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Deactivation of tau gene may help reverse memory loss in Alzheimer disease

Amyloid-beta and tau protein deposits in the brain are characteristic features of Alzheimer disease. The effect on the hippocampus, the area of the brain that plays a central role in learning and memory, is particularly severe. However, it appears that the toxic effect of tau protein is largely eliminated when the corresponding tau gene is switched off.

16 Feb 2011

Research: MEF2D protein in mitochondria appears to contribute early steps in Parkinson's disease

For the last several years, neurologists have been probing a connection between Parkinson's disease and problems with mitochondria, the miniature power plants of the cell.

15 Feb 2011

Researchers use computers to capture chemical signal structure that triggers metastatic cancer

In cancer and other pathological diseases, researchers are discovering that packaging is important: specifically, how DNA - about two meters long when unwound and stretched - coils up and compacts neatly inside the nucleus of a cell.

15 Feb 2011

Alexion fourth quarter net product sales of Soliris increases to $156.0 million

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2010. For the three months ended December 31, 2010, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported net product sales of Soliris® (eculizumab) of $156.0 million, reflecting strong additions of new patients, compared to $110.6 million for the same period in 2009.

10 Feb 2011

Physicist creates technology that may enhance pharma industry's early drug discovery capabilities

A Purdue physicist has created technology to detect motion inside three-dimensional tumor spheroids, which may enhance the pharmaceutical industry's early drug discovery capabilities.

10 Feb 2011

USPTO issues key patent to ISTO's NuQu product for degenerative disc disease treatment

ISTO Technologies, Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company a key patent covering the primary technology for ISTO's NuQu product.

7 Feb 2011

General Cannabis subsidiaries show expected success, growth in January 2011

The General Cannabis, Inc. subsidiaries are already showing expected success and growth in the year's first quarter.

5 Feb 2011

Defective nucleoli linked to Parkinson's disease

"Nucleolus", or small nucleus, is the term coined by early biologists for the tiny structure within the nucleus which they saw under the microscope. In this structure within the nucleus, RNA molecules and proteins are assembled to form ribosomes, the true protein factories of cells.

2 Feb 2011

Physicians suggest new target structure for deep brain stimulation

Nearly ten percent of all cases of depression are so severe that the patients do not respond to any established treatment method. Targeted stimulation of areas in the brain using a type of "brain pacemaker" has recently raised hopes: According to initial studies, half of patients with the most severe depression treated in this manner see a significant improvement in mood.

31 Jan 2011

Alexion announces acquisition of Taligen Therapeutics

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, announced that it has acquired Taligen Therapeutics, a privately held development-stage biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Mass.

31 Jan 2011

Omega-3 deficieny may play a role in neuropsychiatric disorders: Study

Researchers from Inserm and INRA and their collaborators in Spain collaboration, have studied mice fed on a diet low in omega-3 fatty acid. They discovered that reduced levels of omega-3 had deleterious consequences on synaptic functions and emotional behaviours.

30 Jan 2011

Human model of rare genetic disease reveals new clues to aging process

Scientists from A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) in Singapore and the University of Hong Kong's Department of Medicine have produced the world's first human cell model of progeria, a disease resulting in severe premature ageing in one in four to eight million children worldwide. This model has allowed them to make new discoveries concerning the mechanism by which progeria works.

25 Jan 2011

Researchers examine brain's role in breathing

Much of our knowledge of the brain's role in regulating breathing comes from research with mice and rats. A chemical receptor within the brain stem communicates with the central nervous system to generate the basic pattern of breathing. The next step is applying that information to human tissue to identify these critical components in the human brain and their medical implications.

21 Jan 2011

Researchers believe driver mutations promote development, growth of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is known to occur typically in older men. Yet some patients are younger than 50 years at the time of diagnosis. Scientists assume that these cases might be the key to understanding the biology of this disease. Early prostate cancer might be a subtype which is characterized by a relatively small number of genetic modifications.

21 Jan 2011

Scientists discover fundamental mechanism behind toxic protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases

Protein aggregation underlies several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's chorea or Parkinson's. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, now discovered a fundamental mechanism which explains how toxic protein aggregation occurs and why it leads to a widespread impairment of essential cellular functions.

20 Jan 2011

Malaria parasite caught in action on film for the first time

Australian researchers have managed to take pictures of microscopic malaria parasite as it invades a human red blood cell. This will provide a deeper understanding of the parasite’s behaviour and may help fight it. Up to 10% of the world’s population contract malaria every year and a million people, mostly pregnant women and children, die as a result of the parasite transmitted by infected mosquitoes.

19 Jan 2011

Scientists introduce DNA directly into cell nucleus using protein nanodisks

One of the challenges of gene therapy - a set of methodologies aimed at treating several nucleic acid diseases - is to assure that this material arrives directly to the nucleus of the cell without losing a substantial amount along the way and without producing any undesired side effects. With this aim, scientists experiment with the use of different types of vectors, molecules capable of transporting genetic material to the correct place.

12 Jan 2011

Mutated TDP-43 can cause neurons to die: Study

Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration are characterized by protein clumps in brain and spinal-cord cells that include an RNA-binding protein called TDP-43. This protein is the major building block of the lesions formed by these clumps.

6 Jan 2011

Unique vaccine produces long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice

Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Cornell University have produced a long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice by giving them a unique vaccine that combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine.

5 Jan 2011

Researchers develop unique vaccine that produces long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice