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New zebrafish technique finds potential treatments for multiple diseases

Skeletal muscle has proved to be very difficult to grow in patients with muscular dystrophy and other disorders that degrade and weaken muscle. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital's Stem Cell Program now report boosting muscle mass and reversing disease in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, using a "cocktail" of three compounds identified through a new rapid culture system. Adding the same compounds to stem cells derived from patients' skin cells, they then successfully grew human muscle cells in a dish.

8 Nov 2013

Northwestern Medicine receives $12 million to continue organ transplant research with stem cells

An innovative Northwestern Medicine- research program investigating if stem cells may be the key to allowing organ transplant patients to stop taking immunosuppressive drugs has received $12 million in research funding. The grant will allow researchers to finish Phase II of the clinical trials and begin Phase III.

8 Nov 2013

Gladstone-led study sheds light on critical molecular process

One of biology's most fundamental processes is something called transcription. It is just one step of many required to build proteins-and without it life would not exist. However, many aspects of transcription remain shrouded in mystery. But now, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes are shedding light on key aspects of transcription, and in so doing are coming even closer to understanding the importance of this process in the growth and development of cells-as well as what happens when this process goes awry.

8 Nov 2013

Cancer research leaders announce the opening of ICGC-TCGA-DREAM SMC Challenge

Cancer research leaders from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and the University of California, Santa Cruz, in collaboration with Sage Bionetworks and IBM's DREAM, will announce tomorrow the opening of the ICGC-TCGA-DREAM Somatic Mutation Calling Challenge at the Sixth Annual RECOMB/ISCB conference.

8 Nov 2013

Cancer pioneer James Allison wins 2013 Innovations Award for bioscience

For basic science research that opened a completely new approach for treating cancer, The Economist has named James Allison, Ph.D., professor and chair of Immunology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, as its 2013 Innovations Award winner in Bioscience.

8 Nov 2013

Discovery could rev up body's immune response to infection, autoimmune diseases

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report that disrupting the light-dark cycle of mice increased their susceptibility to inflammatory disease, indicating that the production of a key immune cell is controlled by the body's circadian clock.

8 Nov 2013

Findings raise prospects for new therapies to protect heart from progressive disease

Some of the most commonly prescribed drugs for the treatment of heart failure are beta-blockers and nitrates, which help to relax blood vessels and decrease the heart's workload. The drugs were thought to produce those effects through distinct molecular pathways, but according to a new study led by scientists at Temple University School of Medicine, both types of drugs may help the failing heart by counteracting the effects of an enzyme known as GRK2.

8 Nov 2013

Research suggests touch may help low self-esteem people in confronting their mortality

As human beings, we all know that we are going to die some day. Most of us deal with this knowledge by trying to live meaningful lives, but people with low self-esteem tend not to see their lives as particularly meaningful. Now, research suggests that touch may help people with low self-esteem in confronting their own mortality.

8 Nov 2013

Researchers identify chain reaction that triggers regrowth of some damaged nerve cell

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a chain reaction that triggers the regrowth of some damaged nerve cell branches, a discovery that one day may help improve treatments for nerve injuries that can cause loss of sensation or paralysis.

8 Nov 2013

Researchers able to regrow bone, hair, soft tissues and cartilage in mouse model

Young animals are known to repair their tissues effortlessly, but can this capacity be recaptured in adults? A new study from researchers at the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children's Hospital suggests that it can. By reactivating a dormant gene called Lin28a, which is active in embryonic stem cells, researchers were able to regrow hair and repair cartilage, bone, skin and other soft tissues in a mouse model.

8 Nov 2013

RNA molecule present in the blood could someday be a diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer

An Indiana University cancer researcher has demonstrated that a particular molecule is present in the blood of most pancreatic cancer patients, suggesting it could someday be a diagnostic marker for the disease.

8 Nov 2013

New computational method quickly orders DNA sequencing information along entire chromosomes

A new computational method has been shown to quickly assign, order and orient DNA sequencing information along entire chromosomes. The method may help overcome a major obstacle that has delayed progress in designing rapid, low-cost -- but still accurate -- ways to assemble genomes from scratch.

