Using

University of Manchester makes made-to-measure skin and bones a reality using inkjet printers

Made-to-measure skin and bones, which couldbe used to treat burn victims or patients who have suffered severedisfigurements, may soon be a reality using inkjets which can printhuman cells.Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed thebreakthrough technology which will allow tailor-made tissues and bonesto be grown, simply by inputting their dimensions into a computer....

Purdue proves concept of using nano-materials for drug discovery

Researchers at Purdue University have built and demonstrated a prototype for a new class of miniature devices to study synthetic cell membranes in an effort to speed the discovery of new drugs for a variety of diseases, including cancer. The researchers created a chip about one centimeter square that holds thousands of tiny vessels sitting on top of a material that contains numerous pores...

An entropy-based gene selection method for cancer classification using microarray data

Accurate diagnosis of cancer subtypes remains a challenging problem. Building classifiers based on gene expression data is a promising approach; yet the selection of non-redundant but relevant genes is difficult. The selected gene set should be small enough to allow diagnosis even in regular clinical laboratories and ideally identify genes involved in cancer-specific regulatory pathways. Here an...

Newly Discovered Compound Blocks Known Cancer-Causing Protein

Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists have discovered a potential new drug that inhibits destructive cell signals that drive the growth of one-third of all cancers. The scientists showed they could block the growth of cultured colon cancer cells using this new compound, called cysmethynil. Their finding, reported in the March 22, 2005, issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of...

Research Using Mouse Models Reveals A Novel Key Player In The Initiation Of Colon Cancer

Gastric and colorectal cancers account for more than 1 million deaths worldwide every year and several research groups have been working to identify the molecular events that result in the initiation and progression of these tumors. It has been established that interfering with the function of one gene, called Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) has a profound effect on the cells lining the innermos...

New methods of gene delivery using lasers

Leading laser scientists at the University of St Andrews have developed a new method of delivering genes to cells using laser light. The new technique, which is cheap and powerful, could have important implications for future studies in biomedicine and healthcare. Optical technology has huge potential for novel developments in the bio-medical field and St Andrews has outstanding research...

Rush Physicians Using Gene Therapy For Heart Patients With Moderate To Severe Chest Pains Who Do Not Benefit From Other Treatments

Individuals with moderate to severe chest pains (angina) who have not found relief from medication may benefit from a new gene therapy approach being used by cardiologists at Rush University Medical Center to grow new blood vessels in the heart. The phase II clinical research study uses vascular endothelial growth factor-2 (VEGF-2) in the form of a solution containing a DNA plasmid that i...

Doctors closer to using gene analysis to help trauma patients

A genetic tool with the potential to identify which trauma and burn patients are most likely to become seriously ill has worked consistently in a wide range of experimental clinical settings ?an important hurdle to overcome before the method is routinely used in emergency rooms and intensive care units. In a report published today (March 7) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sc...

PHACCS, an online tool for estimating the structure and diversity of uncultured viral communities using metagenomic information

In the March 3 issue of Nature, Johns Hopkins researchers report that two proteins best known for very different activities actually come together to turn the liver into a sugar-producing factory when food is scarce. Because the liver's production of sugar is a damaging problem in people with diabetes, the proteins' interaction might be a target for future drugs to fight the disease, the research...

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...

Researchers Closer To Helping Hearing-Impaired Using Stem Cells

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are several steps closer to the day when a profoundly deaf patient’s own bone marrow cells could be used to let him or her hear the world. The IU group, led by Eri Hashino, Ph.D., was able to transform, in the laboratory, stem cells taken from adult bone marrow into cells with many of the characteristics of sensory nerve cells -- neurons...

Using nanoparticles, in vivo gene therapy activates brain stem cells

Using customized nanoparticles that they developed, University at Buffalo scientists have for the first time delivered genes into the brains of living mice with an efficiency that is similar to, or better than, viral vectors and with no observable toxic effect, according to a paper published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper describes how the UB scient...

Using computers and DNA to count bacteria

Don't call them the Dirt Doctors, or Sultans of Soil, they're just clever Lab guys. A team from Los Alamos National Laboratory has a paper in this week's Science Magazine with a new way to count bugs in dirt. Bacteria, that is, in the highly complex world beneath our feet. "Computational Improvements Reveal Great Bacterial Diversity and High Metal Toxicity in Soil," by Jason Gans, Murray W...

