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NIH awards La Jolla Institute $12.6M to develop San Diego's first Center for RNAi screening

The La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology will develop San Diego's first Center for RNAi screening -- a breakthrough genomics technology that will further enhance San Diego's reputation as a national research leader and provide the local biomedical community ready access to the Nobel-Prize winning technology.

11 Oct 2010

New natural dietary components inhibit breast cancer cells

Researchers at Indiana University and Methodist Research Institute have published the dramatic effects of a natural formula against breast cancer. The impressive results are found in the most recent publication of Integrative Cancer Therapies. Lead investigator Dr. Daniel Sliva says, The formula we studied inhibits growth of highly metastatic human breast cancer cells, and suppresses metastatic potential of these cells.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers develop new approach to treat inflammatory bowel disease

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have developed a novel approach for delivering small bits of genetic material into the body to improve the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. Delivering short strands of RNA into cells has become a popular research area because of its potential therapeutic applications, but how to deliver them into targeted cells in a living organism has been an obstacle.

11 Oct 2010

Study to uncover genetic basis of obesity

An international consortium has made significant inroads into uncovering the genetic basis of obesity by identifying 18 new gene sites associated with overall obesity and 13 that affect fat distribution. The studies include data from nearly a quarter of a million participants, the largest genetic investigation of human traits to date.

11 Oct 2010

VBI researchers receive grant to study immune responses to gut pathogens

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a $10.6 million grant to researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and collaborators to determine how the human immune system responds to infection by pathogens of the gut. The funding will be used to apply mathematical modeling to the study of immune responses to gut pathogens.

11 Oct 2010

New experimental vaccine against 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

UT Southwestern initiates study on hormone leptin for people with type 1 diabetes

A clinical trial at UT Southwestern Medical Center aims to determine whether adding the hormone leptin to standard insulin therapy might help rein in the tumultuous blood-sugar levels of people with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes.

11 Oct 2010

Exelixis enters two new collaboration agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb

Exelixis, Inc. announced today that it has entered into two new collaboration agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Under the first agreement, Exelixis will grant to Bristol-Myers Squibb an exclusive license to its small-molecule TGR5 agonist program including backups.

11 Oct 2010

Yoga decreases anxiety in childhood cancer patients and their parents

A new study reports that yoga can reduce the stress of cancer diagnosis and treatment experienced by childhood cancer patients and their parents. The findings were published in the September/October 2010 edition of Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, published by the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON).

11 Oct 2010

'Achilles heel' for HCV infection

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) have found that an enzyme associated with the storage of fat in the liver is required for the infectious activity of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). This discovery may offer a new strategy for treating the infection.

11 Oct 2010

DTC genetic tests require innovative approach to enter global market

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests available from retailers and the Internet let people learn about their genomes without going to a doctor, but they raise the question of who is responsible for oversight and regulation of these tests. Critics worry about safety risks if consumers base important lifestyle or medical decisions on inaccurate or misunderstood test results.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers release evidence on conative faculty of brain

Evidence of a third faculty of the brain, the conative faculty, was announced on October 6, 2010 at a conference for business, education, and government leaders from nine countries and 35 states, hosted by Kolbe Corp.

11 Oct 2010

Takeda, Envoy enter three-year research alliance to develop schizophrenia drug

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global pharmaceutical company, and Envoy Therapeutics Inc., a recently formed drug discovery company, today announced that they have formed a three-year research alliance aimed at discovering drugs for schizophrenia that will have greater efficacy and safety compared to current therapies.

11 Oct 2010

Smoking leads to epigenetic changes associated with cancer development: Research

For the first time, UK scientists have reported direct evidence that taking up smoking results in epigenetic changes associated with the development of cancer.The results were reported at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Milan, Italy.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers determine genetic structures of bacteria that cause Lyme disease

Researchers Dr. Steven E. Schutzer of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and Dr. Claire M. Fraser-Liggett of the Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland, and their collaborators have made a major achievement toward better understanding Lyme disease, by determining the complete genetic structures of 13 strains of the bacteria that cause the disease.

11 Oct 2010

Researchers create experimental vaccine for 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