Tech

Novel technology detects human DNA mutations

Researchers at today reported unprecedented benefits in the company's technology for the medical analysis of human DNA. genotyping...

Novel antiviral technology inhibits RSV infection in mice

A novel antiviral treatment combiningnanoparticle and gene silencing technologies thwarts attacks ofrespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) -- a virus associated with severebronchitis and asthma, an animal study by University of South Floridaresearchers found. The study was reported in the January 2005 issue ofthe journal Nature Medicine.RSV infects lung cells and can be life-threatening in very...

New Technique for Tracking Gene Regulators

Finding out where gene-regulator proteinsbind to DNA and identifying the genes they regulate just got a stepeasier thanks to a new technique developed by scientists at the U.S.Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. The techniquecould greatly speed the process of unraveling the role these proteinsplay in turning on and off the genes that establish the very identityof cells ?b...

Breakthrough Microarray-based Technology for the Study of Cancer

A new development in the analysis of cancerhas been announced by Agilent Technologies. The company has reported aninnovative method that enables the rapid advance of microarray-basedcomparative genomic studies in cancer. According to the reportpublished in the December 24, 2004 issue of the Proceedings of theNational Academy of Science (PNAS) in collaboration with the NationalHuman Genome R...

Live Recombinant Adenovirus Vaccine Technique Explored

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are exploring ways to develop new vaccines for a variety of illnesses using genetically modified adenoviruses, a common cause of respiratory infections. Oral adenovirus vaccines have long been proven to be safe and effective. The researchers believe their process for constructing a replicating live recombinant adenovirus could lea...

The BIOS Initiative - open source biotechnology is born

In a publication today in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature, a team at CAMBIA in Canberra unveils the 'kernel' of the world's first 'explicit open source' biotechnolog...

Agilent Technologies releases automated literature search tool for biology researchers

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today released an automated literature search tool for the multidisciplinary study of biological systems. The tool is available as a free plug-in to Cytoscape 2.1, an open-source bioinformatics platform that enables researchers to form a visual map of complex biological networks, increasing their understanding of molecular pathways and the biological causes of...

LUCA technologies confirms real-time methane generation

Luca Technologies LLC today announced that its researchers have confirmed the presence of a resident, methane-generating community of microorganisms ("microbial consortium") in substrate samples taken from the 110,000 acre Monument Butte oilfield located in North Eastern Utah. This site represents the latest in a series of active "GeobioreactorsTM" that Luca Technologies has identified since its...

Affymetrix Licenses Microfluidics Technology From Caliper Life Sciences

Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALP) and Affymetrix, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX) today announced that Caliper has issued Affymetrix a non-exclusive license to use a portion of Caliper's microfluidics patent estate with Affymetrix' GeneChip(R) microarray technologies. The license extends to the manufacture and sale of GeneChip brand products in all areas of application, including research, diagnosti...

New lab technique identifies high levels of pathogens in therapy pool

A research team using a novel genetic cloning and sequencing technique has identified a surprisingly high number of airborne pathogens in a Midwest therapy pool, pointing to the need for closer scrutiny of public hot pools, says a new study. Led by Washington University in St. Louis and involving the University of Colorado at Boulder and San Diego State University, the new study assessed t...

Brain-mapping technique aids understanding of sleep, wakefulness

The power of a new technique to map connections among nerve cells in the brain has a UT Southwestern Medical Center scientist dreaming of solving the mysteries of sleep. By tracking which nerve cells in the mouse brain stimulate others, researchers in Japan and at UT Southwestern found that a type of neuron responsible for keeping animals awake receives inhibitory signals from neurons act...

Revolutionary nanotechnology illuminates brain cells at work

Until now it has been impossible to accurately measure the levels of important chemicals in living brain cells in real time and at the level of a single cell. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Plant Biology and Stanford University are the first to overcome this obstacle by successfully applying genetic nanotechnology using molecular sensors to view changes in brain chemical l...

Technique may allow cancer patients to freeze eggs, preserving fertility before starting treatment

A new technique might allow women diagnosed with cancer the opportunity to have children when chemotherapy and radiation treatments rob them of their fertility, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found. Freezing eggs is one t...

Study reveals new technique for fingerprinting environmental samples

Groundbreaking research led by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) demonstrates for the first time that the signatures of the genes alone in terrestrial and aquatic samples can accurately diagnose the health of the sampled environments. This study, published in the April 22nd edition of the journal Science positions large-scale genome sequencing to accelerate advances i...

