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New imaging tool reveals subtle changes in breast tissue

Purdue University researchers have created a new imaging technology that reveals subtle changes in breast tissue, representing a potential tool to determine a woman's risk of developing breast cancer and to study ways of preventing the disease.

6 Mar 2012

Scripps scientists to develop new generation of broad spectrum anti-cancer therapeutics

A pair of Scripps Research Institute scientists, one a cancer biologist and the other a chemist, has been awarded $3.85 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a new generation of broad spectrum anti-cancer therapeutics, including breast cancer and lymphoma.

6 Mar 2012

Blocking Plexin B1 protein can prevent formation of breast cancer metastases

In particularly aggressive forms of breast cancer, cancer cells can settle in other organs and form metastases there. Once such metastases form, complete recovery is rare. Consequently, it is enormously important to prevent the metastasisation of the breast cancer cells. The success, however, achieved by using existing forms of therapy is limited.

6 Mar 2012

Study evaluates link between genetic and environmental factors and risk of drug abuse

In a national Swedish adoption study, the risk for drug abuse appears to be increased among adopted children whose biological parents had a history of drug abuse, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

6 Mar 2012

New AD marker can predict mental decline

A new marker of Alzheimer's disease can predict how rapidly a patient's memory and other mental abilities will decline after the disorder is diagnosed, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

6 Mar 2012

Cenderitide may preserve cardiac function after heart attack

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a $2.5 million grant to Mayo Clinic's Cardiorenal Research Laboratory to conduct a highly innovative research project, "Cardiovascular Peptides and Myocardial Infarction."

6 Mar 2012

Study shows how new information is encoded into prefrontal cortex

The brain has a remarkable ability to learn new cognitive tasks while maintaining previously acquired knowledge about various functions necessary for everyday life. But exactly how new information is incorporated into brain systems that control cognitive functions has remained a mystery.

6 Mar 2012

Penn-led team develops universal approach to personalized cancer therapy based on T cells

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report this month in Cancer Research a universal approach to personalized cancer therapy based on T cells. It is the first time a system for making an adaptable, engineered T-cell to attack specific tumor types has been proposed, depending on which abnormal proteins, called antigens, are expressed by individual patients' tumor cells.

6 Mar 2012

Microneedle vaccine patches may effectively protect against flu

Recent research found that microneedle vaccine patches are more effective at delivering protection against influenza virus in mice than subcutaneous or intramuscular inoculation. A new, detailed analysis of the early immune responses by the Emory and Georgia Tech research team helps explain why the skin is such fertile ground for vaccination with these tiny, virtually painless microneedles.

6 Mar 2012

Left hemisphere of the brain plays a critical role in creative thinking

It takes two to tango. Two hemispheres of your brain, that is. USC researchers are working to pin down the exact source of creativity in the brain - and have found that the left hemisphere of your brain, thought to be the logic and math portion, actually plays a critical role in creative thinking.

6 Mar 2012

T-cells can develop in human tonsils

A new study provides evidence that a critical type of immune cell can develop in human tonsils. The cells, called T lymphocytes, or T cells, have been thought to develop only in the thymus, an organ of the immune system that sits on the heart.

6 Mar 2012

Cdk1 molecule plays an important role in mammalian egg maturation

Women who have eggs that cannot mature will not become pregnant, and they cannot be helped by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Now researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have identified a molecule called Cdk1 that has an important function for mammalian egg maturation. In the future this could lead to an increased rate of successful IVF.

6 Mar 2012

Persistent protein expression may explain why tumors return after therapy in glioblastoma patients

Persistent protein expression may explain why tumors return after therapy in glioblastoma patients, according to a study published on March 5th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

6 Mar 2012

New DNA-reading technology could lead to correct genetic diagnosis for muscle-wasting diseases

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have used a revolutionary new DNA-reading technology for a research project that could lead to correct genetic diagnosis for muscle-wasting diseases.

6 Mar 2012

Scientists identify novel protein expressed by breast cancer cells

A team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center has identified a novel protein expressed by breast cancer cells - but not normal adult tissues - that could provide a new target for future anti-cancer drugs and treatments.

6 Mar 2012

New, freely available Web-based program helps predict effect of mutations on mRNA splicing

In a brief paper in the journal Bioinformatics, Brown University researchers describe a new, freely available Web-based program called Spliceman for predicting whether genetic mutations are likely to disrupt the splicing of messenger RNA, potentially leading to disease.

6 Mar 2012

Scientists to investigate biochemical switch: P2X1 receptor

Scientists investigating a 'biochemical switch' linked to strokes and heart disease claim to have made an advance in understanding how it is 'turned on'.

6 Mar 2012

PGen study to examine impact of consumer genomics

As genetic risk information plays an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, private companies have made personal genomic testing for these risk factors widely available to the public. However, very little data has been gathered to understand the motivations and expectations of consumers of personal genomic services, the psychological and behavioral impact of these services, and the associated ethical, legal and social issues-until now.

5 Mar 2012

Scientists identify gene that causes adult-onset primary cervical dystonia

Researchers have identified a gene that causes adult-onset primary cervical dystonia, an often-painful condition in which patients' necks twist involuntarily.

5 Mar 2012

Scientists successfully cultivate stem cells on human corneas

A new cornea may be the only way to prevent a patient going blind - but there is a shortage of donated corneas and the queue for transplantation is long. Scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have for the first time successfully cultivated stem cells on human corneas, which may in the long term remove the need for donators.

5 Mar 2012