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DSM, BRAIN announce strategic cooperation to develop water-soluble vitamins

DSM Nutritional Products GmbH, a subsidiary of the Dutch company Royal DSM N.V., the world's primary supplier of vitamins, carotenoids and fine chemicals and BRAIN AG, one of the leading European white biotechnology companies, announced a strategic cooperation in the biotechnological production of water-soluble vitamins.

12 Oct 2010

Global study finds new set of genes associated with body fat distribution and obesity

Two major international studies looking at data from a quarter of a million people around the globe have found a new set of genes associated with body fat distribution and obesity. Researchers at 280 institutions worldwide, including Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, conducted the studies. The research, published in the October 10 online edition of Nature Genetics, sheds light on the biological processes involved in body fat distribution, possibly leading to new ways of treating obesity.

12 Oct 2010

Agilent introduces new microarray platform to study genetic basis of developmental disorders

Agilent Technologies Inc. today introduced the SurePrint G3 Human CGH+SNP microarray platform, an innovative system for simultaneous analysis of chromosomal copy number changes and copy-neutral aberrations. The system allows researchers to study the genetic basis of developmental disorders as well as many cancers.

12 Oct 2010

Scripps Research study findings could transform drug development to produce more effective treatments

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered new evidence that challenges the current theory about a process key to the way modern drugs are designed and how they work in the human body.

12 Oct 2010

Researchers develop new method to identify chemical histone modifications

Test system on Drosophila should provide the key to histone function. The genetic inherited material DNA was long viewed as the sole bearer of hereditary information. The function of its packaging proteins, the histones, was believed to be exclusively structural. Additional genetic information can be stored, however, and passed on to subsequent generations through chemical changes in the DNA or histones. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have succeeded in creating an experimental system for testing the function of such chemical histone modifications and their influence on the organism.

12 Oct 2010

Specialized bacterial filaments shown to conduct electricity

Some bacteria grow electrical hair that lets them link up in big biological circuits, according to a University of Southern California biophysicist and his collaborators.

12 Oct 2010

Helix completes GLP toxicology study milestone in L-DOS47 development program

Helix BioPharma Corp. today announced that it has completed its definitive GLP, rodent and primate, repeat-dose toxicology studies with L-DOS47. These studies demonstrated a good safety profile in an expanded number of rodent and primate test animals, building upon Helix's positive findings from its preliminary non-GLP toxicology studies.

12 Oct 2010

New combination technique improves study of protein characterization

Using a combination of high-powered computers and advanced experimental magnetic resonance data, a Florida State University biophysical chemist has developed techniques that improve the way scientists can study and predict the structure and dynamics of proteins found in the human body. His innovations could ultimately shorten the time it takes researchers to develop new, more effective drugs and better understand biomedical processes that underlie a variety of health conditions.

12 Oct 2010

New microchip technology to identify neuronal regenerators

Scientists have long sought the ability to regenerate nerve cells, or neurons, which could offer a new way to treat spinal-cord damage as well as neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Many chemicals can regenerate neurons grown in Petri dishes in the lab, but it's difficult and time-consuming to identify those chemicals that work in live animals, which is critical for developing drugs for humans.

12 Oct 2010

Persistent exposure to light at night leads to weight gain

Persistent exposure to light at night may lead to weight gain, even without changing physical activity or eating more food, according to new research in mice.

12 Oct 2010

Biologists recommend virtual institute for RNA research

A Europe-wide network of labs focusing on RNA research is needed to make the most of RNA's high potential for treating a wide range of diseases. The recommendation for this virtual research institute comes from a panel of biologists at the European Science Foundation in a report published today, 'RNA World: a new frontier in biomedical research'.

12 Oct 2010

Erbitux-based therapy helps in early tumor shrinkage, long-term survival in mCRC patients with KRAS wild-type tumors

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has announced that new data presented today at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) have shown that patients with KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who experienced early tumor shrinkage (within 8 weeks) during 1st line Erbitux (cetuximab) based treatment lived a median of 28.3 months.

12 Oct 2010

HCMV infection may help promote intestinal cancer

More than 50% of adults in the United States test positive for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. For most people, infection produces no symptoms and results in the virus persisting in the body for a long time. HCMV infects many cell types in the body including the cells that line the intestines (IECs).

12 Oct 2010

Researchers investigate mechanism of immune system to decipher gut-dwelling worms

A billion people living in underdeveloped areas around the world are infected with parasitic helminthes, worms that survive by residing in and feeding on their hosts. These infestations can cause chronic intestinal (and occasionally systemic) illnesses leading to long-term disability. Irah King and Markus Mohrs, biomedical researchers at the Trudeau Institute, are investigating illnesses caused by these gut-dwelling worms in an effort to decipher how immune cells send and receive signals that determine the specific immune response to mount.

12 Oct 2010

Study: Neurons interact to drive decision-making

We know that casting a ballot in the voting booth involves politics, values and personalities. But before you ever push the button for your candidate, your brain has already carried out an election of its own to make that action possible. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that our brain accumulates evidence when faced with a choice and triggers an action once that evidence reaches a tipping point.

12 Oct 2010

Research reveals new details about health benefits of fish-oil

Some of America's most popular fish salmon and albacore tuna, for example are rich in healthful natural compounds known as omega-3 fatty acids. Ongoing studies by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) chemist Darshan S. Kelley and co-investigators are helping uncover new details about how these fish-oil components help protect us from chronic diseases.

12 Oct 2010

Obesity treatments falter, but researchers announce gene links

The Wall Street Journal: "An international research consortium says it has identified 18 new gene sites linked to obesity and 13 others associated with how fat is distributed in the body, advances that shed new light on the complex biology underlying one of the world's most pressing public-health problems. The findings are based on studies involving nearly 250,000 people, making the effort the largest so far to unravel the genetic basis of common human traits, researchers said.

11 Oct 2010

Geron commences GRNOPC1 hESC-based cell therapy in patients with spinal cord injury

Geron Corporation today announced the enrollment of the first patient in the company's clinical trial of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, GRNOPC1. The primary objective of this Phase I study is to assess the safety and tolerability of GRNOPC1 in patients with "complete" American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale grade A thoracic spinal cord injuries. Participants in the study must be newly injured and receive GRNOPC1 within 14 days of the injury.

11 Oct 2010

Novel hormonal treatments may help ER-negative breast cancer patients: Study

Women who have estrogen (ER) negative breast cancer may have more drug treatment options than previously thought, a Creighton (pronounced Cray-ton) University study suggests. The study is reported in the Oct. 11 online version of the journal Oncogene.

11 Oct 2010

Part of brain reorganizes to enhance visual abilities in deaf cats

Deaf or blind people often report enhanced abilities in their remaining senses, but up until now, no one has explained how and why that could be. Researchers at The University of Western Ontario, led by Stephen Lomber of The Centre for Brain and Mind have discovered there is a causal link between enhanced visual abilities and reorganization of the part of the brain that usually handles auditory input in congenitally deaf cats. The findings, published online in Nature Neuroscience, provide insight into the plasticity that may occur in the brains of deaf people.

11 Oct 2010