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British scientist wins NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) announced today that a British stem cell scientist working to cure blindness will be the first recipient of The New York Stem Cell Foundation - Robertson Prize in Stem Cell Research, a $200,000 prize awarded annually for extraordinary achievement in translational stem cell research.

12 Oct 2011

Neuroscience 2011 conference to held in Washington

New research findings about the brain, nervous system, and related disorders will be presented at Neuroscience 2011 in Washington, Nov. 12-16. Among the many findings are how the brain adapts during development, learning, and decision-making; how genes and the environment work in tandem to influence behavior and disease; and how novel science is changing the understanding of pain, mental illness, and aging.

12 Oct 2011

Do weight-loss incentive programs actually work?

Such experiments live at the nexus of cost-benefit analysis, behavioral psychology and the obesity crisis. The best programs are carefully calculated to exploit human nature: our love of a windfall, the risk of losing a small but significant financial stake, the camaraderie of a team effort, the heat of competition. All in the hope it may push us to do something difficult and unpleasant: shed pounds.

12 Oct 2011

Angle-resolved low coherence interferometry can diagnose pre-cancerous colon cells

After demonstrating that light accurately detected pre-cancerous cells in the lining of the esophagus, Duke University bioengineers turned their technology to the colon and have achieved similar results in a series of preliminary experiments.

12 Oct 2011

FDA grants Advaxis pre-IND meeting for ADXS-HER2 cancer immunotherapy

Advaxis, Inc., a leader in developing the next generation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, has been granted a pre-Investigational New Drug meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on November 22nd, 2011 to discuss the initial clinical development plan for ADXS-HER2, a construct for the treatment of HER2 expressing cancers.

12 Oct 2011

GOP candidates prepare for debate; Romney appears to be everyone's target

The Republican presidential hopefuls will face off Tuesday evening in New Hampshire. Even before the event begins, candidates are staking their ground. Texas Gov. Rick Perry went on the offensive, releasing a web video attacking former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney's health care positions. Meanwhile, the debate will be very important to Herman Cain, who has been climbing in the polls, and Michele Bachmann, who has fallen precipitously.

12 Oct 2011

AFFiRiS receives MJFF grant for clinical study of AFFITOPE PD01

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) today announced that it has awarded $1.5 million to AFFiRiS AG, a Vienna, Austria-based biotech company, for a clinical study of AFFITOPE PD01, a first-of-its-kind Parkinson's disease (PD) vaccine.

12 Oct 2011

NCCN Oncology Research Program wins two GSK grants

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network Oncology Research Program (ORP) has been awarded $4 million in the form of two research grants from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to develop studies to scientifically evaluate and define GSK2118436, a BRAF inhibitor, and GSK1120212, a MEK1 and MEK2 inhibitor. Previous research has indicated that BRAF mutations are strong targets for therapies in the treatment of advanced melanoma.

12 Oct 2011

Idera announces new data on novel gene-silencing oligonucleotide technology

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today presented new data on its novel gene-silencing oligonucleotide (GSO) technology at the Cell Symposium on Regulatory RNAs in Chicago, IL.

12 Oct 2011

A 'one-size-fits-all' approach to mental health leads to global 'diagnostic inflation'

In this Globalist opinion piece, Ian Dowbiggin, an author and professor of history at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada, examines the issue of "diagnostic inflation" within the psychiatry field in the last half century and how, "as Ethan Watters and others have argued, lately American psychiatry has been exporting its diagnoses and treatments to other cultures, 'homogenizing how the world goes mad.'"

12 Oct 2011

Endocrine Society releases clinical practice guideline on continuous glucose monitoring

Patients with diabetes face daily challenges in managing their blood glucose levels, and it has been postulated that patients could benefit from a system providing continuous real-time glucose readings. Today, The Endocrine Society released a clinical practice guideline (CPG) providing recommendations on settings where patients are most likely to benefit from continuous glucose monitoring.

12 Oct 2011

Roundup: Calif. insurer's Avastin decision; Kansas dental care; Gov. Brown vetoes nursing bill

Blue Shield of California will stop covering new Avastin prescriptions for breast cancer patients starting Oct. 17. Patients already on the drug will still be covered, and exceptions could be made for individual cases reviewed by a panel of cancer experts. The not-for-profit insurer cited an unprecedented vote by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel that found the drug was not effective enough against breast cancer to risk its potentially dangerous side effects.

12 Oct 2011

Life Technologies launches Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Panel

Life Technologies Corporation today announced the launch of the Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Panel, enabling scientists to sequence dozens of genes in cancer research samples using a simple workflow.

12 Oct 2011

NIH, Genesis Biopharma enter Patent License Agreement for adoptive cell therapy

Genesis Biopharma, Inc., a biotechnology company developing targeted cancer immunotherapies, today announced it has entered into a Patent License Agreement with the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Public Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services

12 Oct 2011

ASHG to honor U of U geneticist with William Allan Award

As a teenager just moved to Iowa from war-ravaged Germany in 1951, John M. Opitz, M.D., wanted to study developmental biology, but his "very Prussian" mother insisted he go to medical school instead.

12 Oct 2011

Shield commences two ST10 Phase 3 studies in iron deficiency anaemia

Shield Therapeutics (Shield), the independent specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of late-stage, mineral-derived hospital pharmaceuticals which address areas of high unmet medical need, today announced that the first patients have been treated in the two Phase 3 clinical studies of ST10 for the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) in subjects with inflammatory bowel disease.

12 Oct 2011

Two-gene DNA urine test for prostate cancer

In the current debate sparked by the recent USPSTF recommendation on PSA screening, it is clear that better biomarkers than PSA are urgently needed. One new biotechnology that may go a long way in detecting only prostate cancer and reducing unnecessary prostate cancer biopsies and possible subsequent overtreatment, is the development of a new urine test for prostate cancer.

12 Oct 2011

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease supplement explores neuroimaging

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common problem that is becoming progressively burdensome throughout the world. A new supplement to the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Imaging the Alzheimer Brain, clearly shows that multiple imaging systems are now available to help understand, diagnose, and treat the disease.

12 Oct 2011

Isis designates ISIS-AATRx candidate in collaboration with GSK

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has designated the second development candidate, ISIS-AATRx, in its collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline

12 Oct 2011

Merrimack begins MM-121 Phase 2 combination trial in HER2-negative breast cancer

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the first patient has been dosed in a randomized Phase 2 clinical trial of MM-121, a fully human monoclonal antibody that targets ErbB3, combined with paclitaxel in the neoadjuvant setting of HER2-negative breast cancer patients.

12 Oct 2011