Scientists kill cancer cells with “trojan horse” July 3, 2009
Posted by pikardi in Info.Tags: Cancer cells, Chemotherapy, Nanotechnology, oncology, R&D, Reuters, Scientists, Therapies
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Credits: Reuters
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian scientists have developed a “trojan horse” therapy to combat cancer, using a bacterially-derived nano cell to penetrate and disarm the cancer cell before a second nano cell kills it with chemotherapy drugs.
The “trojan horse” therapy has the potential to directly target cancer cells with chemotherapy, rather than the current treatment that sees chemotherapy drugs injected into a cancer patient and attacking both cancer and healthy cells.
101 Easy Ways to Cut Your Cancer Risk July 3, 2009
Posted by pikardi in Info.Tags: Cancer, Diet, Habits, Health, Risk, Tara Miller
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By Tara Miller
Because there’s no cure for cancer yet, there’s also no surefire way to see it coming or blame the development of cancer on any specific lifestyle or diet choices. There are, however, studies that show how certain foods, habits and genetics can increase your chances of getting cancer. Read on for 101 easy ways to cut your cancer risk, just in case there is something you can do about it.
Habits to Break
Ditch these habits if you want to lengthen your life, improve your overall quality of life and reduce your cancer risk.
- Smoking: Smoking is one of the most dangerous habits to continue if you are serious about your cancer risk. It can lead to lung cancer, throat cancer and more.
- Drinking alcohol: Alcohol can increase your chances of developing ER+/PR+ breast cancer significantly. If you drink one to two drinks a day, your risk increases by 32%; three or more drinks a day increases your risk to up to 51%.
- Sunbathing: While a few minutes of sunlight a day is actually good for you, regular sunbathing that leads to burns can lead to skin cancer.
- Standing in front of the microwave: Doing it every once in a while probably isn’t too dangerous, but if you’re addicted to your microwave, take a few steps back and to the side to avoid DNA damage and cancer risk.
- Laziness: Cancer.org maintains that “being overweight works in a variety of ways to increase cancer risk,” and increasing your level of physical activity, even if you don’t lose a significant amount of weight, can reduce your chances of breast cancer and colon cancer.
- Ignoring your age: While it’s important to remain active and avoid getting depressed about your age, you should also recognize that age is also a factor in increasing your risk of some cancers. Go for checkups more often and pay more attention to your body’s changes as you age.
- Practice safe sex: Women can develop cervical cancer from the STD human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Synthetic Biology: Gene Therapy Gets Under The Skin June 30, 2009
Posted by pikardi in Info.Tags: gene therapy, skin, sythetic biology
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ScienceDaily (June 29, 2009) — Vaseline, a known molecule from apples and a gene network encapsulated in algal gelatin are the components of a possible gene therapy which literally gets under the skin.
New way to gene therapy: first implant a capsule with a particular gene under the skin, apply skin cream in order to stimulate the gene into action, which expresses an active principle which is able to escape from the capsule. (Credit: P. Rüegg/ ETH Zürich)
Swine Flu (worldwide pandemic alert) June 22, 2009
Posted by pikardi in Info.Tags: Flu, H1N1, Pandemic, Swine
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Pandemic Potential of a Strain of Influenza A (H1N1): Early Findings
A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus has spread rapidly across the globe. Judging its pandemic potential is difficult with limited data, but nevertheless essential to inform appropriate health responses. By analyzing the outbreak in Mexico, early data on international spread, and viral genetic diversity, we make an early assessment of transmissibility and severity. Our estimates suggest that 23,000 (range 6000 to 32,000) individuals had been infected in Mexico by late April, giving an estimated case fatality ratio (CFR) of 0.4% (range: 0.3 to 1.8%) based on confirmed and suspected deaths reported to that time. In a community outbreak in the small community of La Gloria, Veracruz, no deaths were attributed to infection, giving an upper 95% bound on CFR of 0.6%. Thus, although substantial uncertainty remains, clinical severity appears less than that seen in the 1918 influenza pandemic but comparable with that seen in the 1957 pandemic. Clinical attack rates in children in La Gloria were twice that in adults (<15 years of age: 61%; 
15 years: 29%). Three different epidemiological analyses gave basic reproduction number (R0) estimates in the range of 1.4 to 1.6, whereas a genetic analysis gave a central estimate of 1.2. This range of values is consistent with 14 to 73 generations of human-to-human transmission having occurred in Mexico to late April. Transmissibility is therefore substantially higher than that of seasonal flu, and comparable with lower estimates of R0 obtained from previous influenza pandemics.
