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Researchers use diabetes drug to permanently reprogram insulin-producing cells

Pediatric researchers who tested newborn animals with an existing human drug used in adults with diabetes report that this drug, when given very early in life, prevents diabetes from developing in adult animals. If this finding can be repeated in humans, it may become a way to prevent at-risk infants from developing type 2 diabetes.

3 Nov 2011

Fat cells play a major role in mediating ovarian cancer metastasis

A large pad of fat cells that extends from the stomach and covers the intestines provides nutrients that promote the spread and growth of ovarian cancer, reports a research team based at the University of Chicago in the journal Nature Medicine, published online October 30th, 2011.

31 Oct 2011

Platform approach to chemically incorporate homing receptors onto surface of cells

Stem cell therapies hold enormous potential to address some of the most tragic illnesses, diseases, and tissue defects world-wide. However, the inability to target cells to tissues of interest poses a significant barrier to effective cell therapy.

28 Oct 2011

International diabetes researchers to engineer artificial pancreas system

The National Institutes for Health (NIH) have awarded $4.5 million to a group of international diabetes researchers to engineer an artificial pancreas system that will monitor and adapt to the body's complex real-time changes in behavior and physiology.

27 Oct 2011

New form of respiratory distress syndrome in newborn mice

A discovery by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies might explain why some premature infants fail to respond to existing treatments for a deadly respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and offers clues for new ways to treat the breathing disorder.

19 Oct 2011

National award encourages bio-science student researchers

A key challenge for the bio-sciences sector is to keep its best research graduates in science and in Australia. The national student awards recognise and encourage promising research students and raise awareness of biosciences research translation and applications.

17 Oct 2011

Myths and misconceptions about diabetes

November is designated American Diabetes Month and while raising awareness this month about preventing diabetes is important, focusing on proper treatment is just as important for those living with the disease.

15 Oct 2011

BCL11A protein might serve as potential target for sickle cell disease

Flipping a single molecular switch can reverse illness in a model of sickle cell disease, according to a study by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. When turned off, the switch, a protein called BCL11A, allows the body to manufacture red blood cells with an alternate form of hemoglobin unaffected by the mutation that causes the disease.

14 Oct 2011

Researchers identify age-dependent beta cell proliferation pathway

As a person ages, the ability of their beta cells to divide and make new beta cells declines. By the time children reach the age of 10 to 12 years, the ability of their insulin-producing cells to replicate greatly diminishes. If these cells, called beta cells, are destroyed-as they are in type 1 diabetes-treatment with the hormone insulin becomes essential to regulate blood glucose levels and get energy from food.

13 Oct 2011

Study identifies new classes of breast stem cells responsible for mammary gland development

Publication in Nature advanced on line publication : researchers at the Université libre de Bruxelles, ULB identify distinct types of stem cells that contribute to mammary gland development and maintenance.

10 Oct 2011

Lung immune cells orchestrate the body's repair response following flu infection

There's more than one way to mop up after a flu infection. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in Nature Immunology that a previously unrecognized population of lung immune cells orchestrate the body's repair response following flu infection.

4 Oct 2011

Asthmatic kids with type 1 diabetes have tougher time maintaining healthy sugar levels: Study

The reason why asthma might complicate pediatric diabetes care remains unclear, however, and is “something that needs to be explored more,” said Dr. Anita Swamy, a pediatric endocrinologist and medical director of the Chicago Children's Diabetes Center at La Rabida Children's Hospital in Chicago. She was not involved in the new study. The study appears in the October issue of Pediatrics.

27 Sep 2011

Gold nanowires in engineered cardiac patches could help heart attack patients

A team of physicians, engineers and materials scientists at Children's Hospital Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used nanotechnology and tiny gold wires to engineer cardiac patches, with cells all beating in time, that could someday help heart attack patients.

26 Sep 2011

Cedars-Sinai inaugurates new facility to generate induced pluripotent stem cells

The Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute has opened a new Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Core Facility to produce powerful cells capable of making all tissues of the body from adult human skin cells.

23 Sep 2011

Uterine stem cells could help treat diabetes

Controlling diabetes may someday involve mining stem cells from the lining of the uterus, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a new study published in the journal Molecular Therapy.

15 Sep 2011

Rac1 protein triggers growth of long 'legs' that could propel melanoma cells to spread

Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered that a protein called Rac1 prompts pigment cells to sprout long 'legs' that could propel skin cancer cells, allowing them to spread, according to research published in Developmental Cell today.

15 Sep 2011

Researchers identify glucokinase triggers beta cell regeneration in pancreas

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have identified the key signal that prompts production of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas -- a breakthrough discovery that may ultimately help researchers find ways to restore or increase beta cell function in people with type 1 diabetes.

12 Sep 2011

Lund University professor receives Fernström Foundation Nordic Prize for brain cell transplants

This year's Fernström Foundation Nordic Prize, with prize money of SEK 1 million, goes to Professor Anders Björklund from Lund University, Sweden. He is a neurology researcher focusing on neurodegenerative diseases, diseases in which the nerve cells die. Professor Björklund's research group is trying to develop customised stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease.

12 Sep 2011

New guidelines for treatment of melanoma

Based on an extensive review of scientific literature and the recommendations of recognized melanoma experts, the American Academy of Dermatology (Academy) has released updated evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

8 Sep 2011

Scientists uncover new ways to stimulate pancreatic beta cell growth

One of the holy grails in diabetes research is to discover molecules that stimulate beta cell growth and to find drugs that target these molecules. Now, JDRF-funded researchers in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche, have done both, discovering not only a protein that regulates beta cell growth, but also a chemical compound that stimulates it.

7 Sep 2011