Cellular Biology News and Research

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Lack of a gene called LBP-1a in the embryo prevents normal growth of blood vessels in the placenta

The lack of a gene called LBP-1a in the mouse embryo prevents normal growth of blood vessels in the placenta. This finding suggests that a similar defect in humans could play a role in fetal growth retardation, infant mortality and spontaneous abortion.

6 Aug 2004

Promising new cancer drug, Nanotax

A Lawrence company that uses patented technology created at the University of Kansas to improve the effectiveness of drugs has won a $100,000 National Institutes of Health grant to support further testing of the company's promising new cancer drug, Nanotax.

5 Aug 2004

Recommendation against the use of chemotherapy sensitivity and resistance assays

A new technology assessment from the American Society of Clinical Oncology states that the use of chemotherapy sensitivity and resistance assays (CSRAs) to select chemotherapeutic agents for cancer patients should not be undertaken outside of the clinical trial setting.

3 Aug 2004

Transplanted cells are capable of surviving in the brain of immunosuppressed stroked rats

Human neural stem cells proprietary to StemCells, Inc. have been used in a Stanford University study in a preclinical stroke model.

29 Jul 2004

Further evidence about how estrogen helps activate breast cancer

A UC Irvine researcher has found a novel tumor- suppressor function for a gene that, when mutated, often triggers breast cancer in women.

29 Jul 2004

Leptin's fat-burning role in humans

For nearly a decade, scientists have known that leptin plays an important fat-burning role in humans. But the map of leptin's path through the body – the key to understanding how and why the hormone works – is still incomplete.

27 Jul 2004

Cancer Research Technology grants exclusive license to Genentech to patent portfolio of an oncology target

Cancer Research Technology announced today that it has entered into a license agreement granting Genentech, Inc. exclusive worldwide rights to its patent portfolio covering an oncology target discovered in the Molecular Oncology Laboratory (Oxford) of Cancer Research UK.

21 Jul 2004

8.5 million Euros to address a fundamental question on mitosis: How is cell division regulated?

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) join forces with top scientists from eleven research institutes in Austria, Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom for “MitoCheck” – the largest integrated research project on cell cycle control within the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme (FP6).

15 Jul 2004

Targeted therapeutics capable of preventing or limiting the metastasis of skin cancer

An international team of scientists has identified an important molecular link involved in the spread – or metastasis – of melanoma to other organs such as the lungs.

15 Jul 2004

Identification of a naturally occurring genetic difference that controls the production of serotonin in the brain

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have provided the first direct evidence in mice for the role of an enzyme that specifically controls the production of serotonin in the brain.

8 Jul 2004

World’s leading experts to attend International Human Embryonic Stem Cell Symposium

The Centre for Stem Cell Biology (CSCB) at the University of Sheffield is welcoming some of the world’s leading experts to its International Human Embryonic Stem Cell Symposium on Friday 9 July 2004.

8 Jul 2004

Type of cellular stress called osmotic stress is critical to cell growth and the body’s immune response against infection

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have determined that a particular type of cellular stress called osmotic stress is of critical importance to cell growth and the body’s immune response against infection.

7 Jul 2004

Key proteins that regulate neurofibromatosis could be targets for new drugs

More than 100,000 Americans suffer from the painful and debilitating genetic disorder known as neurofibromatosis, or NF, which causes tumors to grow in various types of nerve tissue throughout the body.

7 Jul 2004

Protein controls acid in cells by direct detection of volume changes

A protein responsible for regulating acid levels within cells - and pumping out acid accumulated in cardiac cells after a heart attack - activates in direct response to changes in a cell's volume, according to a new study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

5 Jul 2004

Molecular biologists find chink in the armor of Candida, the most common human fungal pathogen

Molecular biologists at Rice University have discovered a key defense mechanism that the yeast Candida albicans uses against attack by the human immune system.

26 Jun 2004

New centre of excellence to develop stem cell treatments for diabetes and diseases of the brain

New centre of excellence at the University of Cambridge to develop stem cell treatments for diabetes and diseases of the brain, including Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

21 Jun 2004

First license to begin research involving therapeutic cloning

A special licensing committee of the UK Human Fertilization & Embryology Authority (HFEA) met on June 16 in London to decide whether to grant a license to scientists at The Center for Life at Newcastle University.

20 Jun 2004

Possible therapeutic approach to lowering LDL cholesterol and homocysteine levels

Canadian scientists report that mice genetically altered so as to lack either of the two different pathways through which humans, mice, and other animals provide lipids for high density and low density lipoproteins (HDL and LDL) did not appear to suffer any ill effects. But animals from both groups had markedly lower levels of cholesterol in their blood stream.

14 Jun 2004

People with extremely early or extremely late sleep times may suffer from Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder

You probably know "night owls," those people not ready to fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning. And, you may also know "larks," those early risers who wake before the sun comes up and are ready for bed right after dinner. People with extremely early or extremely late sleep times may suffer from Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder (CRSD).

11 Jun 2004

Bone marrow stem cells exposed to damaged liver tissue quickly convert into healthy liver cells

Bone marrow stem cells, when exposed to damaged liver tissue, can quickly convert into healthy liver cells and help repair the damaged organ, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

2 Jun 2004