Study: 'homemade' gene expression technology unreliable

Technology for analyzing gene expression must be standardized among laboratories and across platforms around the world to support this age of human genome exploration, an Oregon Health & Science University researcher says. Otherwise, scientists using DNA microarrays, also known as gene chips, risk having their research results called into question, said Peter Spencer, Ph.D., professor...

First technology to remove prions that cause vCJD from blood launched

The risk of receiving blood contaminated with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) prions may no longer be a concern for the thousands of people who require a transfusion. Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) announced today the Council of Europe (CE) marking of its Leukotrap® Affinity Prion Reduction Filter System. It is the first and only technology that removes infectious prions that may be the causative...

Integration of Agilent's MS technology, Proteome Systems' software to help scientists in proteomics research

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and Proteome Systems, a leading international proteomics company, today announced they have signed a marketing agreement to collaborate on an integrated solution for the analysis of glycoproteins, molecules that are important in the study of many diseases, including cancer, influenza and arthritis. Under the agreement, Proteome Systems will make its GlycomIQ so...

Agilent Technologies releases probe sequence, annotation information for all its commercial gene expression microarrays

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that it has for the first time released the chip design, probe sequence and annotation information for all of its microarrays. The release of this information is expected to improve cross-laboratory experimental research and cross-platform data comparison. "Full release of the probe sequences is an admirable and responsible position for A...

Agilent Technologies new genome analysis technology set to accelerate Australia fight against mesothelioma

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that its breakthrough Human Genome CGH Microarray technology will be used by researchers at Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in a three-year study designed to better understand mesothelioma, a cancer found in the lining of the chest, the abdominal cavity and around the heart, usually caused by exposure to asbestos. Due to its act...

Researchers Find New Technique To Identify Fetal Genetic Material From Amniotic Fluid

A preliminary report suggests that cell-free fetal messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid) can be extracted from amniotic fluid (fluid around the fetus), and then be analyzed to study gene expression changes that may reflect the well-being of the fetus, according to a paper in the February 16 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on medical applications of biotechnology. In background information in the...

Affymetrix and bioMerieux Extend Their Agreement on GeneChip(R) Technology to Breast Cancer Diagnostics

Affymetrix Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX) and bioMerieux announced today that Affymetrix has granted bioMerieux long-term and comprehensive access to its GeneChip(R) technology to develop and market in vitro diagnostic tests for breast cancer, as well as an option to expand the agreement into other cancer areas. The agreement, made under the Powered by Affymetrix(TM) program, gives bioMerieux non-exc...

Researchers pioneer new gene therapy technique using natural repair process

Harnessing the strength of a natural process that repairs damage to the human genome, a researcher from UT Southwestern Medical Center has helped establish a method of gene therapy that can accurately and permanently correct mutations in disease-causing genes. By artificially initiating a DNA repair process known as homologous recombinat...

Newer imaging techniques may lead to over-treatment

Newer imaging technologies allow physicians to visualize more of the arteries in the lungs, including detecting small blood clots not previously seen, but seeing more may have little impact on the patient's outcome, a new study suggests. The study included 198 patients with suspected pulmonary embolism. About half of the patients (98) had a multidetector CT (MDCT) examination; 100 patients...

Agilent Technologies introduces advanced zebrafish, mouse microarrays for stem cell and developmental biology research

Which is more likely to happen - you being in a car wreck or being bitten by a shark? Those who answered that cars are greater killers win a free trip to the beach. It's really no contest, says a Texas A&M University professor. Your chances of being in a wreck are far greater than being a shark's lunch, says John McEachran, a professor of wildlife and fishery sciences who has studied...

Gene silencing technique offers new strategy for treating, curing disease

A new technique aimed at directly controlling the expression of genes by turning them on or off at the DNA level could lead to drugs for the treatment or cure of many diseases, say researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. "Virtually every disease starts at the level of malfunctioning gene expression, or viral or bacterial gene expression," said Dr. David Corey, professor of pharmacol...

Recombinant DNA technology may enable oral, rather than injectable, delivery of protein drugs

Transferrin, a plasma protein found in blood, can be fused with large, protein-based drugs such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to create a new oral compound that is capable of surviving the journey through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and then able to cross over into the bloodstream to be used by the body, according to research from the University of Southern California Schoo...

Agilent Technologies introduces high-capacity human protein removal system for proteomics research

The fossilized skeleton of a small crocodile relative excavated last year at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona throws a wrench into theories of how and where the dinosaurs arose more than 210 million years ago at the end of the Triassic Period. The animal, one of many creatures from the Late Triassic known only from their teeth, was thought to be an ancestor of the plant-eating or...

