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Discovery of potential target for elevated triglycerides

Diabetes researchers at the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a potential target for the development of new therapies to treat hypertriglyceridemia, a lipid disorder commonly seen in people who are obese and diabetic. Results of their study are published in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

26 May 2008

Intracellular antibody mops up mutant protein in Huntington's disease model

Scientists have created a tool for mopping up the clumps of mutant protein that drive neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease. Emory University researchers engineered a virus to make an intracellular antibody or "intrabody" against huntingtin, the protein whose mutant forms poison the brain cells of people with Huntington's.

26 May 2008

Cancer vaccine could be in the pipeline

Cancer researchers in the UK say they are one step closer to producing a specific targeted vaccine for killing cancer cells.

25 May 2008

New cancer vaccine protein target found

Cancer Research UK scientists have identified an important new protein target which could be used to produce highly focused vaccine therapies for cancer - according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

25 May 2008

Embryonic pathway delivers stem cell traits

Studies of how cancer cells spread have led to a surprising discovery about the creation of cells with adult stem cell characteristics, offering potentially major implications for regenerative medicine and for cancer treatment.

25 May 2008

How cells size up their growth opportunities

The intricate mechanisms that switch cell growth on and off are regulated by mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) protein complexes, which sense nutrients within the cell. When amino-acids are abundant, the protein complexes promote cellular growth, and when nutrients are scarce they signal that hard times are ahead to the cell. But just how nutrients regulate mTOR signaling to control size has remained a mystery. Now, scientists in the lab of Whitehead Member David Sabatini have found the first step in the process.

25 May 2008

Discovery provides hope for patients with pancreatic cancer

This week researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Oregon Stem Cell Center and the OHSU Digestive Health Center are shining a new ray of hope on patients with pancreatic cancer. They've developed new reagents, or antibodies, that can recognize this often lethal disease. This important discovery may one day lead to earlier detection and treatment.

22 May 2008

An alternative strategy for HIV vaccine research

Today, Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. (ABL) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) report that their unique HIV vaccine formulation was effective in eliciting strong and balanced immune responses in healthy human volunteers.

22 May 2008

Research shows protecting p53 from degradation also defends metastasis-promoter

Efforts to protect the tumor-suppressor p53 could just as easily shelter a mutant version of the protein, causing cancer cells to thrive and spread rather than die, according to research by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported in the current issue of the journal Genes and Development.

22 May 2008

Yerkes researchers develop first transgenic nonhuman primate model of Huntington's disease

In the first study of its kind, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, in collaboration with researchers from the Department of Human Genetics at Emory's School of Medicine, have developed the first transgenic nonhuman primate model of Huntington's disease (HD), one of the most devastating human neurodegenerative diseases.

22 May 2008

Real-time observation of the DNA-repair mechanism

For the first time, researchers at Delft University of Technology have witnessed the spontaneous repair of damage to DNA molecules in real time.

22 May 2008

NCI scientists visualize gene regulation in living cells

A research team led by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has applied advanced imaging methods and computer simulations to be able to glance at the regulation of a cancer-related gene in a living cell. They found that the efficiency with which the components of the cell's gene reading machinery come together has an impact on gene expression, the process by which a gene translates its information into a new protein. The findings, published in the May 23, 2008 issue of Molecular Cell, shed new light on the means by which living cells regulate gene activity.

22 May 2008

RNA toxicity contributes to neurodegenerative disease

Expanding on prior research performed at the University of Pennsylvania, Penn biologists have determined that faulty RNA, the blueprint that creates mutated, toxic proteins, contributes to a family of neurodegenerative disorders in humans.

21 May 2008

Scientists reveal the genetic determinants of fat storage in cells

New research by the Gladstone Institutes of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has revealed the genetic determinants of fat storage in cells, which may lead to a new understanding of and potential treatments for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. While scientists have long understood that lipid droplets contribute to fat build up in cells, the genes involved in droplet biology have been a focus of extensive research.

21 May 2008

New insights into the neural circuitry of trust

The brain centers triggered by a betrayal of trust have been identified by researchers, who found they could suppress such triggering and maintain trust by administering the brain chemical oxytocin. The researchers said their findings not only offer basic insights into the neural machinery underlying trust; the results may also help in understanding the neural basis of social disorders such as phobias and autism.

21 May 2008

Boost for cancer research in Leicestershire

A new approach to pain relief, investigation of a gene that triggers colorectal cancer and the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer are three research projects at the University of Leicester, which are to benefit from funding from the Leicestershire and Rutland charity Hope Against Cancer.

21 May 2008

Discovery of a molecular scaffold that guides connections between brain cells

Brain cells known as neurons process information by joining into complex networks, transmitting signals to each other across junctions called synapses. But "neurons don't just connect to other neurons," emphasizes Z. Josh Huang, Ph.D., "in a lot of cases, they connect to very specific partners, at particular spots."

21 May 2008

Researchers map iron transport protein - may help people suffering from blood iron disorders

Montana State University scientists in the Department of Chemistry and Bio-chemistry published new research this week that could one day affect the lives of millions around the world who suffer from blood iron disorders.

21 May 2008

New blood test reveals risk for metabolic syndrome

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered that people with high oxidation levels of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particle that carries cholesterol throughout the blood are much more likely to develop metabolic syndrome - which can lead to a considerably increased risk of developing heart disease.

20 May 2008

Discovery of protein key to neuro-regeneration

Researchers at the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England, University College London, the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan and Cancer Research UK, have for the first time identified a protein that is key to the regeneration of damage in the peripheral nervous system and which could with further research lead to understanding diseases of our peripheral nervous systems and provide clues to methods of repairing damage in the central nervous system, according to a paper published this week in the Journal of Cell Biology.

20 May 2008