8 Nov 2013

Levels of BPA in components of dialysis machines may be toxic to patients' immune cells

Levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in components of dialysis machines may be toxic to the immune cells circulating in kidney failure patients' blood, according to a study that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2013 November 5-10 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA.

8 Nov 2013

Lowa researchers create bio patch that regenerates missing or damaged bone

Researchers at the University of Iowa have created a bio patch to regenerate missing or damaged bone by putting DNA into a nano-sized particle that delivers bone-producing instructions directly into cells.

8 Nov 2013

Researchers identify enzymes that are crucial for growth of cancers with genetic aberrations in p53

The most frequently mutated gene across all types of cancers is a gene called p53. Unfortunately it has been difficult to directly target this gene with drugs. Now a multi-institutional research team, led by Dr. Lewis Cantley and investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College, has identified a family of enzymes they say is crucial for the growth of cancers that have genetic aberrations in p53.

8 Nov 2013

Lactoferricin B25 derived from cow's milk shows promise for treatment of gastric cancer

New research from a team of researchers in Taiwan indicates that a peptide fragment derived from cow's milk, known as lactoferricin B25 (LFcinB25), exhibited potent anticancer capability against human stomach cancer cell cultures.

8 Nov 2013

Vitamin C can improve skeletal muscle fatigue in COPD patients

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—a health problem in which the lungs lose their inherent springiness, making it progressively harder to breathe—can have a dramatic effect on the ability to exercise and even perform simple activities of daily life because of the disease's fallout effects on skeletal muscles.

8 Nov 2013

Study reveals that lower dose of BPA contributes to large range of health problems in humans

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a known endocrine disruptor that hijacks the normal responses of hormones. Yet, traditional toxicology studies indicate that only very high doses of this chemical affect exposed animals-doses as high as 50 mg/kg/day.

8 Nov 2013

Higher chocolate consumption associated with lower levels of total fat

Scientists at the University of Granada have disproved the old idea that chocolate is fattening, in a study reported this week in Nutrition. Higher chocolate consumption associated with lower levels of total fat—fat deposits all over the body—and central—abdominal—fat, independently of whether or not subjects are physically active, and of their diet.

8 Nov 2013

Rice U. researchers link von Willebrand factor to heart-valve calcium deposits

Heart valves calcify over time, and Rice University scientists are beginning to understand why. The Rice lab of bioengineer Jane Grande-Allen found through studies of pigs' heart valves that age plays a critical role in the valves' progressive hardening, and the problem may be due to the infiltration of a protein known as von Willebrand factor.

8 Nov 2013

Medical Science News

New zebrafish technique finds potential treatments for multiple diseases

Northwestern Medicine receives $12 million to continue organ transplant research with stem cells

Gladstone-led study sheds light on critical molecular process

Cancer research leaders announce the opening of ICGC-TCGA-DREAM SMC Challenge

Cancer pioneer James Allison wins 2013 Innovations Award for bioscience

Discovery could rev up body's immune response to infection, autoimmune diseases

Findings raise prospects for new therapies to protect heart from progressive disease

Research suggests touch may help low self-esteem people in confronting their mortality

Researchers identify chain reaction that triggers regrowth of some damaged nerve cell

Researchers able to regrow bone, hair, soft tissues and cartilage in mouse model

RNA molecule present in the blood could someday be a diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer

New computational method quickly orders DNA sequencing information along entire chromosomes

Levels of BPA in components of dialysis machines may be toxic to patients' immune cells

Lowa researchers create bio patch that regenerates missing or damaged bone

Researchers identify enzymes that are crucial for growth of cancers with genetic aberrations in p53

Lactoferricin B25 derived from cow's milk shows promise for treatment of gastric cancer

Vitamin C can improve skeletal muscle fatigue in COPD patients

Study reveals that lower dose of BPA contributes to large range of health problems in humans

Higher chocolate consumption associated with lower levels of total fat

Rice U. researchers link von Willebrand factor to heart-valve calcium deposits

Microphysiological systems in drug discovery

Considerations for taking ASO discovery programs into animal models

Neurofilament light as a translational biomarker

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