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AgonOx, MedImmune partner to advance OX40 agonist programs for cancer treatment

AgonOx today announced that it has entered into an exclusive global partnership with MedImmune, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, to develop agonists using its OX40 platform. MedImmune will lead further preclinical and clinical studies of this tumor-specific T-cell immunity stimulator for the potential treatment of cancer.

31 Oct 2011

Gen-Probe receives FDA approval for APTIMA HPV assay

Gen-Probe Incorporated announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its APTIMA HPV assay, an amplified nucleic acid test that detects high-risk strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) that are associated with cervical cancer and precancerous lesions.

31 Oct 2011

Astex to present data on direct acting antiviral agents against HCV at 62nd AASLD meeting

Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics, announced that it will present data on its novel, first-in-class direct acting antiviral agents (DAA) against Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in San Francisco, November 4-8, 2011.

31 Oct 2011

BerGenBio commences preclinical development of BGB324 anti-cancer drug

BerGenBio AS, an emerging oncology biopharma, today announced it has initiated preclinical development of its proprietary lead compound, BGB324. This compound will be a first-in-class inhibitor of AXL kinase.

31 Oct 2011

Mayo Clinic, Oxford BioMedica collaborate to develop gene therapy for glaucoma

Oxford BioMedica plc, the leading gene-based biopharmaceutical company, today announces that it has entered into a research and development collaboration with Mayo Clinic, Rochester (USA) to develop a novel gene therapy for the treatment of chronic glaucoma.

31 Oct 2011

Asuragen introduces ARQ IS Calibrator Panels to improve BCR-ABL1 testing for CML

Asuragen, Inc. announced today that it has commercially launched the ARQ IS Calibrator Panels (RUO), intended to aid laboratories with standardization of BCR-ABL1 quantitative measurements on the International Scale.

31 Oct 2011

Neutralization approach appears to prevent proliferative vitreoretinopathy

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), or the formation of scar tissue within the eye, is a serious, sight-threatening complication in patients recovering surgical repair of retinal detachment. A new study conducted by investigators at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, published in the December issue of the American Journal of Pathology, suggests that a cocktail containing reagents to neutralize a relatively small subset of vitreal growth factors and cytokines may be an effective treatment.

31 Oct 2011

Scientists identify key mechanism of tumor metastasis

Scientists at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia have identified a key mechanism of metastasis that could lead to blocking tumor growth if their findings are confirmed.

31 Oct 2011

Researchers shed light on inner workings of endocycle

An international team of researchers led by investigators in the U.S. and Germany has shed light on the inner workings of the endocycle, a common cell cycle that fuels growth in plants, animals and some human tissues and is responsible for generating up to half of the Earth's biomass.

31 Oct 2011

Fat cells play a major role in mediating ovarian cancer metastasis

A large pad of fat cells that extends from the stomach and covers the intestines provides nutrients that promote the spread and growth of ovarian cancer, reports a research team based at the University of Chicago in the journal Nature Medicine, published online October 30th, 2011.

31 Oct 2011

New library for development of targeted cancer drugs

In a technical tour de force, scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center have cataloged and cross-indexed the actions of 178 candidate drugs capable of blocking the activity of one or more of 300 enzymes, including enzymes critical for cancer and other diseases. Additionally, a free library of the results has been made available online to the research community. This unique library represents an important new tool for accelerating the development of an entire class of targeted cancer drugs.

31 Oct 2011

Scientists pinpoint brain circuitry linked to decision-making

What drives addicts to repeatedly choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, gambling or kleptomania, despite the risks involved? Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have pinpointed the exact locations in the brain where calculations are made that can result in addictive and compulsive behavior.

31 Oct 2011

Scientists discover how toxic form of htt protein causes Huntington's symptoms

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered how a form of the protein linked to Huntington's disease influences the timing and severity of its symptoms, offering new avenues for treating not only this disease, but also a variety of similar conditions.

31 Oct 2011

New top-down method can quickly separate, identify thousands of protein molecules

A team led by Northwestern University chemical biologist Neil Kelleher has developed a new "top-down" method that can separate and identify thousands of protein molecules quickly. Many have been skeptical that such an approach, where each protein is analyzed intact instead of in smaller parts, could be done on such a large scale.

31 Oct 2011

Researchers identify FMRP protein as key player in RNA editing

The most common form of heritable cognitive impairment is Fragile X Syndrome, caused by mutation or malfunction of the FMR1 gene. Loss of FMR1 function is also the most common genetic cause of autism. Understanding how this gene works is vital to finding new treatments to help Fragile X patients and others.

31 Oct 2011

First report on how patterns of 5-hmC's distribution change in mouse brain during development

In 2009, the DNA alphabet expanded. Scientists discovered that an extra letter or "sixth nucleotide" was surprisingly abundant in DNA from stem cells and brain cells.

31 Oct 2011

Python heart holds surprises that could be of use in cardiology

The expanding hearts of pythons have intrigued researchers. Leslie Leinwand - a University of Colorado at Boulder molecular biologist who studies heart disease in humans called pythons’ expanding hearts “amazing biology”. “They're not swelling up. They're building (heart) muscle,” he said.

30 Oct 2011

Ovarian cancer patients with many folate receptors benefit from new therapy

A new strategy that takes advantage of ovarian cancer's reliance on folate appears to give relapse patients extra months of life with few side effects, researchers say.

29 Oct 2011

'Deep sequencing' technology identifies new target area for depression

Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Yale University have identified a new target area in the human genome that appears to harbor genes with a major role in the onset of depression.

29 Oct 2011

Study: Many fetal expression changes are reversed immediately after birth

The "switching on" or expression of specific genes in the human genome is what makes each human tissue and each human being unique. A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, and the National Institute of Mental Health found that many gene expression changes that occur during fetal development are reversed immediately after birth.

29 Oct 2011