ALSO NOTED: Vaccine used to treat brain cancer; Satellites to be used to track spread of bird flu; Experimental drug used to fi

More Research

Six patients afflicted with a rare and deadly form of brain cancer were treated with a vaccine devised from proteins drawn from their tumors. A year later, five of the six were still alive. Report

Professor Xiangming Xiao of the University of New Hampshire is leading a research team which will use satellites to predict the spread of a pandemic and act as an early-warning system. Release

Researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found, in laboratory studies, that the experimental drug ABT-737 which has shown promise in some cancers, can destroy acute myeloid leukemia (AML) blast, progenitor and even stem cells that are often resistant to standard chemotherapy treatment. Release

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine discovered that when a molecule responsible for dialing down the immune system malfunctions in the brain cells of mice, the rodents develop symptoms of Alzheimer's. Release

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have for the first time created three-dimensional, time-lapse movies showing immune cells targeting cancer cells in live tumor tissues. In recorded experiments, immune cells called T cells can be seen actively migrating though tissues, making direct contact with tumor cells, and killing them. Insights from this new view of the body's on-board defenses against cancer may open the way for improved immunotherapies to treat the disease. Release

According to a new study, septic shock--a dangerous, often deadly runaway immune response--is controlled by a genetic on/off switch. The research also suggests how a drug might temper sepsis. This is the first time this genetic mechanism has been revealed in an experimental animal. Release

RegeneRX Biopharmaceuticals reported that a study published in the advanced online edition of the journal Nature highlighted thymosin beta 4's effects in the treatment of the damaged hearts of mice. Release

Ruth Duncan of the Centre for Polymer Therapeutics at Cardiff University, UK is urging a pan-European approach to the region's research in nanomedicine. Report

Biochemists at Oregon State University have developed a new method to identify the "DNA-binding transcription factors" that help steer stem cells into forming the wide variety of cells that ultimately make up all the organs and parts of a living vertebrate animal. The research is an important step towards understanding stem cell behavior, how cellular development is controlled, and how a single cell--which has the genetic code within it to become any cell in the body--is told what to become, where to go, and what metabolic function to perform. Release

Treatment with the phosphate binder Fosrenol, lanthanum carbonate, was associated with slight improvements in bone formation in chronic kidney disease stage 5 patients with high phosphorus levels in the blood, according to long-term data presented at the American Society of Nephrology meeting. Additional studies presented at ASN document the efficacy and safety of the reformulated and higher-dose FOSRENOL tablets. Of the approximately 20 million Americans who have some form of kidney disease, more than 530,000 have developed CKD Stage 5. Release

A team led by Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy and Albert Eschenmoser at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, is researching how molecules look that can replicate and multiply themselves--the first genetic material. Release

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say they've found a role that white cells play in asthma allergies. They found that in the absence of eosinophils allergen-induced mucous production in all three mice models studied. Release

Deals & Dollars

Baylor Research Institute has garnered a $6.2 million grant to create a Center for Lupus Research. Report

The National Cancer Institute is providing a $2 million grant to researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Yeshiva University to study the "microenvironments" of tumors. The scientists want to explore how tumors interact with tissues, chemicals and cells, promoting metastasis. Release