A step toward the $1,000 personal genome using readily available lab equipment

The theoretical price of having one's personal genome sequenced just fell from the prohibitive $20 million dollars to about $2.2 million, and the goal is to reduce the amount further--to about $1,000--to make individualized prevention and treatment realistic. The sharp drop is due to a new DNA sequencing technology developed by Harvard Medical School (HMS) researchers Jay Shendure, Gregory...

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...

Researchers at UGA provide first look at protein expression in Chagas disease-causing parasites

Covering ship hulls with artificial shark skin could help ships sailing smoothly. The growth of marine organisms such as barnacles on ship hulls is a major cause of increased energy costs in the naval industry. Shark skin offers a structural design that prevents this so called 'bio-fouling'. Ralph Liedert from the University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany, is presenting his work on t...

Researchers Discover Ancient Origins Of Tuberculosis-causing Bacteria

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...

Women cautioned against using herbal supplements

Women who take soy or herbal supplements, such as black cohosh, red clover and ginseng, should do so with care, says a Cornell University expert affiliated with the Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) at Cornell, the land-grant institution of New York state. "Although there is no direct evidence that any herbal medicines can increase or decrease breast cancer ri...

Researchers create functioning artificial proteins using nature's rules

By examining how proteins have evolved, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a set of simple "rules" that nature appears to use to design proteins, rules the scientists have now employed to create artificial proteins that look and function just like their natural counterparts. In two papers appearing in the Sept. 22 issue of the journal Nature, Dr. Rama Ranganathan, a...

Breast tumors in mice eradicated using cancer vaccine

Findings could lead to new immune therapy for breast cancer A team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that by using a cancer vaccine based on the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, they can cure mice with established breast tumors. Cancer vaccines, which are more properly described as immunotherapy, work by boosting an immune response against tumor-associated...

Using the genomic shortcut to predict bacterial behavior

Turning plants such as corn, soybeans and sunflowers into fuel uses much more energy than the resulting ethanol or biodiesel generates, according to a new Cornell University and University of California-Berkeley study. "There is just no energy benefit to using plant biomass for liquid fuel," says David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell. "These strategies are not su...

UF study first to quantify validity of DNA I.D. tool using marine snails

A trendy holiday gift within a decade may be a hand-held device that instantly identifies any species from a snippet of animal tissue, says a University of Florida researcher. That may be possible thanks to scientific advances that include the first test quantifying the effectiveness of a DNA identification tool among brightly colored shells. With an error rate as low as 4 percent, two UF...

HIV inserts into human genome using a DNA-associated protein

A human DNA-associated protein called LEDGF is the first such molecule found to control the location of HIV integration in human cells, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. This study, published in this week's early online edition of Nature Medicine, describes the first clear target for modulating where viruses insert into the huma...

Sickle cell disease corrected in human models using stem cell-based gene therapy

In a study to be published in the January 2006 issue of Nature Biotechnology, researchers led by a team of scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have devised a novel strategy that uses stem cell-based gene therapy and RNA interference to genetically reverse sickle cell disease (SCD) in human cells. This research is the first to demonstrate a way to genetically correct this debilita...

Carbon nanotubes that detect disease-causing mutations developed by Pitt researcher

University of Pittsburgh researcher Alexander Star and colleagues at California-based company Nanomix, Inc., have developed devices made of carbon nanotubes that can find mutations in genes causing hereditary diseases, they report in the Jan. 16 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. This method is less expensive and takes less time than conventional techniques....

Light activated anticancer drug targeted to DNA using cisplatin like sub-units

One of the most effective chemotherapy drugs against cancer is cisplatin because it attaches to cancer DNA and disrupts repair. However, it also kills healthy tissue. Many scientists are creating alternative drugs or cisplatin analogs in attempts to find treatments without side effects. One approach to analog development is light activated drugs, or photodynamic therapy (PDT). Now a Virginia Tech...

Tool developed to silence genes in specific tissues using RNAi

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center say they have jumped a significant hurdle in the use of RNA interference (RNAi), believed by many to be the ultimate tool to both decode the function of individual genes in the human genome and to treat disease. Reporting in the journal Genes and Development, investigators have developed a simple way to use the RNAi appro...

