Peptides News and Research

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Viragen and University of Miami to advance anti-cancer study

Viragen, Inc. today announced that the Company extended its agreement with the University of Miami and UM/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop a novel form of an immune enhancing drug (IEP 11) that has shown promise in animal studies by inhibiting tumor growth in a broad range of cancers.

12 May 2004

Australian researchers are working on a vaccine to prevent rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease

The Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) Australia, is working on a vaccine to prevent rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease are a secondary complication of a bacterial infection.

12 May 2004

Strategy to treat obesity through molecular liposuction

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have designed a strategy to treat obesity through “molecular liposuction.” The therapy destroys blood vessels supporting fat accumulation — causing the fat to rapidly break down and disappear.

10 May 2004

Organic superglues, disease treatments and better food flavourings

Organic superglues, disease treatments and better food flavourings: these are some of the projects where synthetic organic chemist Carol Taylor employs her skills.

5 May 2004

First imaging-based diagnostic test for living Alzheimer’s

Mayo Clinic researchers have devised a way to produce enhanced MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) pictures of the destructive brain lesions that cause Alzheimer’s disease. This advance using laboratory mice lays the foundation for the first imaging-based diagnostic test for living Alzheimer’s disease patients.

30 Apr 2004

Helix BioMedix announces positive results of comparative product anti-wrinkle study

Helix BioMedix today announced that it has completed a 12-week consumer product test comparing the company's anti-wrinkle peptide, HB168 with Renova(R), a currently marketed FDA approved product.

27 Apr 2004

Researchers make millions upon millions of drug-like peptides quickly and efficiently

Two Johns Hopkins scientists have figured out a simple way to make millions upon millions of drug-like peptides quickly and efficiently, overcoming a major hurdle to creating and screening huge "libraries" of these super-short proteins for use in drug development.

23 Apr 2004

A promising new therapy for rheumatoid arthritis

A promising new therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine re-educates the body's immune system to prevent an attack against healthy joint tissue.

21 Apr 2004

Possible new treatment strategy for Alzheimer's disease

A new study in mice identifies one of the missing steps in how Alzheimer's develops and suggests a possible new treatment strategy, according to researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College and their colleagues.

16 Apr 2004

Cancer-specific protein offers new target for the development of melanoma vaccine

Scientists from the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative (CVC) have discovered that the cancer-specific protein, SSX-2, induces a spontaneous immunological reaction against cancer cells in melanoma patients, offering a new target for the development of a therapeutic melanoma vaccine. SSX-2 is the prototype of the SSX family, and is part of a larger group of proteins known as cancer/testis (CT) antigens.

16 Apr 2004

Protein identification gets a speed boost

But the labor intensity of the procedure is now a thing of the past for researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. The Proteomics Shared Resource, an unassuming but state-of-the-art lab on the fifth floor of OHSU's Medical Research Building, can process more than three times as many protein samples in half a day, and much of it can be done by one person.

14 Apr 2004

Protein sequences harder to predict than originally thought

Scientists have believed for decades that the sequencing of the human genome would automatically yield the sequences of proteins, the functional products of genes, and thus lead to the unraveling of the mechanisms behind human cell biology and disease.

12 Apr 2004

Gene therapy helps damaged heart cells regain strength and beat normally

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College and Duke University have used gene therapy to help damaged heart cells regain strength and beat normally again in the laboratory. The work takes the scientists one step closer to eventual clinical trials in humans.

12 Apr 2004

New microgel could potentially recover any enzyme and save manufacturers considerable money

Carnegie Mellon University scientists have employed biological molecules to create a microgel that could recover costly enzymes for repeated use in catalyzing commercially important reactions. The microgel could potentially recover any enzyme and theoretically save manufacturers considerable money.

8 Apr 2004

Genetic trick makes gene therapy vectors more versatile

A genetic trick used by viruses to replicate themselves has been adapted for laboratory use to build complex protein structures required by immune system cells, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

7 Apr 2004

Phase 3 study of drug teduglutide in patients with short bowel syndrome

Teduglutide is an analog of glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2), a naturally occurring hormone that regulates the growth, proliferation and maintenance of cells lining the gastrointestinal tract. Teduglutide has been shown in animal studies and previous human clinical trials to increase the size and number of these cells, thereby increasing the absorptive surface area of the intestines.

6 Apr 2004

Compounds that may stop replication of T-cell leukemia virus

Researchers are analyzing several compounds that may inhibit the enzyme that is essential for the reproduction of the Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 (HTLV-I), which has infected 15 to 20 million people worldwide. The virus causes the fatal adult T-cell leukemia in up to 10 percent of those infected.

1 Apr 2004

£1.6m for research into a possible cure for muscular dystrophy

A consortium which includes Oxford researchers has won £1.6m in government funding for ground-breaking research into a possible cure for muscular dystrophy.

30 Mar 2004

A peptide called magainin, found in the skin of the African clawed frog, holds the secret to creating bacteria-killing surfaces

A peptide called magainin, first found in the skin of the African clawed frog, holds the secret to creating bacteria-killing surfaces, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The Penn scientists have taken a joint experimental-computational approach to mimicking magainin.

30 Mar 2004

Researchers tap modified plant viruses to ward off cervical cancer-causing infections

New vaccinations to prevent infections that lead to cervical cancer and targeted therapeutics aimed at breast cancer were examples of research highlights presented by scientists today at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Scientists described advances that feed into the drug development 'pipeline,' and show strong promise for controlling existing tumors or addressing the pathogen that causes tumors.

29 Mar 2004