Researchers investigate GPER receptor as possible new drug target for breast cancer

Five-year breast cancer survival rates have improved dramatically over the past 50 years, but tumors can recur up to ten or more years after they are detected. When tumors recur, they are even more difficult to treat.

5 Dec 2012

Enzalutamide shows promise in treating triple-negative and estrogen-positive breast cancer

Breast cancers are defined by their drivers - estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER and PR) and HER2 are the most common, and there are drugs targeting each. When breast cancer has an unknown driver, it also has fewer treatment options - this aggressive form of breast cancer without ER, PR or HER2, which was thought not to be driven by hormones, is known as triple negative.

3 Dec 2012

Long-term hippocampal DBS effectively reduces seizures in experimental models

The results of the first reported study of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in an animal model for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) presented today at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 66th Annual Meeting suggests that DBS may have potential as therapy for this common and often difficult to treat form of epilepsy.

2 Dec 2012

Creative art therapy combined with MBSR program shows promise for women with breast cancer

Cancer and stress go hand-in-hand, and high stress levels can lead to poorer health outcomes in cancer patients. The Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine combined creative art therapy with a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for women with breast cancer and showed changes in brain activity associated with lower stress and anxiety after the eight-week program.

29 Nov 2012

Study broadens understanding of how cells regulate X chromosome inactivation

In a paper published in the Nov. 21 issue of Cell, a team led by Mauro Calabrese, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina in the lab of Terry Magnuson, chair of the department of genetics and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, broadens the understanding of how cells regulate silencing of the X chromosome in a process known as X-inactivation.

28 Nov 2012

Paper illuminates importance of PKM2 in cancer development and progression

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have tracked down a cancer-promoting protein's pathway into the cell nucleus and discovered how, once there, it fires up a glucose metabolism pathway on which brain tumors thrive.

26 Nov 2012

Breakthrough in heart research

Breakthrough in heart research: The research team from Professor Katja Schenke-Layland of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart has discovered cell surface markers that enable the identification and isolation of living functional cardiovascular progenitor cells (CPCs).

22 Nov 2012

Study provides new insight into human cognitive function and risk for neurological diseases

Short snippets of DNA found in human brain tissue provide new insight into human cognitive function and risk for developing certain neurological diseases, according to researchers from the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The findings are published in the November 20th issue of PLoS Biology.