Catalyst News and Research

RSS

“Sandwich” immunoassay used to search for new chemical reactions

Many discoveries are made by chance, but it is also possible to help it along: The chance of finding something interesting increases when the number of experiments rises. French researchers have now applied this principle to the search for new chemical reactions. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, they have introduced a new concept based on antibodies and a “sandwich” immunoassay.

22 May 2012

CEWG recommends WHA adopt international convention on R&D

The chairs of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development (CEWG), John-Arne Rottingen and Claudia Chamas, in this week's PLoS Medicine, "recommended the May 2012 World Health Assembly adopt an international convention on research and development (R&D) that will bind member states to action and catalyze new knowledge for diseases that primarily affect the global poor but for which patents provide insufficient market incentives," a PLoS press release states.

17 May 2012

Researchers identify new biomarker and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified a new biomarker and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer, an often-fatal disease for which there is currently no reliable method for early detection or therapeutic intervention. The paper will be published May 15 in Cancer Research.

15 May 2012

Genetic cause of rare genetic disorder, Hamamy syndrome

Scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), in collaboration with doctors and scientists in Jordan, Turkey, Switzerland and USA, have identified the genetic cause of a birth defect known as Hamamy syndrome .

14 May 2012

Maternal gluten sensitivity may increase risk of schizophrenia in children

Babies born to women with sensitivity to gluten appear to be at increased risk for certain psychiatric disorders later in life, according to research by scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.

11 May 2012

SXC prices previously announced public offering of common shares

SXC Health Solutions Corp. announced today the pricing of its previously announced public offering of common shares. Under the offering, SXC will sell 5,200,000 of its common shares at a price to the public of $90.60 per share.

11 May 2012

HDL earns Gold Level award in AHA’s Fit-Friendly program

Health Diagnostic Laboratory has earned the Gold Level award in the American Heart Association's Fit-Friendly program for championing the health of employees and creating a culture of physical health and wellness within the workplace.

5 May 2012

SXC first quarter revenue increases 56% to $1.7 billion

SXC Health Solutions Corp., a leading provider of technology and pharmacy benefit management services, announces its financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012.

4 May 2012

Study uses brain data to predict how large populations will respond to ads

Advertisers and public health officials may be able to access hidden wisdom in the brain to more effectively sell their products and promote health and safety, UCLA neuroscientists report in the first study to use brain data to predict how large populations will respond to advertisements.

26 Apr 2012

New report on child health, education shows development aid's effectiveness

"In an age of austerity, when everyone is feeling the pinch, some question whether we should continue giving aid to poor countries," Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children U.K., writes in a Telegraph opinion piece.

18 Apr 2012

Medgenics seeks IND approval to initiate EPODURE Biopump Phase IIb anemia study in ESRD patients

Medgenics, Inc., the developer of a novel technology for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins in patients using their own tissue, today announced that it has filed an Investigational New Drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to initiate a Phase IIb multi-center, 100-patient clinical trial.

18 Apr 2012

Biologists decipher novel functions of metal-binding molecule nicotianamine

In order to survive, plants should take up neither too many nor too few minerals from the soil. New insights into how they operate this critical balance have now been published by biologists at the Ruhr-Universit-t in a series of three papers in the journal The Plant Cell. The researchers discovered novel functions of the metal-binding molecule nicotianamine.

16 Apr 2012

Preeclampsia Foundation to hold Promise Walks in May

May is Preeclampsia Awareness Month and to build awareness of preeclampsia, a life-threatening disorder of pregnancy and the post-partum period, thousands of families in 36 cities in the U.S. and Canada are participating in Promise Walks.

10 Apr 2012

Scientists uncover structure and operating mechanism of TPPII

Uncontrolled or inaccurate degradation of cellular proteins can lead to diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's disease. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, have now uncovered the structure and the operating mechanism of an important component of the human cellular degradation machinery, tripeptidyl peptidase II.

5 Apr 2012

OvaScience completes $37M Series B financing

OvaScience, a fertility company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel treatments for infertility, today announced that it has completed a $37 million Series B financing.

4 Apr 2012

Dohmen announces acquisition of BioSoteria

CEO Cynthia (Dohmen) LaConte announced today that the Dohmen Company has acquired BioSoteria, a leading provider of drug safety and risk management services to the biopharmaceutical industry.

4 Apr 2012

Nature journal publishes first volume of Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia

The goal of cancer treatment is to match the right drug to the right target in the right patient. But before such "personalized" drugs can be developed, more knowledge is needed about specific genomic alterations in cancers and their sensitivity to potential therapeutic agents.

29 Mar 2012

Chemistry team discovers environmentally-friendly iron-based nanoparticle catalysts

A chemistry team at the University of Toronto has discovered environmentally-friendly iron-based nanoparticle catalysts that work as well as the expensive, toxic, metal-based catalysts that are currently in wide use by the drug, fragrance and food industry.

28 Mar 2012

New textbook about child and adolescent behavioral health, primary care

Within the health care system, children and adolescents with mental health and psychiatric conditions often go undiagnosed.

16 Mar 2012

Report calls for compensation for people infected by HIV through illegal blood sales in China

A new report, "jointly published by the Korekata AIDS Law Center in Beijing and the U.S.-based non-governmental organization Asia Catalyst," calls for the Chinese government to conduct "a full and independent investigation into the number of people affected" by illegal blood selling in central China in the 1990s that helped to spread HIV, "an official apology to the people affected, as well as compensation," BMJ reports.

10 Mar 2012