Diseases
Microsponges from seaweed may help save lives
February 10, 2011 3:34 am | News | CommentsMicrosponges derived from seaweed may help diagnose heart disease, cancers, HIV and other diseases quickly and at far lower cost than current clinical methods. The microsponges are an essential component of Rice Univ.'s Programmable Bio-Nano-Chip (PBNC).
Can Coffee Protect Against Diabetes?
February 9, 2011 8:23 am | Articles | CommentsCoffee may do more than provide a jump-start to the day. While previous studies have shown that it may protect against type 2 diabetes, researchers at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles have discovered a possible molecular mechanism behind this protective effect.
Sweet Diagnosis: Sugar, Nanoparticles Detect Cholera Toxin
February 9, 2011 8:20 am | Articles | CommentsA complex sugar may someday become part of a diagnostic test to stop the spread of cholera. Using a technique developed by Univ. of Central Florida scientists, relief workers could test samples of potentially contaminated water sources with iron oxide nanoparticles coated with the sugar dextran.
Salmonella goes from bug to drug
February 9, 2011 5:06 am | News | CommentsNew experiments at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, may one day lead to anti-viral treatments that involve swallowing Salmonella bacteria, effectively using one bug to stop another.
Getting a grip on nervous system's receptors
February 9, 2011 3:37 am | News | CommentsA digital signal processing technique long used by statisticians to analyze data is helping Houston scientists understand the roots of memory and learning, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and stroke.
New fluorescent assay reveals TREK1 mechanism
February 8, 2011 3:46 am | News | CommentsBerkeley Lab researchers developed a unique cell-based fluorescent assay that enabled them to identify a means by which fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, suppresses the activity of the TREK1 potassium channel. TREK1 could be an important new target for antidepressant drugs.
Math may help calculate way to find new drugs for HIV
February 7, 2011 5:35 am | News | CommentsUsing mathematical concepts, Princeton researchers have developed a method of discovering new drugs for a range of diseases by calculating which physical properties of biological molecules may predict their effectiveness as medicines. The technique already has identified several potential new drugs that were shown to be effective for fighting strains of HIV by researchers at Johns Hopkins Univ.
Developing a potential life-saving mathematical tool
February 3, 2011 4:33 am | News | CommentsMath and medicine are coming together to help people who have suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which with 15,000 is the 13th-leading cause of death in the United States.
Test shows nanoshell therapy effective against brain cancer
February 1, 2011 7:13 am | News | CommentsRice Univ. bioengineers and physician-scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have successfully destroyed tumors of human brain cancer cells in the first animal tests of a minimally invasive treatment that zaps glioma tumors with heat. The tests involved nanoshells, light-activated nanoparticles that are designed to destroy tumors with heat and avoid the unwanted side effects of drug and radiation therapies.
Combatting antibiotic resistant bacteria: it's all in the genes
January 31, 2011 6:58 am | News | CommentsFor more than 50 years, antibiotics have been used to treat deadly infections and save countless lives. However, the list of antibiotic resistant bacteria growing. Anticipating the potential disaster, research group at Lawrence Livermore National Lab has identified the genes within bacteria that encode for lytic proteins. This is an important component for cell survival and could be a weapon against drug-resistant bacterial strains.
Malaysia releases lab mosquitoes to fight dengue
January 26, 2011 6:34 am | by Julia Zappei, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Malaysian government-run Institute for Medical Research said it released about 6,000 sterile male lab mosquitoes in an uninhabited forest area in eastern Malaysia on Dec. 21, 2010, along with another 6,000 wild male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes for comparison. The plan to curb dengue fever, which is spread by mosquitoes, is the first to use genetically engineered mosquitoes in the wild.
Neutron scattering study yields new insights into virus life cycle
January 24, 2011 4:08 am | News | CommentsA research team from ORNL and North Carolina State Univ. is studying how viruses change their structure when they move between different host species. Understanding how a virus reorganizes itself when it goes from a mosquito to a human is critical for the development of medicines that can block the spread of viruses. The team's most recent study focuses on the Sindbis virus, a member of the arbovirus family that causes infectious diseases like yellow fever, dengue fever, and West Nile fever.
