Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Circulating tumor cells could help guide treatment and improve quality of life for cancer patients

One of the most dangerous characteristics of cancer is its ability to metastasize, or spread through the body. For this reason, oncologists have a major need for better tests to detect cells that break away from primary tumors to travel to other parts of the body.

17 Mar 2010

TRITON-TIMI 38 study evaluates response rates in patients with common genetic variant in ABCB1 gene

A new analysis of the TRITON-TIMI 38 study evaluated response rates in patients with a common genetic variant in the ABCB1 gene. Patients enrolled in the TRITON-TIMI 38 study were treated with dual antiplatelet therapy with either Plavix® (clopidogrel) plus aspirin or Effient® (prasugrel) plus aspirin and managed with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) following an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event.

17 Mar 2010

AstraZeneca Canada's IRESSA receives approval for treatment of NSCLC

AstraZeneca Canada announces the recently approved indication for IRESSA(R), a once-daily oral targeted therapy for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced (not amenable to curative therapy) or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have activating mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK). In conjunction with this approval, AstraZeneca is also announcing the availability of a diagnostic test which can now determine a patient's EGFR mutation status, representing a new era in personalized lung cancer treatment in Canada.

17 Mar 2010

Restoring immune function in HIV patients: Therapies targeting PD-1 and IL-10 molecules needed

New research conducted by the scientific director for VGTI Florida and his colleagues at the University of Montreal, in collaboration with scientists from the NIH and the McGill University Hospital center, may soon lead to an expansion of the drug arsenal used to fight HIV. The research sheds new light on how HIV gradually weakens the body’s immune system and highlights the need for new research into therapies that will target the chain of events that cause the progression of the disease.

17 Mar 2010

Essen Instruments, Origene Technologies partner to co-develop ion channel cell lines

Essen Instruments Inc. and OriGene Technologies, Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to co-develop ion channel cell lines. Essen, based in Ann Arbor Michigan, is a leading provider of life science products and services, including ion channel discovery and safety assays. OriGene, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, specializes in the creation and supply of gene-centric products, and has a collection of over 30,000 human full length cDNA clones.

17 Mar 2010

Human amniotic fluid skin cells "reprogrammed" to pluripotency

In a breakthrough that may help fill a critical need in stem cell research and patient care, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have demonstrated that skin cells found in human amniotic fluid can be efficiently "reprogrammed" to pluripotency, where they have characteristics similar to human embryonic stem cells that can develop into almost any type of cell in the human body. The study is online now and will appear in print in the next issue of the journal Cellular Reprogramming, to be published next month.

16 Mar 2010

LUMC purchases Fluidigm Access Array system

Fluidigm Corporation and BIOKÉ, distributor of Fluidigm systems in the Benelux, today announced that Leiden University Medical Center’s (LUMC) Human Genetics Department has purchased a Fluidigm Access Array™ system. The Access Array system enables users to automatically prepare sequencing-ready libraries from up to 48 individual samples at a time, for as little as €7 (EUR) per sample.

16 Mar 2010

Sigma-Aldrich signs agreement to acquire Ace Animals

Sigma-Aldrich® today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Ace Animals, Inc., a Berks County, PA.-based provider of high quality research rodents to the biomedical industry.

16 Mar 2010

Blocking RhoA enzyme increases survival in SMA mouse model

Scientists from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa have identified a promising new approach for developing drugs to treat Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading inherited cause of death in infants and toddlers. Dr. Rashmi Kothary and his doctoral student Melissa Bowerman have found that an enzyme called RhoA is overly active in a mouse model of the disease and blocking this enzyme can greatly increase survival. The study is published in Human Molecular Genetics.

16 Mar 2010

Iverson Genetic Diagnostics to conduct WARFARIN clinical study

Iverson Genetic Diagnostics, Inc. today announced that they will conduct a WARFARIN clinical study to assess the efficacy of gene-based testing prior to initiating warfarin anticoagulation therapy to reduce the incidence of bleeding and thromboembolic events.

16 Mar 2010

Epeius Biotechnologies' tumor-targeted vaccine technology for cancer immunotherapy receives patent protection

Epeius Biotechnologies Corporation, an emerging leader in the field of targeted genetic medicine, received a notice of allowance from the USPTO for a crucial patent covering its leading tumor-targeted vaccine technology for cancer immunotherapy. The issuance of this valuable patent protection for tumor targeted immunotherapy follows on the heels of two international patents covering targeted gene medicine in the U.S. and Europe, respectively, and places Epeius Biotech at the forefront of these emerging fields of clinical medicine with best-of-breed solutions and incontrovertible proofs-of-principle in the clinic.

