Connecting You to Tomorrow's Biotechnology Innovations
During the past decade, researchers have identified new ways to detect the earliest biological signs of Alzheimer’s disease. These early signs, which are detected by biomarkers, may be present before a person starts to exhibit physical symptoms. What biomarker screening doesn’t reveal, however, is how likely it is that a person who tests positive will […]
BriaCell Therapeutics Corp., an immuno-oncology focused biotechnology company with a proprietary targeted immunotherapy technology, published a paper that shed light to the novel mechanism of action of BriaCell’s lead product candidate, Bria-IMT™ in the journal of Frontiers in Immunology, the 5th most cited journal in Immunology. The novel mechanism of action of Bria-IMT™, also referred […]
Scientists know that faulty proteins can cause harmful deposits or “aggregates” in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Although the causes of these protein deposits remain a mystery, it is known that abnormal aggregates can result when cells fail to transmit proper genetic information to proteins. University of California San Diego Professor Susan […]
Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have deployed a novel infrared (IR) microscope with quantum cascade lasers in order to analyze tissue samples taken during routine clinical procedures for colorectal cancer diagnosis. The FTIR (fourier transform infrared) microscope used to date had not yet established itself as a diagnostic tool in hospitals, as the analyses used to […]
If you want to take clear photographs, you don’t use sandpaper to clear a smudge from your camera’s lens. Similarly, if you want to see clearly, the lens of your eye has to be free of obstruction. For that reason a curious thing happens during the development of eye lenses. Instead of closely guarding their […]
A small study of adults with the most common form of pancreatic cancer adds to evidence that patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations long linked to a high risk of breast cancer have poorer overall survival rates than those without the mutations. The same study also found that those with BRCA1 or BRCA2 had […]
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan say they have found a fast way to manipulate a cell’s cilia, the tiny, fingerlike protrusions that “feel” and sense their microscopic environment. The experiments, performed in mouse cells, may advance scientists’ efforts to not only understand how the nanosized antennae work, […]
Do metastatic cancer tumors “break bad” or are they “born bad”? This question is an essential mystery in cancer early detection and treatment. Lacking a clear answer, patients are given the same aggressive therapies when small, abnormal clusters of cells are discovered early, even though they might well be harmless. In a study publishing the […]
Cancer is a disease often driven by mutations in genes. As researchers learn more about these genes, and the proteins they code for, they are seeking smarter drugs to target them. The ultimate goal is to find ways to stop cancer cells from multiplying out of control, thereby blocking the growth and spread of tumors. […]
The outside of a cancer cell is bombarded by signals. They come from the immune system, supporting tissues and other structures. But how do those signals impact cancer? A new study provides a surprising model of the process by which those signals enter and influence the cell. The finding could open up a potential new […]
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine and Harvard University have discovered how the Clostridium difficile toxin B (TcdB) recognizes the human Frizzled protein, the receptor it uses to invade intestinal cells and lead to deadly gastrointestinal infections. The findings, published today in Science, could pave the way for new C. diff antitoxins and also […]
A decay of brain function is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, or DLB. Specifically, cognitive dysfunction defines DLB, and nearly eight of every 10 Parkinson’s patients develop dementia. In both of these neuro-degenerative diseases, aggregates of misfolded alpha-synuclein protein develop in brain neurons, including the hippocampus, the region of the […]
Pediatric researchers have found that children and adults treated with some oral antibiotics have a significantly higher risk of developing kidney stones. This is the first time that these medicines have been linked to this condition. The strongest risks appeared at younger ages and among patients most recently exposed to antibiotics. “The overall prevalence of […]
(UPI) — High levels of a protein found in the bloodstreams of lung cancer patients may lead to a method of detecting the disease earlier, and possibly preventing deaths from it, according to a new study. Researchers found high levels of cytoskeleton-associated protein 4, or CKAP4, in the blood of cancer patients predicted their disease. […]
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy, also known as CAR T therapy, was named the biggest research breakthrough of 2017 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The personal gene therapy utilizes a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer. The Food and Drug Administration has approved CAR T therapy products for adults with diffuse large […]
Self-Condensation Process for Cells Generates Vascularized Organ Tissues for Transplant Researchers tissue-engineered human pancreatic islets in a laboratory that develop a circulatory system, secrete hormones like insulin and successfully treat sudden-onset type 1 diabetes in transplanted mice. In a study published by Cell Reports, the scientists use a new bioengineering process they developed called a […]
Stiffer breast tissue creates an environment more prone to cancer by enabling the disease to interfere with the surrounding healthy cells, according to a recent study published in Biomaterials. Scientists studying tumor growth and metastasis at the University of Notre Dame fabricated a human tissue model to examine how cancer cells interact with connective tissue […]
Researchers in China have discovered that an enzyme called UGT8 drives the progression of basal-like breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that is largely untreatable. But the study, which will be published May 4 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that the widely used osteoporosis drug zoledronic acid inhibits UGT8 and prevents […]
Study reveals an unexpected regulatory role for Nup210 in T cell homeostasis Nuclear pore complexes in the nuclear membrane not only control the transport of molecules into and out of the nucleus—they play an essential role in the survival of T cells. A new study by Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) researchers describes […]
University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have discovered a way turn pluripotent stem cells into atrial cells, which make up the upper chambers, or atria, of the heart. The discovery will enable them to better study atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder also known as AFib, which originates in the heart’s atria. As reported in […]