Source: www.sciencemag.org
Lab Automation “MeetScience” June 20, 2009
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Stäubli is a mechatronics solution provider with three dedicated divisions: Textile machinery, Connectors and Robotics. With a workforce of over 3000, the company generates a yearly turnover surpassing 1 billion Swiss francs. Originally founded 1892 as a small workshop in Horgen / Zurich, Stäubli today is an international group with its head office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland.
Stäubli is also suporting the main evolution in lab automation solutions. Biotech Industry is in a great development and recruiting new and advanced resources including highly sophisticated instruments.
Robotic Solutions for Lab Automation:
A Stem-Cell Therapy for Blindness June 20, 2009
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Advanced Cell Technology will seek approval for human trials of its treatment for vision loss.
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| Fighting vision loss: This microscopic image shows a cross section of the retina of a rat with a degenerative eye disease that received a transplant of retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. The middle layer of speckled green represents several layers of photoreceptors, which developed in response to the transplant. Untreated animals lost all but a single layer. Credit: Advanced Cell Technology |
An experimental therapy using human embryonic stem cells to treat degenerative eye diseases has proved safe and effective in animal studies, and may begin early human trials in the next few months if it receives approval from the Food and Drug Administration. If granted approval, the therapy will be the second embryonic-stem-cell-based treatment to progress to human trials, and it will provide a test case for further applications of stem cells. (more…)
Nanosensor Arrays “Smell” Cancer June 17, 2009
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In 2006 researchers established that dogs could detect cancer by sniffing the exhaled breath of cancer patients. Now, using nanoscale arrays of detectors, two groups of investigators have shown that a compact mechanical device also can sniff out lung cancer in humans.
Hossam Haick, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, used a network of 10 sets of chemically modified carbon nanotubes to create a multicomponent sensor capable of discriminating between a healthy breath and one characteristic of lung cancer patients. This work appears in the journal Nano News. Meanwhile, Silvano Dragonieri, M.D., University of Bari, Italy, and his colleagues used a commercial nanoarray-based electronic “nose” to discriminate between the breath of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These results appear in the journal Lung Cancer. (more…)
New Research supports Efficiency and Validity of Flash & Grow Automatic Colony Counter Vs. Manual Count May 17, 2009
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Counting of microbial populations is a standard procedure of testing in the microbiology laboratory across industries, such as Environmental, Food, Pharma, Biotech and more. Manual counting of colony-forming units (CFU), grown on Petri plates containing growth media is one of the most tedious, laborious and time-consuming processes in a laboratory.
Several types of automated colony counters have been developed to improve efficiency in colony counting. A study recently published by Fort Valley State University, GA (Mahapatra*, A. K., D. L. Harris, R. Drake, C. N. Nguyen and G. Kannan, 2009) compared manual counting of E. coli ATCC 700728 colonies and automated counting of the same bacteria with the IUL Flash & Grow unit.
Brain converted to a silicon chip March 30, 2009
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Building a Brain on a Silicon Chip
A chip developed by European scientists simulates the learning capabilities of the human brain.
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| A smart chip: Scientists in Europe are using conventional chip production techniques to create circuits that mimic the structure and function of the human brain. This early prototype has just 384 neurons and 100,000 synapses, but the latest version contains 200,000 neurons and 50 million synapses. Credit: Karlheinz Meier |
An international team of scientists in Europe has created a silicon chip designed to function like a human brain. With 200,000 neurons linked up by 50 million synaptic connections, the chip is able to mimic the brain’s ability to learn more closely than any other machine. (more…)
How to cross the BBB? February 23, 2009
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Intravascular AAV9 preferentially targets neonatal neurons and adult astrocytes
Kevin D Foust1, Emily Nurre1,2, Chrystal L Montgomery1, Anna Hernandez3, Curtis M Chan3 & Brian K Kaspar1,2
Abstract
Delivery of genes to the brain and spinal cord across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) has not yet been achieved. Here we show that adeno-associated virus (AAV) 9 injected intravenously bypasses the BBB and efficiently targets cells of the central nervous system (CNS). Injection of AAV9-GFP into neonatal mice through the facial vein results in extensive transduction of dorsal root ganglia and motor neurons throughout the spinal cord and widespread transduction of neurons throughout the brain, including the neocortex, hippocampus and cerebellum. In adult mice, tail vein injection of AAV9-GFP leads to robust transduction of astrocytes throughout the entire CNS, with limited neuronal transduction. This approach may enable the development of gene therapies for a range of neurodegenerative diseases, such as spinal muscular atrophy, through targeting of motor neurons, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, through targeting of astrocytes. It may also be useful for rapid postnatal genetic manipulations in basic neuroscience studies. (more…)
Biotech’s green gold? February 23, 2009
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Algae have long been touted as a rich and ubiquitous source of renewable fuel but thus far have failed to be economically competitive with other sources of energy. Could new advances change that? Emily Waltz investigates.