16 Mar 2010

Mathematical model may promote medical research on how to grow new organs

Each cusp of our teeth is regulated by genes which carefully control the development. A similar genetic puzzle also regulates the differentiation of our other organs and of all living organisms.

16 Mar 2010

Dual role of Notch signalling pathway

Scientists headed by ICREA researcher Marco Mil-n, at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), reveal a surprising new function of Notch protein that contrasts with the one known to date. Found in the cell membrane, this protein activates a signalling pathway that regulates the expression of genes that make the cell divide, grow, migrate, specialise or die.

16 Mar 2010

Keynote speakers to discuss regenerative medicine therapies at upcoming forum

What regenerative medicine therapies are being applied to patients today? What hurdles stand between stem cell therapies and real treatments in the clinic? Keynote speakers at the upcoming inaugural Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum will discuss these topics as well as provide an update on various national and regional stem cell initiatives.

16 Mar 2010

Minimal improvements made in survival rates of AYA population with cancer

Despite cancer survival rates increasing dramatically for children and older adults in the last 20 years, there has been minimal improvement in the survival rates in the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) population, an age range defined as 15 – 29 years by the presenters.

16 Mar 2010

Study suggests HuR gene plays a critical role in inducing cells' inflammatory response

To understand the role of inflammation in cardiovascular and other diseases, it is essential to identify and characterize genes that induce an inflammatory response in the body -- and the genes that regulate them.

16 Mar 2010

Kisspeptin injections may help restore women's fertility

Twice weekly injections of the hormone kisspeptin may provide a new treatment to restore fertility in some women. The research is being presented at the Society for Endocrinology BES meeting in Manchester.

16 Mar 2010

Gene defects could become targets for new personalised treatments for bowel cancer

Cancer Research UK-funded scientists have discovered that the gene defects that cause some bowel cancers could become the targets for new personalised treatments. Their research is published in Cancer Cell today (Monday).

16 Mar 2010

Neurologix receives US PTO Notice of Allowance concerning treatment approach for epilepsy

Neurologix, Inc. today announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for intellectual property central to the company’s approach to the treatment of epilepsy. The patent allowance specifically refers to Neurologix’s patent application, “Methods and Compositions for the Treatment of Neurological Disease,” which covers the treatment of seizures associated with temporal lobe epilepsy by direct administration into the brain’s temporal lobe of an AAV vector encoding Neuropeptide Y (NPY).

15 Mar 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals presents data on RNAi therapeutic targeting PCSK9 for hypercholesterolemia

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today the presentation of new pre-clinical data from its hypercholesterolemia program, performed in collaboration with scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The data were presented at the PCSK9 Conference: From Gene to Therapeutics held in Nantes, France from March 11-13, 2010.

15 Mar 2010

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Circulating tumor cells could help guide treatment and improve quality of life for cancer patients

TRITON-TIMI 38 study evaluates response rates in patients with common genetic variant in ABCB1 gene

AstraZeneca Canada's IRESSA receives approval for treatment of NSCLC

Restoring immune function in HIV patients: Therapies targeting PD-1 and IL-10 molecules needed

Essen Instruments, Origene Technologies partner to co-develop ion channel cell lines

Human amniotic fluid skin cells "reprogrammed" to pluripotency

LUMC purchases Fluidigm Access Array system

Sigma-Aldrich signs agreement to acquire Ace Animals

Blocking RhoA enzyme increases survival in SMA mouse model

Iverson Genetic Diagnostics to conduct WARFARIN clinical study

Epeius Biotechnologies' tumor-targeted vaccine technology for cancer immunotherapy receives patent protection

Mathematical model may promote medical research on how to grow new organs

Dual role of Notch signalling pathway

Keynote speakers to discuss regenerative medicine therapies at upcoming forum

Minimal improvements made in survival rates of AYA population with cancer

Study suggests HuR gene plays a critical role in inducing cells' inflammatory response

Kisspeptin injections may help restore women's fertility

Gene defects could become targets for new personalised treatments for bowel cancer

Neurologix receives US PTO Notice of Allowance concerning treatment approach for epilepsy

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals presents data on RNAi therapeutic targeting PCSK9 for hypercholesterolemia

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