Biotechnology News and Research

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Potential target to treat deadly bloodstream infections

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a possible target to treat bloodstream bacterial infections.

28 Feb 2008

Using microorganisms to remove trichloroethene from water

In 2002, Bruce Rittmann, PhD, director of the Biodesign Institute's Center for Environmental Biotechnology, received a patent for an innovative way to use nature to lend society a hand.

28 Feb 2008

Springer launches 18,000 searchable online protocols in life sciences and biomedicine

Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) has announced the release of Springer Protocols, a protocol database of more than 18,000 searchable online protocols in life sciences and biomedicine.

28 Feb 2008

Hormones produced by the heart eliminate pancreatic cancer in mice

Hormones produced by the heart eliminated human pancreatic cancer in more than three-quarters of the mice treated with the hormones and eliminated human breast cancer in two-thirds of the mice, according to researcher David Vesely, a doctor at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and a professor at the University of South Florida (USF).

27 Feb 2008

New chemical tool kit manipulates mitochondria, reveals insights into drug toxicity

Why do nearly 1 million people taking cholesterol-lowering statins often experience muscle cramps? Why is it that in the rare case when a diabetic takes medication for intestinal worms, his glucose levels improve? Is there any scientific basis for the purported health effects of green tea?

26 Feb 2008

XYNTHA approved for teatment of hemophilia A by FDA

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth ( NYSE:WYE) , announced today that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for XYNTHA(TM) (Antihemophilic Factor [Recombinant], Plasma/Albumin-Free), a recombinant factor VIII product, for patients with hemophilia A for both the control and prevention of bleeding episodes and surgical prophylaxis.

22 Feb 2008

Biochemists reveal details of mysterious bacterial microcompartments

UCLA biochemists and colleagues have answered an important question about the structure of microcompartments - the mysterious molecular machines that seem to be present in a wide variety of pathogens and other bacteria.

21 Feb 2008

Minocycline antibiotic may prevent Japanese encephalitis

Two researchers from National Brain Research Center (NBRC) suggest that a common antibiotic called minocycline may prevent children from death due to Japanese encephalitis (JE), or commonly known as brain fever.

20 Feb 2008

New blood test six times more effective for tuberculosis control

In a landmark study electronically published today in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a blood test for detecting TB infection, QuantiFERON(R)-TB Gold (QFT), has been shown to be six times more accurate than the conventional tuberculin skin test (TST) at predicting which tuberculosis (TB)-exposed individuals will go on to develop TB disease.

18 Feb 2008

Drug delivery straight to the brain

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth have won nearly half a million pounds to try and develop a way of allowing drugs to be delivered straight to the brain.

14 Feb 2008

Avastin cancer drug does well in breast cancer study

A new study on the cancer drug Avastin has found that when the drug is combined with chemotherapy it slowed down the progression of breast cancer.

13 Feb 2008

Potential method for repairing misspelling in DNA code that causes spinal muscular atrophy

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered a novel technique - that acts like a "spell-checker" for correcting a misspelling in the DNA code - to repair the defective gene that causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

12 Feb 2008

Funding boost for research into epilepsy and hearing loss

Two research projects at the University of Bristol have been awarded over £600,000 in total, to help provide greater understanding of epilepsy, the most common serious primary brain disorder in the UK

11 Feb 2008

Revelation of new genes linked to prostate cancer could single out high risk men

The discovery by researchers of at least ten new genes associated with prostate cancer could in future be used to accurately identify high-risk men.

11 Feb 2008

Respiration device for detecting early-stage respiratory irregularities in premature babies

A start-up company is developing a novel, non-invasive device for detecting early-stage respiratory irregularities in premature babies, children and adults receiving ICU care.

8 Feb 2008

Scientists create fluorescent proteins for live cell imaging, biosensor design

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center have developed new "fluorogen activating proteins" (FAPs) that will become a key component of novel molecular biosensor technology being created at Carnegie Mellon.

7 Feb 2008

Study suggests Risperidone long-acting injection combined with standard treatment helped delay time to relapse in patients with bipolar disorder

Patients with frequently relapsing bipolar disorder had a significant delay in the time to an initial relapse when risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) was combined with standard treatment, according to a new study. The study compared patients who received RLAI and standard treatment to those who received standard treatment combined with placebo.

4 Feb 2008