Progra

Critical role in programmed cell death identified

Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have found links in the cell death machinery of worms and mammals, opening new avenues for studying and targeting a process vital to development and implicated in cancer and autoimmune diseases. The work, reported in the February 17 issue of Nature, demonstrates the role of mitochondria, the cellular power plant, in prompting worm cells to self destruc...

Applied Biosystems Introduces Advanced Gene Expression Service Provider Program

Applied Biosystems (NYSE:ABI), an Applera Corporation business, today announced the introduction of the Applied Biosystems Advanced Gene Expression Service Provider Program, a new program for service providers who are interested in accessing Applied Biosystems comprehensive solution for gene expression analysis, including the highly sensitive Expression Array System for whole genome analysis and...

Programmable cells: Engineer turns bacteria into living computers

In a step toward making living cells function as if they were tiny computers, engineers at Princeton have programmed bacteria to communicate with each other and p...

Harmful chemicals may reprogram gene response to estrogen

New research shows that exposure to harmful chemicals and drugs during critical developmental periods early in life may actually "reprogram" the way certain genes respond to the female hormone estrogen. This genetic reprogramming may determine whether people with a genetic predisposition for a disease actually develop the disease. The new research shows that when rats with a genetic predis...

Program finds lost genes in nematode genome

A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has applied software that he has developed to the genome of a worm and has found 150 genes that were missed by previous genome analysis methods. Moreover, using the software, he and his colleagues have developed predictions for the existence of a whopping 1119 more genes. Michael Brent, Ph.D., Washington University professor of com...

DOE's Office of Science sets up program to aid scientists displaced by Hurricane Katrina

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science has established a program to assist scientists displaced by the effects of Hurricane Katrina. "Our colleagues in science have historically been a close-knit, generous community," wrote Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, director of DOE's Office of Science, in a letter describing the program to: universities and colleges, including those in Alabama, L...

Stem cell training program to make its Stanford debut

Nature is a seemingly endless storehouse of interesting ?and potentially life-saving ?biological molecules. But tracking down and harvesting those chemicals in their natural form can be time-consuming, expensive and unreliable. Now Salk scientists have discovered a new way of bringing “bio-prospecting?out of the rainforest and into the lab. Their findings are published in the June 16th ed...

Modification of program enables prediction of gene transcription

A modification to an "ace" gene prediction program by computer scientists at Washington University in St. Louis now enables scientists to predict the very beginnings of gene transcription start sites and where the first splice occurs thereby defining the first exon of the gene. The modification to the gene prediction software TWINSCAN is called N-SCAN. Michael Brent, Ph.D. professor of com...

Rutgers to lead $52.7 million protein research program

Rutgers University will lead a new $52.7 million research program that will help reveal the roles that proteins play in life's most fundamental processes and point the way to designing new medicines. Under the direction of Rutgers Professor Gaetano Montelione, the Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium (NESG) will conduct the five-year undertaking. "This grant, one of the largest in Rutg...

Costly breeding programs for endangered species pay off

Comparative studies of captive breeding strategies conducted at Rice University bolster the case for costly and sometimes troublesome breeding programs that preserve maximum genetic variability in small populations of endangered species. Worldwide, zoos spend millions of dollars each year transporting rare animals thousands of miles in order to breed them with their most distantly related...

HIV-infected adults in Botswana respond positively to ARV therapy public treatment program

With preliminary results from a study in Botswana, Harvard School of Public Health researchers have found that people with HIV-1 subtype C in resource-poor settings, who receive antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, can achieve comparable results to those in the developed world. A fully supported health care delivery system and infrastructure help ensure this success, according to data published in Novem...

Canine cancer vaccine program shows early promise

It wasn't publicized, other than by word of mouth, and still the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine was overwhelmed with requests. Since 1998, the school's oncology department has been producing an anti-cancer vaccine for dogs diagnosed with melanoma. Though it is still an experimental treatment, dog owners from all over the nation have wanted to participate in the s...

It's not fair! We are programmed to resist weight loss

Research confirming the human body is designed to strongly resist attempts to lose weight will be presented at an international gathering of obesity experts hosted by QUT this week. Queensland University of Technology appetite regulation and energy balance researcher Dr Neil King, from the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), said our bodies have strong mechanisms to defe...

Researchers unveil strategy for creating actively-programmed anti-cancer molecules

The new study, which was published July 5 in an advanced, online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, achieved a significant enhancement of the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in animal models. The study showed the new hybrid compound remained in circulation for a week. In comparison, the small molecule drug was cleared in a matter of minutes. "Although th...

Amgen introduces comprehensive financial assistance programs for cancer patients

Amgen today announced Amgen (panitumumab). Through AOA, patients who are uninsured, underinsured, or unable to afford their insurance co-payments will receive help obtaining financial support...

Investment level in HIV prevention programs related to HIV incidence in the United States

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted a historical analysis to examine the relationship between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) HIV prevention budget and HIV incidence in the U.S. from 1978 to 2006. The results are published in the January 2007 edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The researchers found that from t...

ConocoPhillips establishes $22.5M biofuels research program at Iowa State

ConocoPhillips will establish an eight-year, $22.5 million research program at Iowa State University dedicated to developing technologies that produce biorenewable fuels. The grant is part of ConocoPhillips' plan to create joint research programs with major universities to produce viable solutions to diversify America's energy sources. ConocoPhillips will make an initial $1.5 million gran...

Heart failure: Intervention possibilities from imaging programmed cell loss

Using a nuclear medicine technique and molecular imaging to "see" programmed cell loss—the body's normal way of getting rid of unneeded or abnormal cells—may help in early identification of those individuals who are at risk of developing heart failure, say researchers in the April Journal of Nuclear Medicine. "Our study indicates that it is feasible to noninvasively identify cell loss—or a...