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National Science Foundation awards UofL researcher $500,000 for nervous system study

Michal Hetman, MD, PhD, associate professor and endowed chair in molecular signaling in the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center and the UofL Department of Neurological Surgery, has received a three-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to fund a project that will aim to explain how the nervous system grows and develops.

21 Sep 2010

Scientists identify new pathway to control immune balance

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a new pathway that helps control the immune balance through reciprocal regulation of specialized T lymphocytes, which play very different inflammatory roles.

21 Sep 2010

Trius and Scripps to develop antibiotics from marine biomedical sources

In an effort to tap into the vast potential of the oceans as a source for novel medical treatments, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a part of the Department of Defense (DoD), has awarded San Diego-based Trius Therapeutics, Inc. a four-and-a-half year contract worth up to $29.5 million to collaborate with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego for the development of novel antibiotics directed against microorganisms that cause serious infections.

21 Sep 2010

High screen use increases body fat in teenagers

Too much television, video games and Internet can increase body fat in teens. A five-year study from the University of Montreal and the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, has found teenagers have four different patterns of screen use: increasers, decreasers, consistently high and consistently low users.

21 Sep 2010

Study suggests older people may not benefit from new tuberculosis vaccines

Elderly people might not benefit from some of the tuberculosis vaccines currently in development, recent research suggests.Some vaccines under study are designed to activate a specific molecule that is an early participant in the immune response against TB in young people. But a recent Ohio State University study suggests that in older people, this molecule remains relatively inactive, even in the face of TB infection.

21 Sep 2010

NIH awards grant to discover drug for alcoholism

With the ultimate goal to discover a drug that one day treats alcoholism, a University of Houston (UH) pharmacy professor is working on pinpointing the mechanisms in the brain that respond to alcohol.

21 Sep 2010

Six3 gene safeguards future retina

New research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators adds to evidence that the Six3 gene functions like a doorman in the developing brain and visual system, safeguarding the future retina by keeping the region where the eye is forming free of a signaling protein capable of disrupting the process.

21 Sep 2010

Clemson biochemist receives grants to study DNA repair pathways

A Clemson biochemist has received grants totaling $787,000 to study how cells repair damaged DNA, which can cause cancer and genetic illnesses. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Weiguo Cao three-year funding to investigate two DNA repair pathways.

21 Sep 2010

Biomarkers may help predict children at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Children who have a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes might be identified earlier by way of tell-tale genetic indicators known as biomarkers. Some of those new biomarkers might be pinpointed in research led by Nancy F. Butte and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Institutes of Health.

20 Sep 2010

Crestor suppressed human cancer cells transplanted to mice

A drug commonly prescribed for people with high cholesterol may also be effective in treating prostate cancer, according to new research by Dr. Xiao-Yan Wen at St. Michael's Hospital.

20 Sep 2010

Researchers identify protein essential for dendritic cell development

A protein called PU.1 is essential for the development of dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers in Melbourne, Australia, have shown.

20 Sep 2010

APAF selects AB SCIEX TripleTOF 5600 System to help advance proteomics research

AB SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, today announced that the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility has chosen the AB SCIEX TripleTOF 5600 System to help advance proteomics research by significantly expanding proteome coverage. The TripleTOF 5600 System is the life science industry's fastest and most sensitive high-resolution mass spectrometer for high-performance qualitative and quantitative analysis.

20 Sep 2010

Chronix Biomedical completes Series E financing

Chronix Biomedical today announced that it has completed a Series E financing that raised $1.8 million from existing and new investors. Chronix is developing disease-specific biomarkers based on DNA fragments that are released into the bloodstream by damaged and dying (apoptotic) cells. Chronix's serum DNA biomarkers are applicable to a wide range of cancers and other chronic diseases.

20 Sep 2010

MultiStem multipotent adult progenitor cell therapy preserves 'blood brain barrier'

Athersys, Inc. announced today the publication of a key study in the October issue of Experimental Neurology conducted by researchers at Athersys, the University of Texas Medical School, the Michael E. DeBakey Institute for Comparative Cardiovascular Science and Biomedical Devices, and Texas A&M University.

20 Sep 2010

Myrexis releases MPC-9528 cancer metabolism inhibitor preclinical study results

Myrexis, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for cancer, today announced key findings from preclinical studies of the Company's novel cancer metabolism inhibitor (CMI), MPC-9528, at the Cancer and Metabolism Pathways to the Future Symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland.

20 Sep 2010

Environmental factors are cause of subarachnoid haemorrhage in most cases

The Nordic twin study investigating the heritability of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) suggests that the role of genetic factors underlying the development of SAH is less than previously believed.

20 Sep 2010

Improper biological clocks tend to develop diabetes, obesity: Research

Biologists have found that a key protein that regulates the biological clocks of mammals also regulates glucose production in the liver and that altering the levels of this protein can improve the health of diabetic mice.

20 Sep 2010

BRCA1 gene mutation increases breast cancer risk: Research

Individuals with disrupting mutations in the BRCA1 gene are known to be at substantially increased risk of breast cancer throughout their lives. Now, discoveries from an international research team led by Mayo Clinic researchers show that some of those persons may possess additional genetic variants that modify their risk. These new findings enhancing individualized medicine appear in the current Nature Genetics.

20 Sep 2010

Scientists develop microscopic gas-filled spheres of silica to locate breast cancers

A new material could help surgeons more accurately locate breast cancers, reduce the need for second surgeries and minimize pre-surgical discomfort for patients. Microscopic gas-filled spheres of silica, a porous glass, can mark the location of early-stage tumors to show their position using ultrasound imaging in the operating room.

20 Sep 2010

Scientists discover new genetic variants, pave way for early detection of ovarian cancer

An international consortium of scientists has discovered new genetic variants in five regions of the genome that affect the risk of ovarian cancer in the general population, according to two separate studies published today (Sunday), online in Nature Genetics.

20 Sep 2010