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Scientists discover how stressed cells boost production of key blood-clotting factor, thrombin

Scientists in a collaboration between EMBL Heidelberg and the University of Heidelberg Medical Centre have discovered how stressed cells boost the production of the key blood-clotting factor, thrombin. Their work, published today in Molecular Cell, shows how cancer cells may be taking advantage of this process, and opens new possibilities for fighting back against cancer and septicaemia.

4 Feb 2011

Queen’s scientist awarded Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award

One of Northern Ireland's leading scientists has received a top UK award, to support ground-breaking research into vascular stem cells and eye disease at Queen's University.

4 Feb 2011

Survey reveals negative impact of uncertain policy surrounding human embryonic stem cell research

While there is no doubt that the ethical controversy surrounding human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research has given rise to an uncertain policy environment, the true impact of years of frequent policy changes has not been fully assessed.

4 Feb 2011

Method to comprehensively characterize human embryonic stem cell lines and iPS cell lines

Ever since researchers devised a recipe for turning adult cells into cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells, there has been lingering doubt in the field about just how close to embryonic stem cells each of those cell lines really is at a molecular and functional level. Now, researchers reporting in the February 4th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, have developed a systematic way to lay those doubts about quality to rest.

4 Feb 2011

How body's first line of defence distinguishes between microbes and own structures

This week, the highly-respected US Academy of Sciences journal (PNAS) published an article describing how the first line of defence of the human immune system distinguishes between microbes and the body's own structures.

4 Feb 2011

New 'skin gun' treats burns with stem cells

A revolutionary new "skin gun" developed to treat burns could be the latest in a remarkable string of stem-cell breakthroughs poised to change the face of medicine, says Emerging Healthcare Solutions President and CEO Cindy Morrissey.

4 Feb 2011

Research unmasks long sought stem cell origin of carcinoma

A constellation of different stem cell populations within our skin help it to cope with normal wear and tear. By constantly proliferating, the stem cells allow skin to replenish itself, allowing each cell to be replaced by a new one about once a month. But the normal cycle of division and death within one or more of these stem cell types can sometimes be derailed by genetic mishaps. Such events are believed to spawn carcinomas and other deadly skin cancers, which are the mostly frequently diagnosed cancers in the United States.

4 Feb 2011

Researchers identify regulatory defect that drives lupus

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Cambridge, Mass., in collaboration with Jackson Laboratory scientists, have identified a regulatory defect that drives lupus.

4 Feb 2011

Digna Biotech, CIMA receive EU grant for development of gene therapy product for Acute Intermittent Porphyria

Digna Biotech and the Centro de Investigacion Medica Aplicada (CIMA) de la Universidad de Navarra announced today that the European Union (EU) has finalized a EUR 3.3 million grant to AIPGENE consortium. Digna Biotech and CIMA will receive, as members of the consortium, EUR 0.5 and EUR 0.8 million respectively for the clinical development of a gene therapy product for Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP).

4 Feb 2011

Cholesterol efflux capacity may protect against heart disease: Study

The discovery that high levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol are associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease has fostered intensive research to modify HDL levels for therapeutic gain. However, recent findings have called into question the notion that pharmacologic increases in HDL cholesterol levels are necessarily beneficial to patients.

4 Feb 2011

New discovery: miR-429 regulatory RNA may be effective in fighting ovarian cancer

Cancer researchers have discovered that a type of regulatory RNA may be effective in fighting ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer isn't typically discovered until it's in the advanced stages, where it is already spreading to other organs and is very difficult to fight with chemotherapy.

4 Feb 2011

Data generated on Ion Torrent PGM sequencer to be presented at AGBT

Life Technologies Corporation, today announced that just six weeks following the launch of the Ion Torrent PGM sequencer, independent researchers will present data they generated with the system at the annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference.

4 Feb 2011

New way to stabilize proteins

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a new way to stabilize proteins — the workhorse biological macromolecules found in all organisms. Proteins serve as the functional basis of many types of biologic drugs used to treat everything from arthritis, anemia, and diabetes to cancer.

4 Feb 2011

Scientists reprogram marrow cells from patient with chronic myeloid leukemia

By coaxing healthy and diseased human bone marrow to become embryonic-like stem cells, a team of Wisconsin scientists has laid the groundwork for observing the onset of the blood cancer leukemia in the laboratory dish.

4 Feb 2011

UM researchers find genetic cause of retinitis pigmentosa

Researchers led by geneticists at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have identified a new gene that causes retinitis pigmentosa, a form of blindness, ending one South Florida family's nearly 20-year search for what caused three of their four children to lose their sight.

4 Feb 2011

Treg therapy ensures success of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, without triggering GVHD

For blood cancer patients at high risk of relapse, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the transplantation of blood-forming stem cells, is one of best options for treatment and a potential cure. Unfortunately, the most common complication of HSCT is graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a serious and often deadly post-transplant complication that occurs when the newly transplanted donor cells recognize the recipient's own cells as foreign and react by attacking the cells in the patient's body.

4 Feb 2011

Study hopes to establish health benefits from cocoa and vitamin C

A study which hopes to establish the health benefits from cocoa and vitamin C is looking for volunteers. Researchers at The University of Nottingham are trying to find ways of helping us maintain muscle mass as we grow old and want to hear from healthy men aged between 18-28 and 65-75.

4 Feb 2011

Cell signaling hormone boosts immune response to clear HIV-like infection

Australian scientists have successfully cleared a HIV-like infection from mice by boosting the function of cells vital to the immune response.

4 Feb 2011

New study provides insight into mechanism behind breast cancer mutation

A new study sheds light on why individuals who inherit a particular family of mutations have a high risk of developing a very aggressive form of breast cancer. The research, published by Cell Press on February 4th in the journal Cell Stem Cell, shows that breast tissue cells from these individuals make abnormal cell-fate decisions even before cancer develops and provides exciting new insights into the mechanisms behind one of the most lethal types of breast cancer.

4 Feb 2011

Stem cells delivered intranasally improve motor function in Parkinson's disease

Stem cells, delivered intranasally, were found to substantially improve motor function in Parkinson's disease in a study co-authored by William H. Frey II, Ph.D, Director of the Alzheimer's Research Center, part of HealthPartners Research Foundation. Frey collaborated with Lusine Danielyan, MD, of University Hospital of Tubingen in Germany.

4 Feb 2011