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Gene therapy techniques show promise in promoting growth of skin, bone and other tissues

Experimental genetic techniques may one day provide plastic and reconstructive surgeons with an invaluable tool-the ability to promote growth of the patient's own tissues for reconstructive surgery.

30 May 2013

Restoring blood vessels may help cure type 1 diabetes, finds University of Missouri scientist

Millions of people with type 1 diabetes depend on daily insulin injections to survive. They would die without the shots because their immune system attacks the very insulin-producing cells it was designed to protect. Now, a University of Missouri scientist has discovered that this attack causes more damage than scientists realized.

30 May 2013

Researchers tie traumatic brain injury to toxic form of protein

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have uncovered what may be a key molecular mechanism behind the lasting damage done by traumatic brain injury.

30 May 2013

Adult stem cells combined with new drug could hold key to curing type 1 diabetes

29 May 2013

Strengthening miniaturized titanium-based medical devices: an interview with Dr Masaru Rao, University of California, Riverside

While titanium is used widely for more conventional macro-scale medical devices (e.g. hip implants, dental implants, and cardiac pacemakers), its use for micro- and nano-scale devices has been limited thus far.

29 May 2013

Scientists discover new function of an enzyme that disposes of superfluous proteins

Cells have a sophisticated system to control and dispose of defective, superfluous proteins and thus to prevent damage to the body. Dr. Katrin Bagola and Professor Thomas Sommer of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch as well as Professor Michael Glickman and Professor Aaron Ciechanover of Technion, the Technical University of Israel in Haifa, have now discovered a new function of an enzyme that is involved in this vital process.

29 May 2013

Protein presenilin plays critical role in controlling neuronal traffic on microtubule highways

Imagine if you could open up your brain and look inside. What you would see is a network of nerve cells called neurons, each with its own internal highway system for transporting essential materials between different parts of the cell.

29 May 2013

UCLA researchers show that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function

UCLA researchers now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function in humans. In an early proof-of-concept study of healthy women, they found that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function, both while in a resting state and in response to an emotion-recognition task.

29 May 2013

Spherical nanoparticles transform into netlike structures at site of cancer

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have designed tiny spherical particles to float easily through the bloodstream after injection, then assemble into a durable scaffold within diseased tissue. An enzyme produced by a specific type of tumor can trigger the transformation of the spheres into netlike structures that accumulate at the site of a cancer, the team reports in the journal Advanced Materials this week.

29 May 2013

$2 million grant to provide instrumentation, core facilities devoted to synthetic biology

The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust has awarded a $2 million grant to the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Under the leadership of Principal Investigator Dr. Huimin Zhao and co-Principal Investigator Dr. Christopher Rao, the grant will be disbursed over two years to provide instrumentation and core facilities for a new research theme devoted to the new scientific subdiscipline of synthetic biology.

29 May 2013

Scientists identify role of GSK-3 alpha protein in promoting oncogenic KRAS function

While the mutated KRAS oncogene is associated with many cancers, it has not yet been successfully targeted by a therapeutic agent. Scientists are trying to find another way to target the gene by blocking signals from another protein downstream.

29 May 2013

IUPUI assistant professor earns NSF CAREER Award for research on the brain

An assistant professor of computer science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has earned the prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation for research to identify the patterns by which neurons develop and connect to form a brain.

29 May 2013

Transplantation of human stem cells improves muscle function in rats used to model ALS

Transplantation of human stem cells in an experiment conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison improved survival and muscle function in rats used to model ALS, a nerve disease that destroys nerve control of muscles, causing death by respiratory failure.

29 May 2013

Research discovery may lead to development of new therapies for neurological disorders

For several years, the pharmaceutical industry has tried to develop drugs that target a specific neurotransmitter receptor in the brain, the NMDA receptor. This receptor is present on almost every neuron in the human brain and is involved in learning and memory. NMDA receptors also have been implicated in several neurological and psychiatric conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and depression.

29 May 2013

Medical researchers identify genetic marker associated with sporadic breast cancer

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have pinpointed a genetic marker for sporadic breast cancer - one of a handful identified to date in Caucasians.

29 May 2013

New approach to battle prostate cancer

Dr. Jung-Mo Ahn, associate professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Dallas, has designed and synthesized a novel small molecule that might become a large weapon in the fight against prostate cancer.

29 May 2013

UT Southwestern researchers develop new class of drugs for prostate cancer

A new study on prostate cancer describes a novel class of drugs developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers that interrupts critical signaling needed for prostate cancer cells to grow.

29 May 2013

Harmless genetic variations may team up to increase risk of schizophrenia, find researchers

Using a novel method of analyzing genetic variations in families, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that individually harmless genetic variations affecting related biochemical processes may team up to increase the risk of schizophrenia.

29 May 2013

Resolvins may help protect against cognitive decline after surgery

Resolvins are molecules naturally produced by the body from omega-3 fatty acids - a process that can be jumpstarted by common aspirin. In a new study, published in The FASEB Journal, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe how resolvins could protect against the cognitive impairment that often affects recovery of surgical and critically ill patients.

28 May 2013

Common sugar molecule promising target for development of broad-spectrum vaccine

Developing new vaccines to protect against diseases that plague humans is fraught with numerous challenges-one being that microbes tend to vary how they look on the surface to avoid being identified and destroyed by the immune system. However, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have discovered a sugar polymer that is common on the cell surface of several pathogens.

28 May 2013

Medical Science News

Gene therapy techniques show promise in promoting growth of skin, bone and other tissues

Restoring blood vessels may help cure type 1 diabetes, finds University of Missouri scientist

Researchers tie traumatic brain injury to toxic form of protein

Adult stem cells combined with new drug could hold key to curing type 1 diabetes

Strengthening miniaturized titanium-based medical devices: an interview with Dr Masaru Rao, University of California, Riverside

Scientists discover new function of an enzyme that disposes of superfluous proteins

Protein presenilin plays critical role in controlling neuronal traffic on microtubule highways

UCLA researchers show that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function

Spherical nanoparticles transform into netlike structures at site of cancer

$2 million grant to provide instrumentation, core facilities devoted to synthetic biology

Scientists identify role of GSK-3 alpha protein in promoting oncogenic KRAS function

IUPUI assistant professor earns NSF CAREER Award for research on the brain

Transplantation of human stem cells improves muscle function in rats used to model ALS

Research discovery may lead to development of new therapies for neurological disorders

Medical researchers identify genetic marker associated with sporadic breast cancer

New approach to battle prostate cancer

UT Southwestern researchers develop new class of drugs for prostate cancer

Harmless genetic variations may team up to increase risk of schizophrenia, find researchers

Resolvins may help protect against cognitive decline after surgery

Common sugar molecule promising target for development of broad-spectrum vaccine

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