Scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, have conducted novel experiments that might one day lead to gene therapy treatment options for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

In research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research team, led by EPFL President Patrick Aebischer, found that viral delivery of a gene associated with Parkinson’s disease protected neurons from degeneration.

’Device’ made of fused protein partners is shown to be reversible and highly sensitive

Improving significantly on an early prototype, Johns Hopkins University researchers have found a new way to join two unrelated proteins to create a molecular switch, a nanoscale “device” in which one biochemical partner controls the activity of the other. Lab experiments have demonstrated that the new switch performs 10 times more effectively than the early model and that its “on-off

When and where a bacterium uses its DNA can be as important as what’s in the DNA, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Scientists found significant differences in two bacterial organisms’ use of a gene linked to processes that govern a form of antibiotic resistance. The distinction alters the bacteria’s “lifestyles,” or their ability to survive in different environments. Researchers say the finding shows that understan

ALS is an incurable, paralyzing neurodegenerative disorder that strikes 5 persons in every 100,000. The disease commonly affects healthy people in the most active period of their lives – without warning or previous family history. Researchers from VIB (the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology), under the direction of Prof. Peter Carmeliet (Catholic University of Leuven), have previously shown the importance of the VEGF protein in this disease. Now, new research from this group shows

Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Geographic potential of Argentine ants (Linepithema humile Mayr) in the face of global climate change by Dr N Roura-Pascual, Dr AV Suarez, Dr C Gómez, Dr P Pons, Dr Y Touyama, Dr AL Wild and Dr AT Peterson

We examined the potential worldwide distribution of the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) based on current climate models and also in the face of projected future climate change. Native to South Americ

A lipid that helps destroy potentially harmful cells during brain development shows promise for improving the safety and efficacy of stem cell transplants, say researchers at the Medical College of Georgia and University of Georgia.

When embryonic stem cells are being coaxed toward becoming brain cells that could be transplanted, that lipid, ceramide, helps eliminate cells that could later form tumors called teratomas, researchers say in the Nov. 22 issue of The Journal of Cell B

Scientists develop data analysis tool, screen more than 47,000 compounds

Using a newly developed technology, a team of Columbia University researchers has uncovered that indoprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, may increase the production of a protein lacking in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a fatal pediatric genetic disease.

It is the scientists’ hope that the discovery will lead to additional developments and even a treatment for SMA, a

It is tricky enough to get a soccer team of eleven players to cooperate and work as one – but what would it be like if there were 25,000 players on the field? What would the rules be like, and how many referees would it take to make sure that the rules were followed? As it happens, our genomes consist of networks of roughly 25,000 interacting genes, and these networks are obviously very stable and resilient to changed conditions. Out of billions of cells, not a single one falls into chaos. How

Every year over 130,000 people in England and Wales suffer a stroke and up to 85% of them are left with weakness in their arms, making day-to-day tasks difficult. New robotic technology being developed at Leeds will help patients recover more quickly and regain their independence.

The intelligent pneumatic robotic system supports the arm, senses the patient’s efforts and guides them through a series of arm exercises. The system should help the NHS make the most of stretched resources an

Ultrasound-guided biopsy lets some women avoid additional surgery

A key question after a cancer diagnosis is whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found a new non-surgical technique that can help doctors determine when breast cancer has invaded the lymph nodes, sparing some women an extra trip to the operating room.

The technique, which uses ultrasound along with a fine needle biops

For the first time, researchers can predict the lung cancer risk for social smokers as well as habitual smokers.

Data presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) showed that a social smoker age 50 or older has a risk for developing lung cancer similar to that of a smoker under age 50 who smoked three packs a day for 20 years.

Claudia I. Henschke, Ph.D., M.D., is the principal investigator of the International Early Lung Cance

Findings further link inflammation, obesity, and type-2 diabetes

Chronic inflammation is being implicated in diseases as widespread as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and most recently, diabetes and obesity. The role of the hormone resistin in people with these diseases has been questioned because it is primarily secreted by immune cells called macrophages in humans rather than fat cells, as in mice. Nevertheless, resistin is elevated in some people with diabe

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have become the first to successfully grow a norovirus in the lab. In humans, noroviruses are a highly contagious source of diarrhea, vomiting and other stomach upset that made headlines two years ago after a series of repeated outbreaks on cruise ships. These viruses are a major cause of human disease worldwide.

Researchers showed that the mouse norovirus MNV-1 could be grown inside cells from mice with defecti

Finding could dampen contagiousness of individuals most likely to spread germs when sick

Some individuals exhale many more pathogen-laden droplets than others in the course of ordinary breathing, scientists have found, but oral administration of a safe saline spray every six hours might slash exhalation of germs in this group by an average 72 percent.
The researchers, at Harvard University and biotechnology firms Pulmatrix and Inamed, report results from their clinical study

Finding supports theory that autism results from failure of brain areas to work together

In contrast to people who do not have autism, people with autism remember letters of the alphabet in a part of the brain that ordinarily processes shapes, according to a study from a collaborative program of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

The study was conducted by researchers in the NICHD Collaborative Program

New research is helping select which therapies improve the chances of remission in the largest category of people affected by acute myeloid leukemia (AML) – those whose cancer cells have normal-looking chromosomes.

The findings suggest that people receiving more intense therapies are more likely to enter remission and to remain there longer than those receiving lower-dose therapies.

The study was published online Nov. 8 by the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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