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Novel ultrafast laser detection of cancer cells also may improve understanding of stem cells

To investigate tumors, pathologists currently rely on labor-intensive microscopic examination, using century-old cell-staining methods that can take days to complete and may give false readings. A lightning-fast laser technique, led by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Paul Gourley, has provided laboratory demonstrations of accurate, real-time, high-throughput identification of live...

Yale researchers identify molecule for detecting parasitic infection in humans

Researchers at Yale, in collaboration with NIH researchers, have identified a specific protein molecule that is used by the immune system for detection of parasitic infections, leading the way for development of future vaccines to combat these infections. Published in the April 28 issue of Science Express, the study provides insight into understanding how infectious parasites interface wit...

Products containing specific probes for detecting alternative splice forms protected

ExonHit Therapeutics, today announced the grant of a major patent, US # 6,881,571, by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on microarray products allowing the specific detection of mRNAs produced by alternative splicing, covering microarrays optimised for the discovery of alternative RNA splicing events. The patent protects the probe configuration of a unique set of five oligonucleotides...

Nanoparticles offer new hope for detection and treatment

Specially designed nanoparticles can reveal tiny cancerous tumors that are invisible by ordinary means of detection, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers demonstrated that very small human melanoma tumors growing in mice--indiscernible from the surrounding tissue by direct MRI scan--could be "lit up" and easily locate...

Test for early detection of prostate cancer shows promise

In the first clinical study of a new blood protein associated with prostate cancer, researchers have found that the marker, called EPCA or early prostate cancer antigen, can successfully detect prostate cancer in its earliest stages. At the same time, the marker successfully avoids the problem of false positive results that plagues prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. Study results ap...

Confocal imaging promises early detection of skin cancer

Skin cancer is on the increase. Recent statistics for Germany show that some 10 to 12 people in every 100,000 get the disease every year. Alarmingly, this figure is growing at the rate of five to ten per cent annually. From the same group, some 140 will also get non-melanoma or less serious skin cancers. “Diagnosis of skin cancers can take weeks, depending on the health system,?says Dr Ja...

Life detection instrument passes key test on road to Mars

The dry, dusty, treeless expanse of Chile's Atacama Desert is the most lifeless spot on the face of the Earth, and that's why Alison Skelley and Richard Mathies joined a team of NASA scientists there earlier this month. The University of California, Berkeley, scientists knew that if the Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA) they'd built could detect life in that crusty, arid land, then it would hav...

Measurement Challenges In Detecting Cancer Biomarkers

Effective control of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) requires treatment of the sexual partners of infected patients. A new study shows that providing infected men with antibiotics to give their partners is more effective than traditional means of contacting and treating the partners, according to an article in the Sept. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Men with...

High-throughput oncogene mutation detection in human cancers by mass spectrometry-based genotyping

Researchers have devised a new method to detect a spectrum of known gene mutations in a variety of cancer genes that they say is both sensitive and cost-effective. They say that if validated, this method of genotyping might ultimately be used in "real time" to match patients to available targeted therapies. Results were presented at the first meeting on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Ther...

Quantum dots provide a faster, more sensitive method for detecting respiratory viral infections

In what may be one of the first medical uses of nanotechnology, a chemist and a doctor who specializes in infectious childhood diseases have joined forces to create an early detection method for a respiratory virus that is the most common cause of hospitalization among children under five. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) sends about 120,000 children to the hospital in the United States e...

System Drastically Cuts Down Botulism Detection Time

A new study reveals critical molecular events in the origin of fat cells. The findings are central to understanding chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, as fat cells produce hormones critical for metabolic control, the researchers said. The study finds that a hormonal cocktail routinely used in the lab induces a key genetic switch in the transition from fat-cell precursors to fu...

Nanotechnology to provide portable genetic risk detection

Currently being developed by the IST project OPTONANOGEN, a prototype of the system will initially be used to detect mutations of the BRCA1 gene that are responsible for between 2.5 and 5 per cent of the incidence of breast cancer in women. The final system, however, could be used to detect virtually any genetic anomaly as well as proteins linked to viruses, chemical contamination in food or wate...

Scientists closer to new cancer detection method

University of Florida researchers say they are a step closer to a technique to easily detect a wide variety of cancers before symptoms become apparent. The findings, currently online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involve introducing molecularly engineered strands of DNA into cell cultures and observing whether they unleash a fluorescent burst after they adhere to...