Team creates engineered organ model for breast cancer research
January 20, 2011 10:58 am | News | CommentsPurdue Univ. researchers have reproduced portions of the female breast in a tiny slide-sized model dubbed "breast on-a-chip" that will be used to test nanomedical approaches for the detection and treatment of breast cancer.
Putting up a fight against cancer
January 20, 2011 3:06 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMIT scientists have discovered that cells lining the blood vessels secrete molecules that suppress tumor growth and keep cancer cells from invading other tissues, a finding that could lead to a new way to treat cancer.
Complex sugar may become an effective weapon against cholera
January 19, 2011 5:14 am | News | CommentsA complex sugar may someday become one of the most effective weapons to stop the spread of cholera. A technique developed by Univ. of Central Florida scientists would allow relief workers to test water sources that could be contaminated with the cholera toxin.
Newly created synthetic compound shows HIV-fighting potential
January 19, 2011 3:24 am | News | CommentsUsing chemical compounds found in a Japanese plant as a lead and the clever application of ultraviolet light, a Scripps Research Institute team has created a unique library of dozens of synthetic compounds to test for biomedical potential. Already, one of the compounds has shown great promise in inhibiting replication of HIV particles and fighting inflammation.
Chemists document workings of key staph enzyme
January 19, 2011 3:15 am | News | CommentsResearchers have determined the structure and mechanism of an enzyme that performs the crucial first step in the formation of cholesterol and a key virulence factor in staph bacteria.
Monitoring single bacteria without a microscope
January 17, 2011 11:45 am | News | CommentsWith an invention that can be made from some of the same parts used in CD players, Univ. of Michigan researchers have developed a way to measure the growth and drug susceptibility of individual bacterial cells without the use of a microscope.
Can coffee protect against diabetes?
January 13, 2011 4:08 am | News | CommentsCoffee, that morning elixir, may give us an early jump-start to the day, but numerous studies have shown that it also may be protective against type 2 diabetes. Yet no one has really understood why. Now, researchers at UCLA have discovered a possible molecular mechanism behind coffee's protective effect.
Shellfish safer to eat thanks to tech breakthrough
January 11, 2011 5:13 am | News | CommentsScientists in England have developed a new technology that uses unique “detector proteins” to seek out minute amounts of toxins present in mussels, oysters, cockles and scallops. The test detects paralytic shellfish poisons, which paralyze anyone who consumes them and kills around 25% people who are poisoned. It’s being developed for use in the U.S. as well.
Protecting corn: Study targets disease resistance in corn
January 11, 2011 3:36 am | News | CommentsIn a paper published online in Nature Genetics , North Carolina State Univ. and U.S. Department of Agriculture crop scientists and plant pathologists sift through millions of genetic sequence variations in the set of all genes in maize (corn) to identify 51 gene regions associated with resistance to Southern corn leaf blight disease—an important plant pathogen.
New nanoparticle drug delivery system lessens side effects
January 11, 2011 3:06 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsResearchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have shown that they can deliver the cancer drug cisplatin much more effectively and safely in a form that has been encapsulated in a nanoparticle targeted to prostate tumor cells and is activated once it reaches its target.
One war of many, no end in sight
September 13, 2010 5:50 am | by Paul Livigstone | Blogs | CommentsThe numbers are stark but abstract: HIV is still a deadly disease that infects more than 33 million people in and kills than 2 million people each year through its effects. Researchers must not only find a vaccine; they must fight to keep the ball rolling on an effort that could take another 30 years to solve.
Am I Buggin’ You?
August 2, 2010 7:42 am | by Paul Livingstone | Blogs | CommentsTwo bugs are making a comeback tour, and one is as annoying as the other is deadly. One bites skin, one attacks cells. There’s no vaccine, the treatments are less and less effective with each passing year, and they are beginning to take over the neighborhood. Itchy yet?
Space biotech: growing industry or space shot?
May 12, 2010 6:52 am | Blogs | CommentsBiotechnology has two of the most promising commercialization areas in orbital research: x-ray protein crystallography and vaccine therapeutics. But the demise of the space shuttle and the dearth of venture capital could stall some important R&D.
