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Researchers identify regulatory defect that drives lupus

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Cambridge, Mass., in collaboration with Jackson Laboratory scientists, have identified a regulatory defect that drives lupus.

4 Feb 2011

Digna Biotech, CIMA receive EU grant for development of gene therapy product for Acute Intermittent Porphyria

Digna Biotech and the Centro de Investigacion Medica Aplicada (CIMA) de la Universidad de Navarra announced today that the European Union (EU) has finalized a EUR 3.3 million grant to AIPGENE consortium. Digna Biotech and CIMA will receive, as members of the consortium, EUR 0.5 and EUR 0.8 million respectively for the clinical development of a gene therapy product for Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP).

4 Feb 2011

Cholesterol efflux capacity may protect against heart disease: Study

The discovery that high levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol are associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease has fostered intensive research to modify HDL levels for therapeutic gain. However, recent findings have called into question the notion that pharmacologic increases in HDL cholesterol levels are necessarily beneficial to patients.

4 Feb 2011

New discovery: miR-429 regulatory RNA may be effective in fighting ovarian cancer

Cancer researchers have discovered that a type of regulatory RNA may be effective in fighting ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer isn't typically discovered until it's in the advanced stages, where it is already spreading to other organs and is very difficult to fight with chemotherapy.

4 Feb 2011

Data generated on Ion Torrent PGM sequencer to be presented at AGBT

Life Technologies Corporation, today announced that just six weeks following the launch of the Ion Torrent PGM sequencer, independent researchers will present data they generated with the system at the annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference.

4 Feb 2011

New way to stabilize proteins

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a new way to stabilize proteins — the workhorse biological macromolecules found in all organisms. Proteins serve as the functional basis of many types of biologic drugs used to treat everything from arthritis, anemia, and diabetes to cancer.

4 Feb 2011

Scientists reprogram marrow cells from patient with chronic myeloid leukemia

By coaxing healthy and diseased human bone marrow to become embryonic-like stem cells, a team of Wisconsin scientists has laid the groundwork for observing the onset of the blood cancer leukemia in the laboratory dish.

4 Feb 2011

UM researchers find genetic cause of retinitis pigmentosa

Researchers led by geneticists at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have identified a new gene that causes retinitis pigmentosa, a form of blindness, ending one South Florida family's nearly 20-year search for what caused three of their four children to lose their sight.

4 Feb 2011

Treg therapy ensures success of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, without triggering GVHD

For blood cancer patients at high risk of relapse, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the transplantation of blood-forming stem cells, is one of best options for treatment and a potential cure. Unfortunately, the most common complication of HSCT is graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a serious and often deadly post-transplant complication that occurs when the newly transplanted donor cells recognize the recipient's own cells as foreign and react by attacking the cells in the patient's body.

4 Feb 2011

Study hopes to establish health benefits from cocoa and vitamin C

A study which hopes to establish the health benefits from cocoa and vitamin C is looking for volunteers. Researchers at The University of Nottingham are trying to find ways of helping us maintain muscle mass as we grow old and want to hear from healthy men aged between 18-28 and 65-75.

4 Feb 2011

Cell signaling hormone boosts immune response to clear HIV-like infection

Australian scientists have successfully cleared a HIV-like infection from mice by boosting the function of cells vital to the immune response.

4 Feb 2011

New study provides insight into mechanism behind breast cancer mutation

A new study sheds light on why individuals who inherit a particular family of mutations have a high risk of developing a very aggressive form of breast cancer. The research, published by Cell Press on February 4th in the journal Cell Stem Cell, shows that breast tissue cells from these individuals make abnormal cell-fate decisions even before cancer develops and provides exciting new insights into the mechanisms behind one of the most lethal types of breast cancer.

4 Feb 2011

Stem cells delivered intranasally improve motor function in Parkinson's disease

Stem cells, delivered intranasally, were found to substantially improve motor function in Parkinson's disease in a study co-authored by William H. Frey II, Ph.D, Director of the Alzheimer's Research Center, part of HealthPartners Research Foundation. Frey collaborated with Lusine Danielyan, MD, of University Hospital of Tubingen in Germany.

4 Feb 2011

Tacere announces reacquisition of HCV compound development, commercialization rights in Asia

Tacere Therapeutics, an RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics company, announced today that it has reacquired the development and commercialization rights to its Hepatitis C Virus compounds throughout Asia from its strategic partner, Tokyo-based Oncolys BioPharma Inc.

4 Feb 2011

JDRF, Eli Lilly sign agreement to fund type 1 diabetes research for re-generative medicine

Eli Lilly and Company and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation today announced that they have signed an agreement to fund early-stage research that could enable patients with type 1 diabetes to regenerate insulin-producing cells destroyed by the disease.

4 Feb 2011

Scientists unravel mystery about how new tumors in individuals with breast cancer take root

In a discovery that may lead to a new treatment for breast cancer that has spread to the bone, a Princeton University research team has unraveled a mystery about how these tumors take root.

4 Feb 2011

Study: Pistachios may help reduce risk of heart disease

It's no coincidence that National Pistachio Day – February 26, 2011 – occurs during American Heart Month. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in America, and promising nutrition research shows that pistachios are a heart healthy snack choice. In honor of American Heart Month, TheGreenNut.org is offering simple tips encouraging all Americans to go green for a healthy heart this February.

4 Feb 2011

Immune protein exacerbates skin cancer due to sun exposure: Study

An unexpected immune protein exacerbates cancer due to sun exposure, report researchers in the January 27th issue of Nature. The study suggests that drugs blocking the protein might halt tumor growth in skin cancer patients.

3 Feb 2011

Neurons activated by learning show extensive expansion of structure

When a laboratory rat learns how to reach for and grab a food pellet - a pretty complex and unnatural act for a rodent - the acquired knowledge significantly alters the structure of the specific brain cells involved, which sprout a whopping 22 percent more dendritic spines connecting them to other motor neurons.

3 Feb 2011

Blood clotting protein could be used as 'biomarker' for mucopolysaccharide diseases

University of Manchester scientists have shown that a protein involved in blood clotting can be used to diagnose and subsequently monitor the treatment of a group of childhood genetic diseases.

3 Feb 2011