Customized gene chip provides rapid detection of genetic changes in children's cancer

Genetics researchers have developed a customized gene chip to rapidly scan tumor samples for specific DNA changes that offer clues to prognosis in cases of neuroblastoma, a common form of children's cancer. Rather than covering the entire genome, the microarray focuses on suspect regions of chromosomes for signs of deleted genetic material known to play a role in the cancer. The investigat...

Detection of DNA on nanotubes offers new sensing, sequencing technologies

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who recently reported that DNA-wrapped carbon nanotubes could serve as sensors in living cells now say the tiny tubes can be used to target specific DNA sequences. Potential applications for the new sensors range from rapid detection of hazardous biological agents to simpler and more efficient forensic identification. In the Jan...

Chemical warfare agent detection technology used to treat lung disease

A new technique based on the same technology used to detect chemical warfare agents and explosives is being employed by scientists at The University of Manchester to treat hospital patients with lung disease. The microDMx<supe...

Technique speeds up detecting, treating wound bacteria

For Dr. Sydney Finegold, research is like reading a really good mystery or detective story. With a grant from the Department of Defense, Finegold has taken his passion for research and applied it to a problem that affects civilians...

Sandia research to focus on early detection of harmful algal blooms

Sandia National Laboratories researchers Todd Lane and Victoria VanderNoot have been awarded a research grant to develop a technology that can successfully detect deadly toxins from harmful algal blooms (HABs). The funding is provided by the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA...

Detecting explosives with honeybees

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a method for training the common honey bee to detect the explosives used in bombs. Based on knowledge of bee biology, the new techniques could become a leading tool in the fight against the use of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which present a critical vulnerability for American military troops abroad and is an emerging danger f...

World's smallest cancer detection device

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have received a $2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study tumor "microenvironments" --where tumors interact with surrounding tissues, cells and chemicals in ways that all too often encourage cancer cells to invade other areas of the body in the process known as metastasis. With the new NCI gran...

Nano-devices hold promise for early-stage cancer detection

They are miniature labs that can be swallowed like a pill, injected through a catheter, or woven into fabric. Their function is to screen for, detect, and potentially treat, cancer and other diseases when they are still at a single-cell size in early development stages. They will also detect harmful pathogens in food and water. Engineering researchers at McMaster University will be escal...

Detecting microalgae in coastal waters

Dr. Hugh MacIntyre, Senior Marine Scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Alabama, and colleague Richard Cox of Kaitech Inc. have been awarded $270,274 to develop a tool for improved detection of microalgae by the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET). Microalgae are the foundation of the aquatic food web. However, 'blooms', which are very den...

T-ray breakthrough could make detecting disease far easier

A breakthrough in the harnessing of 'T-rays' - electromagnetic terahertz waves - which could dramatically improve the detecting and sensing of objects as varied as biological cell abnormalities and explosives has been announced. Researchers at the University of Bath, UK, and in Spain have said they have found a way to control the flow of terahertz radiation down a metal wire. Their findi...

Infection detectives use disease 'fingerprints' to track common infections in children

Infectious disease specialists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found a new method for identifying suspect viruses and bacteria that cause some of the most common acute infections in children. Traditionally, researchers have looked for clues to an infection by tracking down the virus or bacteria causing it. But that doesn’t always work because the bacteria or virus may not be prese...

McBride shows DNA detective work with paper-eating bacteria that 'glide'

The eco-friendly fuel ethanol is usually made from grain, but the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) would like to find other renewable materials that will be cost-effective alternatives, such as paper pulp, sawdust, straw and grain hulls. A UWM professor recently helped DOE do just that by analyzing the DNA of a bacterium that can break down cellulose, the major structural component of plant...

Detecting poisons in nectar is an odour-ous task for honeybees

Though many spring flowers have bright advertisements offering sweet rewards to honeybees, some common flowers have not-so-sweet or even toxic nectars. Why plants would try to poison the honeybees they wish to attract is a scientific mystery. The honeybee, which accounts for the pollination of at least 1/3 of the world’s crop plants, may encounter such poisoned nectar in common crop and g...

Detecting cold, feeling pain: Study reveals why menthol feels fresh

The finding, reported on-line in the journal "Nature" (May 30, 2007), reveals one of the key mechanisms by which the body detects temperature sensation. But in so doing it also illuminates a mechanism that mediates how the body experiences inte...