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IU researchers awarded NIH grant to develop new weapon to fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The alarming increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses health and economic threats worldwide, with more than 2 million Americans infected by the bacteria each year. Now, a team of Indiana University chemists and biologists has been awarded a major grant to develop and use a chemical tagging method to better understand how bacteria build their cell wall, which is still the best target for new antibiotics.

10 Feb 2015

Researchers discover inherited genetic variations associated with treatment-related hearing loss

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators have discovered inherited genetic variations that are associated with rapid hearing loss in young cancer patients treated with the drug cisplatin. The research appears in the current online issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

10 Feb 2015

Study links previously unknown genetic anomalies to breast cancer in African American family members

The "Jewels in our Genes" study, led by University at Buffalo researcher Heather Ochs-Balcom, has uncovered previously unknown segments of DNA shared by African American family members who have breast cancer. "The discovery of these regions supports our hypothesis that there are still undiscovered breast cancer genes that may be unique to African Americans," says Ochs-Balcom, PhD, a genetic epidemiologist in the UB Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.

10 Feb 2015

People living beside the sea have higher vitamin D levels

People living close to the coast in England have higher vitamin D levels than inland dwellers, according to a new study published in the journal Environment International.

10 Feb 2015

Cancer researchers find important clues to why tumor cells become 'good' or 'bad'

For the first time, Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California cancer researchers have traced the origins of colorectal cancer cells, finding important clues to why tumor cells become "good" or "bad," with the potential of stopping them before they start.

10 Feb 2015

Scientists potentially discover new therapeutic targets to halt progression of tumor cells

Chronic inflammation is directly associated with several types of cancer, yet the reasons as to why this happens at a cellular level remain unclear. Now, an international team of scientists led by researchers at The Wistar Institute has identified a multistep process showing not only how these cancers develop but also potentially discovering new therapeutic targets that could halt the formation and progression of tumor cells.

10 Feb 2015

Combination therapies may overcome resistance to targeted cancer drugs

A protein called YAP, which drives the growth of organs during development and regulates their size in adulthood, plays a key role in the emergence of resistance to targeted cancer therapies, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco researchers.

10 Feb 2015

Scientists sequence genetic code of roundworm that causes disease in humans, animals

For the first time, scientists have sequenced the genetic code of Toxocara canis, a roundworm that causes disease in humans and animals, which paves the way for new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests.

10 Feb 2015

Researchers identify immune biomarkers that could help predict complications in HIV/TB patients

Doctors treating patients battling both HIV and tuberculosis (TB)--many of whom live in Africa--are faced with the decision when to start those patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) while they are being treated with antibiotics for active TB disease. Some patients fare well on both interventions, with the immune system in check and the TB controlled.

10 Feb 2015

Study: Simple blood test could predict risk of developing dementia

Scientists at Rigshopitalet, Herlev Hospital and the University of Copenhagen identify a new biomarker that can predict the risk of developing dementia by way of a simple blood test. In the long term, this could mean better prevention and thus at least postponement of the illness and at best evading the development all together.

10 Feb 2015

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

Duke University researchers have devised a method to activate genes in any specific location or pattern in a lab dish with the flip of a light switch by crossing a bacterium's viral defense system with a flower's response to sunlight.

9 Feb 2015

BPC opens new plasma collection center in Jacksonville, North Carolina

Biotest Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a leading developer of immunology biotherapeutic products, is pleased to announce that it has opened a new plasma collection center. The state-of-the-art, 15,000 square foot facility located at 113 Yopp Road, Jacksonville, North Carolina, is BPC's second plasma center in Jacksonville, and officially opened its doors for business on February 3, 2015.

9 Feb 2015

Researchers develop quality assurance tool for genome editing

A research team at Boston Children's Hospital's Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine has developed a quality assurance tool for scientists using genome-editing technologies like the increasingly popular CRISPR. The assay, called high throughput genome translocation sequencing (HTGTS), rapidly gauges—for any given gene—these technologies' accuracy and their risk for causing potentially dangerous genomic collateral damage.

9 Feb 2015

Researchers document pathological progress of multiple sclerosis

The Centre for Brain Research at the MedUni Vienna is regarded as a world leader in researching the mechanisms involved with multiple sclerosis (MS). Now, in a paper published in the highly respected journal Lancet Neurology, an international team of researchers from Edinburgh, Cleveland and Vienna, under the leadership of Hans Lassmann, Head of the Department of Neuroimmunology at the MedUni Vienna, has for the first time documented the pathological progress of the disease from its early to late stage and also shown that inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes have a role to play.

9 Feb 2015

Study reveals mechanical forces that drive epithelial wound healing

A collaborative study led by scientists from the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore has revealed the mechanical forces that drive epithelial wound healing in the absence of cell supporting environment. This research was published in Nature Communications in January 2015.

9 Feb 2015

Medical Science News

IU researchers awarded NIH grant to develop new weapon to fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Researchers discover inherited genetic variations associated with treatment-related hearing loss

Study links previously unknown genetic anomalies to breast cancer in African American family members

People living beside the sea have higher vitamin D levels

Cancer researchers find important clues to why tumor cells become 'good' or 'bad'

Scientists potentially discover new therapeutic targets to halt progression of tumor cells

Combination therapies may overcome resistance to targeted cancer drugs

Scientists sequence genetic code of roundworm that causes disease in humans, animals

Researchers identify immune biomarkers that could help predict complications in HIV/TB patients

Study: Simple blood test could predict risk of developing dementia

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

BPC opens new plasma collection center in Jacksonville, North Carolina

Researchers develop quality assurance tool for genome editing

Researchers document pathological progress of multiple sclerosis

Study reveals mechanical forces that drive epithelial wound healing

Gramicidin-Based Fluorescence Assay can help predict drug toxicity

New findings could pave way to develop drug therapies for necrosis-related diseases

Chili peppers show promise as diet-based supplement

Discovery improves understanding of factors that trigger allergic asthma

Study: Modulation of alpha waves influences speech comprehension in everyday hearing situations

Making Complex Cell Culture Easy and Efficient with AI

This International Women’s Day, Meet the Scientist Changing Women’s Healthcare

Microphysiological systems in drug discovery

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