Molecular Biology News and Research

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Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.

MqsA and MqsR protein complex can disrupt drug-resistant biofilm formation

When a foreign object such as a catheter enters the body, bacteria may not only invade it but also organize into a slick coating - a biofilm - that is highly resistant to antibiotics. Like sophisticated organized crime rings, biofilms cannot be defeated by a basic approach of conventional means. Instead doctors and drug developers need sophisticated new intelligence that reveals the key players in the network and how they operate. New research led by biologists at Brown University provides exactly that dossier on some key proteins in the iconic bacterium E. coli.

11 Nov 2010

Immunologix partners with Genscript to develop human antibody therapeutics

Immunologix, Inc, a Charleston, SC biotechnology company and a leader in fully human therapeutic antibodies for a variety of diseases and GenScript, a contract research organization (CRO) based in Piscataway, NJ and the industry leader in bio-reagent services, assay development & screening, lead optimization, and antibody drug development, announced today that the companies have formed a strategic partnership to offer a complete platform for producing human antibody therapeutics.

10 Nov 2010

Albert Einstein researcher receives Medal of Honor from American Cancer Society

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University researcher Jeffrey Pollard, Ph.D., has received the prestigious Medal of Honor in Basic Science from the American Cancer Society (ACS) in recognition of his research into the critical role the tumor microenvironment plays in modulating cancer behavior, specifically the role that members of the innate immune cells called macrophages play both in normal development and in promoting tumor progression. These macrophages could hold the key to more targeted cancer treatments.

10 Nov 2010

Innovative method for in-cell gene manipulation

A cross-disciplinary Small Medicine and Advanced Research Translation (SMART) team led by Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh of Institute of Oral Medicine in Medical College at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, has announced a breakthrough in the precision in-cell gene scission at pre-designed sequence sites using Artificial Targeting Light Activated Nano Scissors (ATLANS) and a custom build photonic device.

9 Nov 2010

New TB-drugome may help identify protein targets for tuberculosis

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the University of Leeds have linked hundreds of federally approved drugs to more than 1,000 proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), opening new avenues to repurpose these drugs to treat TB.

9 Nov 2010

Crescendo Bioscience launches multi-biomarker blood test for RA

Crescendo Bioscience announced today the commercial launch of Vectra DA, its first-in-class multi-biomarker blood test designed to aid physicians in managing patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Vectra DA analyzes 12 key serum biomarkers to produce a single objective score that quantifies RA disease activity.

8 Nov 2010

Agilent announces solution for exon analysis based on SurePrint G3 Exon Microarrays

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced a solution for exon analysis based on SurePrint G3 Exon Microarrays. The solution provides a major expansion of Agilent's portfolio of gene expression reagents, microarrays and bioinformatics systems. This new system, available in mid-November, enables researchers to examine alternately expressed exons according to recently updated content, providing a global picture of RNA expression.

4 Nov 2010

Beginner's guide to cancer

An academic from The University of Nottingham has written the first introductory guide to cancer, covering everything from the biology of the disease and why some people are more at risk of developing it than others, to the latest research into prevention, treatment and cure.

4 Nov 2010

Modified sugar compound protects against world's deadliest viruses

When a team of European researchers sought to discover how a class of antiviral drugs worked, they looked in an unlikely place: the sugar dish. A new research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that a purified and modified form of a simple sugar chain may stop fast-acting and deadly viruses, such as Ebola, Lassa, or Marburg viruses, in their tracks.

4 Nov 2010

Researchers reveal molecular structure of blood-clotting enzyme

Using state-of-the-art robotic and x-ray crystallographic equipment, researchers at Saint Louis University have revealed for the first time the molecular structure of the zymogen, or inactive, form of a blood-clotting enzyme.

3 Nov 2010

Virus fighting just got a new boost

In a ground breaking study in the UK researchers have identified a previously unknown mechanism that allows the immune system to fight viruses even after they have infected cells. Until now it was believed that antibodies can act only before the virus enters the cells. The team now has found that antibodies that attached themselves to a virus were able to follow it into cells and help to destroy the virus before it started to reproduce. This could open up new avenues of therapy.

2 Nov 2010

Cold Spring Harbor Protocols features standard and cutting-edge imaging laboratory techniques

Imaging has rapidly become a defining tool of the current era in biological research. But finding the right method and optimizing it for data collection can be a daunting process, even for an established imaging laboratory. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols is one of the world's leading sources for detailed technical instruction for implementation of imaging methods, and the November issue features articles detailing standard and cutting-edge laboratory techniques.

2 Nov 2010

African Americans more likely to have uterine cancer recurrence

African Americans are more likely to have a recurrence of uterine cancer despite undergoing a total hysterectomy or a hysterectomy followed by radiation therapy, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

2 Nov 2010

BioCancell's Phase I/IIa clinical trial of BC-819 shows positive result for pancreatic cancer

BioCancell, a developer of anti-cancer drugs, announced success in attaining the goals of its Phase I/IIa clinical trial of BC-819 as a treatment for pancreatic cancer, which demonstrated an excellent safety profile and preliminary efficacy.

2 Nov 2010

Valeant, Kadmon enter strategic agreement for taribavirin and ribavirin

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. and Kadmon Pharmaceuticals LLC have concluded two strategic agreements for the development and commercialization of taribavirin and the commercial marketing of ribavirin in the treatment of viral diseases, including hepatitis C virus (HCV).

1 Nov 2010

Scientists use electron microscopes to study mechanism of perforin protein to punch holes in rogue cells

Scientists from the UK and Australia have seen the human immune system's assassin a protein called perforin in action for the first time. The UK team, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Wellcome Trust, is based at Birkbeck College where they used powerful electron microscopes to study the mechanism that perforin uses to punch holes in rogue cells.

1 Nov 2010

EUCOMMTOOLS partners to receive 12 million euros research funding from European Commission

The findings will contribute to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of widespread diseases such as Alzheimer's, depression, diabetes, chronic lung diseases or cancer. Over the next five years, the eight EUCOMMTOOLS partners, coordinated by Professor Wolfgang Wurst of Helmholtz Zentrum M-nchen, will receive research funding amounting to approximately 12 million euros from the European Commission.

29 Oct 2010

Future of health reform legislation and voting for Congressional elections

A comprehensive review of national opinion polls, including newly released data, shows that those who say they intend to vote for a Democratic congressional candidate in 2010 and those who say they intend to vote for a Republican in their district hold starkly different views of what they want the future of health reform legislation to be, mirroring the divide between Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress on this issue.

28 Oct 2010

World's largest research initiative to mutate all mouse genes

The world's largest research initiative to mutate all mouse genes is now able to reach the summit because the ambitious EUCOMMTOOLS project started on October 1, 2010. This project is being coordinated by Helmholtz Zentrum München and will finalize the groundwork for the analysis of all mouse gene functions. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of widespread diseases such as Alzheimer's, depression, diabetes, chronic lung diseases or cancer.

28 Oct 2010

USPTO rejects patent claims asserted against Precision BioSciences

Precision BioSciences, Inc., today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has issued Final Decisions and Right of Appeal Notices in the reexamination proceedings for U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,833252, 7,214,536, 6,610,545 and 7,309,605 that are owned by the Institut Pasteur and the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, and licensed to Cellectis, SA (ALCLS).

28 Oct 2010