Scientists discover a new disease-causing bacterium in an immune-compromised patient

Researchers discovered a new bacterium in an immune-compromised patient, according to a study recently published in PLoS Pathogens. The bacterium belongs to the family Acetobacteraceae and includes bacteria common in the environment, some of which are used in industry, such as vinegar-making. "This is the first reported case of invasive human disease caused by any of the Acetobacteraceae," acco...

FDA approves first medical device using rutgers biomaterial

Rutgers scientists and TyRx Pharma, Inc., have announced the Food and Drug Administration's clearance of a new medical device for hernia repair that incorporates a biodegradable technology developed at the university. This action signals a paradigm shift in the application of biomaterials from permanent prosthetic replacements toward regenerative medicine, in which materials help the body to repa...

Suicide risk does not increase when adults start using antidepressants, study finds

The risk of serious suicide attempts or death by suicide generally decreases in the weeks after patients start taking antidepressant medication, according to a new study led by Group Health Cooperative researchers and published in the January issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry. The study also found that the risk of suicidal behavior after starting 10 newer antidepressant medications is l...

How IVF could be causing genetic errors in embryos

The conditions in which embryos are cultured in the laboratory during in vitro fertilisation could be causing genetic errors that are associated with certain developmental syndromes and other abnormalities in growth and development, such as low birth weight. Researchers told the 22nd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday) that prelimin...

Blood test predicts success of quitting smoking using the nicotine patch

A blood test may enable doctors to predict which smokers using the nicotine patch are likely to experience the least amount of cravings and have the highest probability of success in quitting cigarettes, according to the results of a study in the June issus of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. The blood test, which is a measure of the rate at which nicotine is metabo...

Blood-compatible nanoscale materials possible using heparin

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have engineered nanoscale materials that are blood compatible using heparin, an anticoagulant. The heparin biomaterials have potential for use as medical devices and in medical treatments such as kidney dialysis. The researchers prepared several materials with heparin composites or coatings, including carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, and membr...

Acid rain causing decline in sugar maples, say researchers

Acid rain, the environmental consequence of burning fossil fuels, running factories and driving cars, has altered soils and reduced the number of sugar maple trees growing in the Northeast, according to a new study led by Cornell University researchers. The sugar maple is the most economically valuable tree species in the eastern United States because of its high-priced lumber, syrup and...

Gene transfer using mutant form of good cholesterol cuts vascular plaque and inflammation

Transfer of a gene that produces a mutant form of good cholesterol provides significantly better anti-plaque and anti-inflammation benefits than therapy using the "normal" HDL gene, according to a mouse study conducted by cardiology researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and reported in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Apolipoprotein A-I is a natu...

Using nature's most primitive anti-viral defense system to find new approaches to cancer research

The humble fruit fly and a grant from the AICR ?the Association for International Cancer Research - are helping a leading scientist in London identify potential targets for drugs that block the spread of cancer. In one of the first studies of its kind, Dr Buzz Baum of the UCL Branch of the global Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) is using the tiny fruit fly, Drosophila, as a sim...

Scientists map air pollution using corn grown in US fields

Scientists at UC Irvine have mapped fossil fuel air pollution in the United States by analyzing corn collected from nearly 70 locations nationwide. This novel way to measure carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, oil and natural gas will help atmospheric scientists better understand where pollution is located and how it mixes and moves in the air. Tracking fossil-fuel-emitted carbon di...

Using dental X-rays to detect osteoporosis

Researchers in the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam have created a unique way of identifying patients at risk of osteoporosis by using ordinary dental x-rays. Professor Paul F. van der Stelt and his team developed the largely automated approach to detecting the disease during a three-year, EU-funded collaboration with the Universities of Manchester, Athens, Leuven, and Malmö. They will pre...

Lab research may one day lead to cancer treatment using patient's own immune cells

A new line of developing research is underway that hopes to use a patient's own immune cells to fight cancer. The field, known as adoptive immunotherapy, is a specialty procedure performed in only a handful of institutions, which may one day include University Hospitals Case Medical Center. Julian A. Kim, M.D., chief of surgical oncology at UH Ireland Cancer Center, has received a $660,00...

Penn researchers replace organ in adult mice using 'single-parent' stem cells

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have derived uniparental embryonic stem cells - created from a single donor's eggs or two sperm - and, for the first time, successfully used them to repopulate a damaged organ with healthy cells in adult mice. Their findings demonstrate that single-parent stem cells can proliferate normally in an adult organ and could p...