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Human endogenous retroviruses may provide insight evidence to HIV diagnosis

Why is it so hard to isolate and purify human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Why has no one been able to see, by electron microscopy, a single HIV particle in the blood of AIDS patients, even those who have a "high viral load" Why does HIV seem to mutate with startling rapidity. AIDS researchers have not been able to come up with answers to these questions.

4 Sep 2010

Single-dose of experimental malaria drug clears parasites in mice, represents potential new class of drugs to treat malaria in humans

An experimental malaria drug was shown to effectively treat the disease in mice with only a single dose, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Reuters reports (Kelland, 9/2). The new drug, known as NITD609, "represents an entirely new class of medicines to treat malaria ... Human trials, backed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG, could begin later this year," the Wall Street Journal writes (Naik, 9/3).

4 Sep 2010

New insight into abnormalities in cancer cells

A basic requirement for growth and life of a multicellular organism is the ability of its cells to divide. Chromosomes in the cells duplicate and are then distributed among the daughter cells. This distribution is organized by a protein complex made up of several hundred different proteins, called the centrosome. In cancer cells, the centrosome often assumes an unnatural shape or is present in uncontrolled numbers. The reasons for this were previously largely unknown.

4 Sep 2010

Researchers to study protein fragments released into bloodstream after heart attack

A blood test to diagnose which heart attack survivors will suffer heart failure is the goal of a new five-year, $11.6 million contract to the UT Health Science Center San Antonio from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

4 Sep 2010

Colo. lawmaker pushes bill to permit stem cell research

Politico reports that as "Congress prepares to return for a limited pre-election agenda, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said she has picked up wide support for her bill to permit embryonic stem-cell research and expects it will pass this month. Although it has been strongly opposed by anti-abortion activists, she voiced confidence that the measure will be a political boost for its backers as well as good policy.

4 Sep 2010

Researchers reveal new details on bacterial cannibalism

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have revealed new details about how cannibalistic bacteria identify peers suitable for consumption. The work, which employed imaging mass spectrometry, is a first step toward a broader effort to map all signaling molecules between organisms.

4 Sep 2010

Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission partners with NIH, NIST to host symposium on stem cell research

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission will host the Third Annual Maryland Stem Cell Research Symposium in partnership with the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Standards and Technology on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010.

4 Sep 2010

ISSCR comments on hESC research federal funding injunction

Vital progress in stem cell research by hundreds of U.S. laboratories is threatened after last week's injunction prohibiting federal funding for the study of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), Elaine Fuchs, Rockefeller University, U.S., stated that the setbacks for advancing biomedical research on stem cells and translating this knowledge into new and improved treatments for patients are already considerable, and escalate with each day the injunction continues.

4 Sep 2010

Research on iPS cells can imply potential cell therapy for X-linked disorders

Female induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, reprogrammed from human skin cells into cells that have the embryonic-like potential to become any cell in the body, retain an inactive X chromosome, stem cell researchers at UCLA have found.

4 Sep 2010

Researchers develop new animal model for studying hemophilia A

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have developed a new animal model for studying hemophilia A, with the goal of eventually treating people with the disorder.

3 Sep 2010

Emerald BioStructures, SomaLogic announce strategic collaboration for SOMAmers

Emerald BioStructures, a leading provider of integrated structural biology services, and SomaLogic, Inc., a diagnostics and biomarker discovery company, today announced that they have entered into a strategic collaboration for the structure-based design of chemically modified DNA aptamers and small molecule therapeutics, based on crystal structures of important protein targets bound to high affinity SOMAmers.

3 Sep 2010

ASBMB disappointed with preliminary injunction barring stem-cell research funding

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology expressed its disapproval and disappointment this week in response to the Aug. 23 ruling in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that granted a preliminary injunction barring federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research.

3 Sep 2010

ForteBio launches Protein G biosensor for rapid detection of mammalian IgGs

ForteBio®, Inc., a leading supplier of label-free technology that accelerates the development of biotherapeutic and pharmaceutical products, today announced the launch of its Dip and Read™ Protein G biosensor for rapid detection and quantification of numerous types of mammalian immunoglobulin (IgG), an antibody molecule, from solution. Because it runs on the company's label-free Octet instrumentation platform, the new biosensor enables such measurements with unprecedented speed, ease of use and cost-efficiency.

3 Sep 2010

First Edition: September 3, 2010

Today's headlines contain reports on a new study showing that employers are shifting the increasing costs of premiums onto workers, efforts to get Congress to weigh in on the controversy about federal funding on stem cell research and the difficulty getting uninsured children enrolled in state Medicaid and CHIP programs.

3 Sep 2010

Hardy Diagnostics releases chemical-free AloeSafe sanitizer

Hardy Diagnostics, an FDA licensed and ISO certified biomedical firm, is pleased to announce the release of AloeSafe, a hand sanitizer that contains aloe vera, vitamin E, and lavender oil. Unlike most alcohol based hand sanitizers, AloeSafe is free from potentially harmful ingredients.

3 Sep 2010

Cardiogenesis Corporation releases comment on STAR-heart study

Cardiogenesis Corporation, released comments today regarding the STAR-heart study.The STAR-heart study, which was presented at the European Society of Cardiology 2010 Congress in August 2010, reported that the intracoronary injection of autologous stem cells derived from bone marrow is associated with improved hemodynamics and long term survival in the treatment of chronic heart failure.

3 Sep 2010

Researchers find role of Vpr protein in HIV infection

Dr. Éric A. Cohen, Director of the Human Retrovirology research unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), and his team published yesterday, in the online open-access journal PLos Pathogens, the results of their most recent research on the role of the Vpr protein in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection and AIDS (acquired autoimmune deficiency syndrome).

3 Sep 2010

Preventive surgery protects against breast, ovarian cancer in women carrying BRCA1, BRCA2 gene mutations

Women who have gene mutations that put them at high risk of ovarian and breast cancer can significantly reduce the risk of developing or dying from these cancers by having their healthy ovaries or breasts removed, according to a new study reported in the Sept. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

3 Sep 2010

New peer-reviewed study on chemopreventive effects of Protandim

LifeVantage Corporation, the maker of Protandim®, a clinically proven, science-based therapy for oxidative stress, announced today that a new peer-reviewed study involving Protandim® was published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. The study, conducted by researchers at Louisiana State University, examined the biochemical mechanisms that underlie the ability of Protandim® to suppress tumors in mice. That ability was previously demonstrated by the authors in a study involving a mouse two-stage model of chemically-induced skin cancer.

3 Sep 2010

Researchers develop three reasons for superstitious behavior

People who believe that fate and chance control their lives are more likely to be superstitious -- but when faced with death they are likely to abandon superstition altogether, according to a recent Kansas State University undergraduate research project.

3 Sep 2010