Protein News and Research

RSS

Proteins are complex molecules that are made up of amino acids. They can be found in every cell in the body, and carry out vital processes that keep human beings alive. Mutations in proteins can lead to a multitude of diseases, the most common being cancer.

Research: Gut bacteria may cause animals to gain weight

A species of gut bacteria called Clostridium ramosum, coupled with a high-fat diet, may cause animals to gain weight. The work is published this week in mBio-, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

30 Sep 2014

Researchers explain how molecular structure of the heart muscle changes in heart failure

In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, researchers at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry have explained how the function of a key protein in the heart changes in heart failure.

30 Sep 2014

PD-L1 protein could be a potential immunotherapy target for malignant pleural mesothelioma

Treating patients with high-dose radiotherapy after chemotherapy and surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma does not achieve improvements in local relapse and overall survival, according to data from a prospective randomized phase II trial presented at ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid.

30 Sep 2014

Finding ways to rejuvenate "immunological age" of the brain

How the brain ages is still largely an open question - in part because this organ is mostly insulated from direct contact with other systems in the body, including the blood and immune systems. In research that was recently published in Science, Weizmann Institute researchers Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department and Dr. Ido Amit of Immunology Department found evidence of a unique "signature" that may be the "missing link" between cognitive decline and aging.

30 Sep 2014

Arisaph Pharmaceuticals receives STTR grants to develop cancer drug candidates

Arisaph Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on discovery and development of novel therapies for cardiometabolic diseases and cancer, announced today that it has been awarded a phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant and a supplemental phase I grant, both from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

29 Sep 2014

Protein Sciences releases Flublok influenza vaccine for the 2014/2015 season

Protein Sciences Corporation, manufacturer of the revolutionary Flublok influenza vaccine, announced today that doses of the vaccine have been released and are now available for shipment.

29 Sep 2014

Dabrafenib shows significant anti-tumour activity in BRAF V600E mutant non-small cell lung cancer

The BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib has significant anti-tumour activity in patients with advanced BRAF V600E mutant non-small cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed after chemotherapy, according to phase II data presented at the ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid, Spain.

29 Sep 2014

FDA grants multiple Orphan Drug Designations for CytRx's aldoxorubicin

CytRx Corporation, a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted multiple Orphan Drug Designations for the Company's lead drug candidate, aldoxorubicin, in three indications: glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), small cell lung cancer and ovarian cancer.

29 Sep 2014

Early detection of cancers on the horizon with supersensitive nanodevice

Extremely early detection of cancers and other diseases is on the horizon with a supersensitive nanodevice being developed at The University of Alabama in Huntsville in collaboration with The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro, NC.

29 Sep 2014

Scientists discover mechanism that resists cancer drugs in estrogen-positive breast cancer

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown mechanism by which estrogen prepares cells to divide, grow and, in the case of estrogen-positive breast cancers, resist cancer drugs. The researchers say the work reveals new targets for breast cancer therapy and will help doctors predict which patients need the most aggressive treatment.

29 Sep 2014

Emergency or disaster preparedness begins at home

Preparedness for an emergency or disaster begins at home. That's the message officials are trying to convey during September, which is National Preparedness Month.

29 Sep 2014

Study provides support for new understanding of the immune system

A study published in the journal Science provides support for a new-and still controversial-understanding of the immune system. The research was conducted by collaborators in the U.S. and Europe, including Robert Cramer, PhD, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the Geisel School of Medicine and member of the Dartmouth Lung Biology Center, and Kelly Shepherdson, PhD, at the time a graduate student in Cramer's lab.

29 Sep 2014

Crizotinib drug effectively halts growth of ROS1-positive lung tumors

Treatment with the targeted therapy drug crizotinib effectively halts the growth of lung tumors driven by rearrangements of the ROS1 gene. In an article receiving Online First publication in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with a presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting, an international research team reports that crizotinib treatment led to significant tumor shrinkage in 36 of 50 study participants and suppressed tumor growth in another 9.

29 Sep 2014

Scientists discover sign of early development of pancreatic cancer

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other institutions have discovered a sign of the early development of pancreatic cancer - an upsurge in certain amino acids that occurs before the disease is diagnosed and symptoms appear.

29 Sep 2014

NJHF awards grant to help launch drug discovery facility at Rutgers University

In its continuing effort to advance the biomedical sciences, New Jersey Health Foundation has awarded a pivotal $35,000 grant to the Office of Translational Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, to help launch a Fragment Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) core facility.

29 Sep 2014

Cedars-Sinai to participate in a consortium studying motor neuron disorders

Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to participate in a consortium taking the study of motor neuron disorders - such as Lou Gehrig's disease and spinal muscular atrophy - to a new, comprehensive perspective.

26 Sep 2014

MIT researchers use disarmed version of anthrax toxin to deliver cancer drugs

Bacillus anthracis bacteria have very efficient machinery for injecting toxic proteins into cells, leading to the potentially deadly infection known as anthrax. A team of MIT researchers has now hijacked that delivery system for a different purpose: administering cancer drugs.

26 Sep 2014

Imperial scientists map proteins affected by NMT enzyme, suggest potential way to treat cancer

Imperial chemists have gained fresh insights into how a disease-causing enzyme makes changes to proteins and how it can be stopped.

26 Sep 2014

UMass Amherst cell biologists propose new detailed cytokinesis model

Along with copying and splitting DNA during division, cells must have a way to break safely into two viable daughter cells, a process called cytokinesis. But the molecular basis of how plant cells accomplish this without mistakes has been unclear for many years.

26 Sep 2014