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CERAM offer medical device manufacturers key highlights to materials

CERAM, a global expert in medical device materials analysis, testing and consultancy, has published a white paper that highlights how critical a knowledge of materials and their characteristics is to the medical device manufacturer.

23 Feb 2009

Gold nanoparticles improve gene regulation

Investigators at Northwestern University have found that packing small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules onto the surface of a gold nanoparticle can protect siRNAs from degradation and increase their ability to regulate genes involved in cancer. As a result of this discovery, cancer researchers have at their disposal a relatively straightforward method of delivering these potent gene-regulating agents into targeted cells.

23 Feb 2009

Targeted nanospheres find, penetrate, then fuel burning of melanoma

Hollow gold nanospheres equipped with a targeting peptide find melanoma cells, penetrate them deeply, and then cook the tumor when bathed with near-infrared light. When heated with lasers, the actively targeted hollow gold nanospheres did eight times more damage to melanoma tumors in mice than did the same nanospheres that gathered less directly in the tumors.

23 Feb 2009

Radiolabeled nanoparticles boost PET-CT combination imaging

In an attempt to decrease the amount of cancer-targeting nanoparticle needed to image tumors, a team of investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School has developed a simple method for creating iron oxide nanoparticles labeled with 18F, a radioisotope that is easily detected using positron emission tomography (PET). The result is a nanoparticle that can be imaged using PET, computerized tomography (CT), and fluorescence imaging.

23 Feb 2009

Nanoparticles detect dying cancer cells

Two years ago, researchers at the University of South Australia discovered a new molecular marker specific for chemotherapy-induced cancer cell death. Now, those same investigators have used this marker to develop an imaging agent that can pinpoint tumor cell death using magnetic resonance imaging.

23 Feb 2009

Microfluidic device mimics tumor microenvironment, helps drug discovery

One of the challenges that cancer researchers face in designing new antitumor agents is that of predicting how drug molecules will behave in the complex microenvironment that surrounds a tumor. In particular, tumors create all sorts of chemical and physical barriers that limit how much drug is able to enter a tumor, let alone reach cells deep within a tumor.

23 Feb 2009

New imaging techniques let scientists see biomolecules more clearly

Scientists have always wanted to take a closer look at biological systems and materials. From the magnifying glass to the electron microscope, they have developed increasingly sophisticated imaging devices.

23 Feb 2009

Basis of immunity to oral thrush, common in AIDS, identified by UB researchers

Oral thrush, a hallmark symptom in AIDS patients, is caused by a type of yeast that grows unchecked in people with weakened immune systems, and appears in colonies of white patches in the mouth.

23 Feb 2009

Statins can stimulate cardiac muscle cell regeneration, improve heart function

Statins, used widely to treat elevated cholesterol, have been shown to prevent progression of coronary narrowing and to have other beneficial effects on the heart, such as reducing inflammation, that are independent of cholesterol.

23 Feb 2009

Suppressing cancer with a master control gene

Starting with the tiny fruit fly and then moving into mice and humans, researchers at VIB and K. U. Leuven show that expression of the same gene suppresses cancer in all three organisms. Reciprocally, switching off the gene - called Ato in flies and ATOH1 in mammals - leads to cancer.

23 Feb 2009

Global AIDS Alliance sounds alarm on potential budget cuts

Amid initial indications that the administration's first budget will flat-line funding for global health, the Global AIDS Alliance is calling on President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to keep their campaign commitments to scale up the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and accelerate efforts to ensure every child around the world gets a free basic education.

23 Feb 2009

Bavarian Nordic updates on breast cancer vaccine studies

Bavarian Nordic today provided updated data from its clinical studies with its breast cancer vaccine, MVA-BN(R)-HER2, in development as therapy of metastatic breast cancer patients whose tumours over-express HER2.

23 Feb 2009

Oxford Nanopore announces publication of DNA analysis paper

Oxford Nanopore Technologies ("Oxford Nanopore") today announced the publication of new research in Nature Nanotechnology, demonstrating accurate and continuous identification of DNA bases using nanopores.

From Oxford Nanopore Technologies 23 Feb 2009

Life-giving technology: Camera pills and ultrasound creating maps of the body

For more than ten years, senior medical officer Ronald Marvik at St. Olav's Hospital in Trondheim has been collaborating with SINTEF scientist Thomas Lango. Together, they have created a new IT-base window on the inside of the body, a window that makes a patient transparent on a screen when a surgeon inserts operating instruments through small openings in the abdominal wall.

23 Feb 2009

Steroids ineffective in young children with wheeze

New research involving medical experts at The University of Nottingham has found that steroid tablets do not reduce the symptoms of virus-induced wheezing in pre-school children.

23 Feb 2009

Better sequence searches of genes and proteins

Since the sequencing of the human genome eight years ago, enormous progress has been made in analyzing and understanding it. Nevertheless, the function of most human genes is still barely understood.

23 Feb 2009

Electrons on the fast lane

Complex computer simulations have, for the first time, allowed scientists to examine in detail the processes that help to ensure the stability of DNA when exposed to UV light.

23 Feb 2009

People who start smoking before age 17 increase risk for multiple sclerosis

People who start smoking before age 17 may increase their risk for developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 61st Annual Meeting in Seattle, April 25 to May 2, 2009.

22 Feb 2009

When should PSA testing be stopped?

Although widespread Prostate-Specific-Antigen (PSA) testing has undoubtedly decreased prostate cancer mortality, is there a point of diminishing returns?

22 Feb 2009

Tiny cell cultivation chamber of silicon plastic opens new potential in tumor research

Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a new tool that makes it possible to study the signals in the body that control the generation of blood vessels.

22 Feb 2009