Mosaic mouse technique offers a powerful new tool to study diseases and genetics

A powerful laboratory technique used by fruit fly geneticists for more than a decade is now available to scientists studying genes and diseases in mice. Writing in the May 6 edition of the journal Cell, researchers from Stanford University describe a streamlined method for creating a "genetic mosaic mouse"--a rodent whose body is genetically engineered to produce small clusters of cells w...

First production of human monoclonal antibodies in chicken eggs published in Nature Biotechnology

Chicken-produced antibodies demonstrate enhanced cell killing compared to conventionally produced anti-cancer antibodies Origen Therapeutics today announced the first published scientific report of fully functional, human sequence monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) produced in chickens. The antibodies were expressed solely in the chicken oviduct and deposited into egg white in concentrations of...

Virginia Tech group adds tools to DNA-targeted anti-cancer drugs

Chemistry and biology researchers at Virginia Tech have enhanced the abilities of the molecules they are creating to deliver killing blows to cancer cells. The man-made molecular complexes enter cancer cells and, when signaled, deliver killing medicine or cause the cell to change. The new supermolecules have more units that will absorb light - providing more control over the range of light freque...

Vietnam war technology could aid elephant conservation

Seismic sensors developed to track enemy troop movements during the Vietnam war could help ecologists monitor and conserve elephant populations, according to new research published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology. Dr Jason Wood and colleagues from Stanford University recorded the vibrations from the footfalls of elephants and other large mammals, including gi...

UC Davis researchers move biotechnology closer to replacing electronic pacemakers

UC Davis researchers have successfully used a custom designed protein and gene delivery system to restore normal heart rhythms in pigs with electronic pacemakers, reducing their dependence on implanted devices. This work suggests that scientists are one step closer to making bioengineering a reality in treating the more than 2.2 million Americans affected by irregular heartbeats. The UC...

Novel laboratory technique nudges genes into activity

A new technique that employs RNA, a tiny chemical cousin of DNA, to turn on genes could lead to therapeutics for conditions in which nudging a gene awake would help alleviate disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center say. The gene-activating method, which is being developed by UT Southwestern scientists, also is providing researchers with a novel research tool to investigate...

Researchers devise new technique for creating human stem cells

Researchers have developed a new technique for creating human embryonic stem cells by fusing adult somatic cells with embryonic stem cells. The fusion causes the adult cells to undergo genetic reprogramming, which results in cells that have the developmental characteristics of human embryonic stem cells. This approach could become an alternative to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a...

New technique rapidly detects illness-causing bacteria

Cornell University scientists have developed a rapid, less costly and sensitive new technique for detecting group A streptococcus, the bacteria that cause scarlet fever. Details will be announced today at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo in New Orleans. The presentation by Sam Nugen, a graduate student in Cornell's food science department, will focus on dete...

Agilent Technologies Introduces First Commercial Mouse Microarray for Comparative Genomic Hybridization Research

Tuberculosis remains a major global health threat. Although more than 3 billion doses of the BCG vaccine have been administered to fight tuberculosis, the ability of the BCG vaccine to protect adults is very limited, as is its efficacy against newly emerging isolates. In a study appearing online on August 18 in advance of print publication of the September 1 issue of the Journal of Clinica...

New imaging technology shown to detect pancreatic inflammation in type 1 diabetes

A key obstacle to early detection of type 1 diabetes - as well as to rapid assessment of the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention - has been the lack of direct, non-invasive technologies to visualize inflammation in the pancreas, an early manifestation of disease. Instead, clinicians have had to await overt symptoms before diagnosing an individual, by which time destruction of the insulin-pr...

New bioinformatics technique for systematically analyzing key regions in DNA that help control gene activity

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Linnaeus Centre for Bioinformatics (LCB) at Uppsala University in Sweden have developed a new bioinformatics technique for systematically analyzing key regions in DNA that help control gene activity. The cooperative efforts were headed by Krzysztof Fidelis in the United States and by Jan Komorowski in Sweden. Understanding...

New technique may speed DNA analysis

Just as the printing press revolutionized the creation of reading matter, a "nano-printing" technique developed at MIT could enable the mass production of nano-devices currently built one at a time. The most immediate candidate for this innovation is the DNA microarray, a nano-device used to diagnose and understand genetic illnesses such as Alzheimer's, viral illnesses such as AIDS, and c...

New technique helps identify multiple DNA regulatory sites

Just as the printing press revolutionized the creation of reading matter, a "nano-printing" technique developed at MIT could enable the mass production of nano-devices currently built one at a time. The most immediate candidate for this innovation is the DNA microarray, a nano-device used to diagnose and understand genetic illnesses such as Alzheimer's, viral illnesses such as AIDS, and c...