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UT Dallas study reports new gene therapy approach

Bioengineers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created a novel gene-delivery system that shuttles a gene into a cell, but only for a temporary stay, providing a potential new gene-therapy strategy for treating disease.

19 Feb 2015

Nicotine metabolite supports learning, memory by amplifying action of primary chemical messenger

Nicotine's primary metabolite supports learning and memory by amplifying the action of a primary chemical messenger involved in both, researchers report.

19 Feb 2015

Study findings could lead to new potential drug targets for allergic diseases

Scientists have discovered over 30 new genes that predispose people to allergies and asthma, some of which could be targets for new drugs.

19 Feb 2015

INRS researchers explore cellular and molecular mechanisms that affect AgNP particles

Whereas resistance to antibiotics complicates certain treatments, antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are gaining popularity for medical use. These particles are toxic for certain bacteria, but what about for humans? Researchers at INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Research Centre have taken a step toward understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that affect these particles.

19 Feb 2015

Duke researchers demonstrate genetic therapeutic technique to treat DMD patients

Duke researchers have demonstrated a genetic therapeutic technique that has the potential to treat more than half of the patients suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

19 Feb 2015

Weill Cornell receives NIH grant to study TB-causing bacteria

In an effort to stop tuberculosis (TB) from becoming progressively less treatable worldwide, the National Institutes of Health has awarded Weill Cornell Medical College more than $6.2 million in first-year funding to support a research collaboration among six institutions in close alliance with voluntary pharmaceutical partners.

19 Feb 2015

New plant-derived agent protects skin from harmful effects of UV irradiation

The skin is constantly challenged, and very often harmed, by environmental stressors such as UV radiation and chemicals. To cope with UV radiation, various skin cells have evolved a complex protective antioxidant defense system.

19 Feb 2015

New molecule shows promise in controlling HIV without using daily antiretroviral drugs

Scientists have created a new molecule that shows promise for controlling HIV without daily antiretroviral drugs. The molecule foils a wider range of HIV strains in the laboratory than any known broadly neutralizing HIV antibody and is more powerful than some of the most potent of these antibodies.

19 Feb 2015

Researchers assemble comprehensive map of human epigenome

Virtually every cell in the body carries an identical genome. But how is it possible that each of the body's 200 different types of specialized cells - in the heart, brain, bone, skin and elsewhere - develops from the same DNA instruction book?

19 Feb 2015

Scientists map autism genetic pathway that regulates brain development

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that mutations that cause autism in children are connected to a pathway that regulates brain development. The research, led by Lilia Iakoucheva, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, is published in the February 18 issue of Neuron.

19 Feb 2015

Epigenome may hold promise for conquering diseases

The human genome project captured the public imagination when its first draft was published 14 years ago this week in the international science journal Nature, but the epigenome may hold the real promise for conquering disease.

19 Feb 2015

New facts provide baseline for future studies of epigenome's role in human development, diseases

While genomics is the study of all of the genes in a cell or organism, epigenomics is the study of all the genomic add-ons and changes that influence gene expression but aren't encoded in the DNA sequence. A variety of new epigenomic information is now available in a collection of studies published Feb. 19 in Nature by the National Institutes of Health Roadmap Epigenomics Program.

19 Feb 2015

UCSD researchers make new attempt to develop malaria vaccine candidate

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine used algae as a mini-factory to produce a malaria parasite protein. The algae-produced protein, paired with an immune-boosting cocktail suitable for use in humans, generated antibodies in mice that nearly eliminated mosquito infection by the malaria parasite.

19 Feb 2015

Researchers develop artificial adrenal system in animal model

If the function of the adrenal gland is disturbed it does not produce enough stress-adjusting messengers. The results are serious and cause life-threatening diseases. Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Stefan R. Bornstein of the university hospital Carl Gustav Carus researchers developed an artificial adrenal system together with the medicine Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Dr. Andrew Schally in an animal model.

19 Feb 2015

Gut microbial metabolite of linoleic acid has suppressive effect on intestinal inflammation

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis, are hard to completely cure. Globally, IBDs affect more than 4 million people, today. However, Professor Soichi Tanabe (Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University) and his collaborators have demonstrated that 10-hydroxy-cis-12-octadecenoic acid (HYA), a gut microbial metabolite of linoleic acid, has a suppressive effect on intestinal inflammation.

19 Feb 2015

Lupus Research Institute announces this year's Novel Research Grants

As the Lupus Research Institute celebrates its 15th anniversary, the engine of innovation moves forward at accelerated speed with the announcement of this year's Novel Research Grants bringing new talent from a wide diversity of specialties. Each project lives up to the strictest definition of novel – wholly original, never-been-done-before.

19 Feb 2015

Advances in stem cell therapy can improve outcomes for patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers

According to data presented at the 73rd Annual Scientific Conference of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, advances in stem cell therapy can significantly improve outcomes for patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers. Use of stem cells to treat foot problems like diabetic ulcers may speed up the healing process, preventing infection and hospitalization during recovery.

19 Feb 2015

Scientists identify potential target to combat leishmaniasis

Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has identified a potential target in the quest to develop a more effective treatment for leishmaniasis, a parasitic tropical disease that kills thousands and sickens more than 1 million people worldwide each year.

19 Feb 2015

NICE measures for resisting microbial drug resistance

NICE has published draft guidelines to ensure that antibiotics continue to be effective in treating infections and are not rendered useless through the development of antimicrobial resistance.

18 Feb 2015

TSRI scientists develop new drug candidate against HIV

In a remarkable new advance against the virus that causes AIDS, scientists from the Jupiter, Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have announced the creation of a novel drug candidate that is so potent and universally effective, it might work as part of an unconventional vaccine.

18 Feb 2015