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Researchers create experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created an experimental vaccine against beta-amyloid, the small protein that forms plaques in the brain and is believed to contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

11 Oct 2010

Scientists identify molecular mechanism of muscle stem cell differentiation

Under normal circumstances, adult stem cells reside in muscle tissue, where they can differentiate into a number of different cell types. After an injury (or even a tough workout), muscles are inflamed as cells and molecules flood the area to control damage and begin repairs. When called upon to replace muscle tissue damaged by injury or genetic disease, some muscle stem cells differentiate, becoming new muscle cells, while others make more stem cells. At Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), a team of scientists led by Pier Lorenzo Puri, M.D., Ph.D., recently uncovered the molecular messengers that translate inflammatory signals into the genetic changes that tell muscle stem cells to differentiate.

11 Oct 2010

Research may offer new therapy targets for drug-resistant breast tumors

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found how gene expression that may contribute to drug resistance is ramped up in unusual types of breast tumors. Their findings may offer new therapy targets.

11 Oct 2010

Discovery can lead to new approach for treating MS in early stages

A deficiency in one of the immune system's enzymes affects the severity of autoimmune diseases such as MS, and explains why the course of these diseases can vary so much. New findings give an insight into how this enzyme deficiency can be diagnosed, and could lead to new medicines, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers discover rhythmic changes in synapse numbers regulate sleep cycles

With the help of tiny, see-through fish, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers are homing in on what happens in the brain while you sleep. In a new study, they show how the circadian clock and sleep affect the scope of neuron-to-neuron connections in a particular region of the brain, and they identified a gene that appears to regulate the number of these connections, called synapses.

8 Oct 2010

Researchers reveal neural responses associated with empathy for others' pain

Witnessing a person from our own group or an outsider suffer pain causes neural responses in two very different regions of the brain. And, the specific region activated reveals whether or not we will help the person in need. Researchers at the University of Zurich studied the brain responses of soccer fans and now have neurobiological evidence for why we are most willing to help members of our own group.

8 Oct 2010

Correcting vitamin D deficiency before orthopedic surgery improves patient outcome: Study

Almost 50 percent of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery have vitamin D deficiency that should be corrected before surgery to improve patient outcomes, based on a study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City. Vitamin D is essential for bone healing and muscle function and is critical for a patient's recovery. The study appears in the October issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

8 Oct 2010

Mouse study may help develop new therapies for spinal cord injury

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown how stem cells, together with other cells, repair damaged tissue in the mouse spinal cord. The results are of potential significance to the development of therapies for spinal cord injury.

8 Oct 2010

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center named Centers of Excellence for Molecular Hematology

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has been named one of five national Centers of Excellence for Molecular Hematology to find new gene and cell therapies for inherited diseases affecting blood cells.

8 Oct 2010

Clinical study data on Natural S-equol supplement presented at NAMS Annual Meeting

Four clinical studies that add to the evidence about the use of a new nutritional supplement containing the whole soy germ-based ingredient Natural S-equol to improve health were presented at the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting.

8 Oct 2010

Study finds boosting mitochondria may delay onset of Parkinson's disease

In a study that sheds new light on the causes of Parkinson's disease, researchers report that brain cells in Parkinson's patients abandon their energy-producing machinery, the mitochondria. A shutdown in fuel can have devastating effects on brain cells, which consume roughly 20 percent of the body's energy despite making up only 2 percent of body weight.

8 Oct 2010

GeneGo integrates SDM platform with MetaCore and MetaDrug

GeneGo, Inc., a leading provider of databases, software and services in systems biology and chemistry, announced today that they have integrated GenomeQuest's Sequence Data Management (SDM) platform with GeneGo's MetaCore and MetaDrug.

8 Oct 2010

Roche´s Cellavista System useful for automated mES colony imaging: Study

A recent study depicted the use of Roche´s Cellavista System to rapidly and effectively carry out a clonal analysis of embryonic stem colony self-renewal in an end-point assay. The Cellavista System proved to be useful for automated mES colony imaging, as well as characterization of colonies as differentiated and undifferentiated based on gating of morphological and intensity criteria. Little or no interference from the feeder cell layers was seen in the analysis of the images.

8 Oct 2010

Scientists engineer bacterial cell wall with small molecules to combat diseases

A team of Yale University scientists has engineered the cell wall of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, tricking it into incorporating foreign small molecules and embedding them within the cell wall.

8 Oct 2010

Researchers identify molecular mechanism that regulate metastasis of melanoma cells

The way melanoma cells use the immune system to spread and develop into lung tumors may lead to a therapy to decrease development of these tumors, according to Penn State researchers.

8 Oct 2010

Researchers explain nano-topographical responsiveness of stem cells

Many scientists aspire to take control over the stem cell differentiation process, so that we can grow organs and implants perfectly matched to each patient in the future. Now research in the Journal of Tissue Engineering, published by SAGE-Hindawi, explains how engineering the topography on which stem cells grow, and the mechanical forces working on them, can be as powerful an agent for change as their chemical environment.

8 Oct 2010

Novel peptide NX002 demonstrates efficacy in animal model of oral mucositis: Study

NephRx Corporation today announced that a new study has shown that its novel peptide NX002 demonstrated significant efficacy when tested in an animal model of oral mucositis. Mucositis is a debilitating and often dose-limiting side effect of many forms of cancer therapy that affects more than 400,000 patients who receive chemotherapy or radiation treatment in the U.S. each year. Current treatment options are very limited.

8 Oct 2010

ISCO to present data on Hepatocyte-like cells at ASSLD Annual Meeting

International Stem Cell Corporation, will present data on its progress toward producing human liver cells from immune-matched patient-specific parthenogenetic stem cells at The Liver Meeting, the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (ASSLD), in Boston, MA from October 29 - November 2, 2010.

8 Oct 2010

Matchmaker function may help cardiologists understand the natural repair process after heart attacks

Heart muscle cells do not normally replicate in adult tissue, but multiply with abandoned during development. This is why the loss of heart muscle after a heart attack is so dire-you can't grow enough new heart muscle to make up for the loss.

8 Oct 2010

Medical researchers take the next step in personalized medicine

Prescription drugs and their dosages may be standardized, but not every patient reacts to a medicine in the same way. The personal genetic characteristics of individuals and populations can explain why a specific prescription successfully treats one patient and not another, so medical researchers are adopting the new approach called "personalized medicine" and a Tel Aviv University lab is leading the way.

8 Oct 2010