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NIH awards three new SBIR grants to Taiga

Taiga Biotechnologies, Inc. today announced that the company has received three new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health, totaling $1.7 million. This adds to the two previous grants awarded to Taiga for various applications of its proprietary technology platforms, for a total in NIH funding to date of over $2.1 million.

22 Oct 2010

Research determine 3D structure of egg receptor molecule that binds sperm

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have been able to describe the 3D structure of a complete egg receptor that binds sperm at the beginning of fertilization. The results, published in the journal Cell, will lead to better understanding of infertility and may enable entirely new types of contraceptives.

22 Oct 2010

Study: apoA-V may reduce high triglyceride levels, coronary artery disease

An exciting new study conducted by Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute scientists identified that an injection of the protein apolipoprotein A-V may reduce high triglyceride levels in the blood and subsequently reduce coronary artery disease. Like cholesterol, elevated levels of triglyceride, a fat in the blood, is associated with the increased risk of heart disease—the number one cause of death in the United States.

22 Oct 2010

Biomarkers can improve ability to identify patients at high risk of CKD: Study

Measuring three biomarkers in a single blood sample may improve physicians' ability to identify patients at high risk of developing chronic kidney disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

22 Oct 2010

Regulus present advancements in microRNA platform at Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society meeting

Regulus Therapeutics Inc. announced today that advancements from its leading microRNA platform and product pipeline were presented at the "6th Annual Meeting of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society" held October 20 - 23, 2010 in Dana Point, California.

22 Oct 2010

Idera announces IMO-3100 Phase 1 clinical trial results for autoimmune disease

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced results from its single-dose, dose-escalation Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety and mechanism of action of IMO-3100, its lead Toll-like Receptor (TLR) 7 and TLR9 antagonist drug candidate for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

22 Oct 2010

New findings shed light on how brain wires itself during first few years of life

A new paper from MIT neuroscientists, in collaboration with Alvaro Pascual-Leone at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, offers evidence that it is easier to rewire the brain early in life. The researchers found that a small part of the brain's visual cortex that processes motion became reorganized only in the brains of subjects who had been born blind, not those who became blind later in life.

22 Oct 2010

Dicerna secures $4 million in second closing of Series B equity financing

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a second generation RNA interference (RNAi) company developing novel therapeutics utilizing its proprietary Dicer Substrate Technology and Dicer Substrate siRNA (DsiRNA) molecules, today announced a second closing of its Series B equity financing, securing an additional $4 million and bringing the total capital raised in this round to $29 million.

22 Oct 2010

Australian stem cell line offers fresh approach to diabetes cure

Australian researchers have developed the country’s first diabetes specific stem cell line, a major advance for patients suffering from the chronic disease.

21 Oct 2010

Bruker installs BioSpec 170/25 system at CEA NeuroSpin research center

Bruker announced today that it has successfully installed its BioSpec® 170/25 system at the CEA NeuroSpin research center near Paris, France. The world's first horizontal ultra-high magnetic field 17.2 Tesla MRI system features a magnet bore diameter of 25 cm. It is equipped with a novel Bruker BGA-S™ gradient system with unsurpassed amplitude and slew rate specifications for cutting-edge preclinical in vivo imaging on small animals.

21 Oct 2010

Highlights of Frontiers in Optics 2010/Laser Science XXVI Meeting

Scientists and engineers from around the world will gather on the shores of Lake Ontario in Rochester, N.Y. next week to discuss some of the latest breakthroughs in lasers and optics and their applications to cutting-edge science, the development of new materials, and medicine.

21 Oct 2010

Research identifies key regulators that control transmission of malaria parasite

Scientists at The University of Nottingham and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge have pin-pointed the 72 molecular switches that control the three key stages in the life cycle of the malaria parasite and have discovered that over a third of these switches can be disrupted in some way.

21 Oct 2010

Study demonstrates anti-prostate cancer properties of Modified Citrus Pectin

Researchers at Columbia University recently analyzed the positive effects of Modified Citrus Pectin (MCP) on human and mouse prostate cancer cell lines. The results, as reported by lead researcher Dr. Aaron Katz in the publication of Integrative Cancer Therapies, show that MCP inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis (programmed cell death) in both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent cancer cells in a time and dose-dependent manner.

21 Oct 2010

Motherhood may cause brain to grow

Motherhood may actually cause the brain to grow, not turn it into mush, as some have claimed. Exploratory research published by the American Psychological Association found that the brains of new mothers bulked up in areas linked to motivation and behavior, and that mothers who gushed the most about their babies showed the greatest growth in key parts of the mid-brain.

21 Oct 2010

Lubricin reduces wear to bone cartilage

A team of researchers in North Carolina has discovered that lubricin, a synovial fluid glycoprotein, reduces wear to bone cartilage. This result, which has implications for the treatment of sufferers of osteoarthritis, will be presented today at the AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition, taking place this week at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico.

21 Oct 2010

Scientists suggest enzyme that modifies 4-quinolones can reduce microbial infection

So disease-causing bacteria in the body finally have multiplied to the point where their numbers are large enough to cause illness. What's next? They get out their "smart phones" and whisper "Let's roll!" That's how an article in ACS' monthly Chemical Reviews describes the substances "smart phones of the microbial world" that bacteria use to transmit chemical signals that launch infections and monitor their environment.

21 Oct 2010

Automatic behaviors are stored in frontal cortex

Some people may excel at riding a bike, tying a tie, or playing the piano, but those same people may find it difficult to explain or teach those skills to someone else. These motor skills are learned in one part of the brain, whereas classroom instruction and information read in a book are acquired in another area of the brain, explained F. Gregory Ashby, professor and chair of UC Santa Barbara's Department of Psychology. This second area of learning is the frontal cortex the area immediately behind the forehead -- where executive function is located.

21 Oct 2010

Protein IL-37 could help treat inflammatory diseases in adults and children

A husband and wife research team from Melbourne, Australia, have identified a protein that may be a key therapy for many inflammatory diseases, including those affecting premature babies.

21 Oct 2010

Researcher hopes to provide effective medication for Parkinson's disease

The side effects of the standard medication for Parkinson's disease have long been a preoccupation of brain researchers. Now Daniella Rylander has presented new findings in a recently defended PhD thesis at Lund University that provide hope of more effective medication for those who suffer from the nerve cell disease.

21 Oct 2010

Researcher identifies two risk markers for Alzheimer's disease

Risk markers could play an important role in this. These are substances linked to Alzheimer's that are found in unusually high or unusually low quantities in patients who go on to develop the disease.

21 Oct 2010