Osteoporosis patients could soon ditch daily injection pens for an implantable microchip that releases medication at the push of a remote-controlled button, reports a new study appearing 16 February 2012 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The clinical trial, composed of a group of women with osteoporosis in Denmark, is the first to test a wirelessly controlled microchip capable of releasing drugs into the body at any time.
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a robotic device made from DNA that could potentially seek out specific cell targets within a complex mixture of cell types and deliver important molecular instructions, such as telling cancer cells to self-destruct. Inspired by the mechanics of the body's own immune system, the technology might one day be used to program immune responses to treat various diseases. The research findings appear today in Science.
LA JOLLA, CA – February 16, 2012 – A team of scientists from the Scripps Research Institute, collaborating with members of the drug discovery company Receptos, has created the first high-resolution virtual image of cellular structures called S1P1 receptors, which are critical in controlling the onset and progression of multiple sclerosis and other diseases. This new molecular map is already pointing researchers toward promising new paths for drug discovery and aiding them in better understanding how certain existing drugs work.
A high-quality reference catalogue of the genetic changes that result in the deactivation of human genes has been developed by a team of researchers. This catalogue of loss-of-function (LoF) variants is needed to find new disease-causing mutations and will help us to better understand the normal function of human genes. In addition, the researchers report that each of us is carrying around 20 genes that have been completely inactivated.
LA JOLLA, Calif. -- To invade organisms such as humans, bacteria make use of a protein called flagellin, part of a tail-like appendage that helps the bacteria move about. Now, for the first time, a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute has determined the 3D structure of the interaction between this critical bacterial protein and an immune molecule called TLR5, shedding light on how the body protects itself from such foreign invaders.
After a decade and a half of near stagnation, four new drugs could help make advanced prostate cancer a chronic illness instead of a terminal disease, a leading Colorado prostate cancer expert says.
Signals can tell cells to act cancerous, surviving, growing and reproducing out of control. And signals can also tell cells with cancerous characteristics to stop growing or to die. In breast cancer, one tricky signal called TGF-beta does both – sometimes promoting tumors and sometimes suppressing them.
Boston, Mass. – That our chromosomes can break and reshuffle pieces of themselves is nothing new; scientists have recognized this for decades, especially in cancer cells. The rules for where chromosomes are likely to break and how the broken pieces come together are only just now starting to come into view.
WORCESTER, Mass. -- It is well understood that chromosomal translocation – a process whereby pieces of two chromosomes break off and exchange places – is a hallmark of many cancers including leukemia, thyroid cancer and lymphoma and play an important part in how healthy cells become cancerous. The role spatial proximity plays in why certain chromosomal translocations happen repeatedly, however, has been a long-standing area of debate among scientists.
Alexandria, VA -- Today, the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to place a moratorium on the issuing of patents on human genes during testimony presented at an Agency hearing on genetic diagnostic testing. AMP is the lead plaintiff of 20 plaintiffs in an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sponsored lawsuit challenging the validity of patents on two hereditary breast and ovarian cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) provides better overall survival rates than surgery for lung cancer patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disease commonly associated with lung cancer, according to a study in the upcoming March issue of the International Journal of Radiation, Oncology, Biology, Physics, the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
Researchers reporting in the February 17th issue of the Cell Press journal Cell have sequenced the complete genome of one immortal devil. The genomes of the Tasmanian devil and its transmissible cancer may help to explain how that cancer went from a single individual to spreading through the population like wildfire.
Alcoholic drinks aren't generally put into the category of health food, but in some cases they might be just the cure for nasty parasites. That's according to a study published online on February 16 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, showing that fruit flies will actually seek out alcohol to kill off blood-borne parasitic wasps living within them.
The discovery offers some of the first evidence that alcohol might be used to fight infection, the researchers say.
It's been said that timing is everything, and that may be particularly true when it comes to the ability to fight off disease. New research published by Cell Press in the February issue of the journal Immunity shows that the success of host immune defense depends in part on an organism's "body clock." The study may lead to therapeutic strategies designed to optimize the immune response and to protect patients at the time when they are most vulnerable.
Yale researchers have discovered how the "guardian of the genome'' oversees quality control in the production of sperm — and perhaps in many other cells as well.
The research published online Feb. 16 in the journal Current Biology opens up the potential of developing new forms of birth control and fertility treatment — and even new ways to combat many forms of cancer.