Sapphire Energy, San Diego
As food crops become unpalatable as a source of biofuel, can algae take their place?
When the UK’s Carbon Trust last year set out to fund algal biofuels research, organizers quickly met with a mélange of overzealous claims coming from the industry. Companies were projecting biofuel yields ten times what is theoretically possible and proposing techniques that are not now and may never be economical. A year later, after wading through the claims and gathering opinions from a network of more than 300 experts, the agency announced on October 23 the creation of the Algae Biofuel Challenge, a £16 ($24) million fund that will support the development and large-scale production of algal oil. (more…)
Pfizer’s $100 million stem cell stake February 23, 2009
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Pfizer has launched Pfizer Regenerative Medicine, an independent research unit focused exclusively on using stem cells to develop new medicines. The New York–based company will spend more than $100 million over the next 3–5 years on the new initiative, which will employ 70 researchers based at two facilities, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge, UK. The UK group will focus on neural and sensory disorders, whereas the US team will concentrate on endocrine and cardiac research. In-house researchers will work with both embryonic and adult stem cells, but significant collaborations are also planned. Chief Scientific Officer Ruth McKernan, who will head the UK site, says: “We are keen to take advantage of successful work done by other companies and academic labs. We will be working with several collaborators and these will be announced in the new year.” In the past, big pharma has shied away from investing in stem cell research, but Pfizer’s move confirms that attitudes are changing. London’s GlaxoSmithKline recently signed a $25 million four-year deal with Harvard University, and the venture funds of Basel-based Novartis and Roche helped bankroll Cellerix, a Madrid company testing stem cells from fat to treat rare skin conditions. Stanford University, California, also recently announced the construction of the world’s largest stem cell research building to house over 600 scientists by 2010.
Nayanah Siva
Source:
Nature Biotechnology 27, 10 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nbt0109-10c
Visions of the future: What Will Replace The Internet? February 8, 2009
Posted by pikardi in Info.Tags: 21st century, Future, internet, wireless
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First it will become wireless and ubiquitous, crawling into the woodwork and perhaps even under our skin. Eventually, it will disappear
BY VINTON CERF
The Internet seems to have just arrived, so how can we possibly imagine what will replace it? In truth, early versions of the Net have been around since the 1960s and ’70s, but only after the mid-1990s did it begin to have a serious public impact. Since 1994, the population of users has grown from about 13 million to more than 300 million around the world. About half are in North America, and most–despite significant progress in rolling out high-speed access–still reach the Internet by way of the public telephone network.
What will the Internet be like 20 years from now? (more…)
Biomanufacturing Summit 2009 January 14, 2009
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January 27-28, 2009
Hyatt San Diego, California
The 2009 Biomanufacturing Summit brings together world class leaders within biopharmaceuticals to explore the dynamic strategies, benchmark the latest technologies and analyze the most cutting edge science sustaining the growth of the biopharmaceutical industry.
With the inevitability of biogenerics in the US and the increasingly tighter federal regulations it is apparent that those companies who have developed winning strategies to streamline processes, maximize capacity and reduce costs are the ones that will successfully navigate the increasingly complex landscape of biological production. Join us at this premier conference and networking event designed specifically for senior executives in manufacturing, process development and product operations. The 2009 Biomanufacturing Summit features in – depth case studies and interactive sessions from world-class biopharmaceutical manufacturers helping you drive forward innovation and increase process efficiency!
Nanotubes Track Cellular Toxins December 19, 2008
Posted by pikardi in Info.Tags: nanotube cells toxins MIT
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Tiny sensors can monitor cancer-causing agents and chemotherapy drugs in cells.
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| Tiny detectors: A microscope image of carbon-nanotube sensors (green) emitting near-infrared fluorescence from inside live mouse fibroblast cells (red). Credit: Dan Heller / MIT |
Researchers at MIT have found that carbon nanotubes can serve as highly sensitive biological sensors for detecting single molecules in living cells in real time. The study, published online in Nature Nanotechnology, is the first demonstration that nanoscale sensors can be used to detect and image multiple types of molecules in cells at the same time, at a sensitivity that far exceeds that of fluorescent dyes, the standard tool for molecular imaging. The researchers used the sensors to detect substances that damage DNA, including certain cancer drugs and toxins. The sensors could eventually be used to monitor the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs, track molecular interactions in cells, and test for low levels of toxins in the environment. (more…)
