AMHERST, Mass. – A molecular biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has for decades studied the nightmarish group of fatal diseases caused by prions – chronic wasting disease in deer, mad cow in cattle and its human analog – credits a middle-of-the-night dream for a crucial insight, a breakthrough she hopes could lead...
by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Snakebite is one of the world’s biggest hidden health problems with up to 138 000 victims dying every year, and around 400 000 victims left with permanent physical disabilities or disfigurements. Those most affected live in some of the world’s poorest communities in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America...
by Amanda Morris, Northwestern University The more we learn about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the more unknowns seem to arise. These ever-emerging mysteries highlight the desperate need for more data to help researchers and physicians better understand—and treat—the extremely contagious and deadly disease. Researchers at Northwestern University and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago have developed...
In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind study to evaluate the safety of a type of immunotherapy before surgery in patients with an aggressive form of skin cancer, researchers report that the treatment eliminated pathologic evidence of cancer in nearly half of the study participants undergoing surgery. In patients whose tumors respond, this treatment...
By Nick Lavars A growing body of evidence is forging a stronger and stronger connection between the onset of Parkinson’s disease and the gut. Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have thrown further weight behind this theory, with an investigation of cellular behavior in the nervous...
Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Provide Immune Support Against COVID-19 HOUSTON, April 6, 2020 — Hope Biosciences, a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing cell-based therapeutics for acute and chronic disease, today announced that FDA has approved a Phase II clinical trial evaluating efficacy and safety of Hope Biosciences’ autologous, adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells...
LA JOLLA–(May 1, 2020) Salk and Scripps Research Institute scientists, along with collaborators at the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, identified two genes that can regulate levels of healthy fats, called FAHFAs, in mice. The team found that the loss of the two genes led to higher-than-normal levels of the beneficial FAHFAs, while blocking the genes’ activity...
New treatment method being tested in clinical study. Hamburg-based researchers are seeking to improve future treatment of HIV patients using a new gene and cell method. Under the umbrella of Hamburg biotech startup Provirex, they are developing a new therapeutic approach that uses ‘gene scissors’ to cut out the blueprint of the AIDS pathogen HIV...
BY YEKATERINA KADYSHEVSKAYA, USC The discovery comes just as new data are revealing that some of the hardest hit victims of COVID-19 suffer from obesity and other chronic conditions A USC-led international team of scientists has found the precise shape of a key player in human metabolism, which could lead the way to better treatments...
by German Cancer Research Center A receptor in the cell layer that lines the blood vessels from the inside stimulates both the formation of new blood vessels in tumors and metastasis. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg (DKFZ) and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg have succeeded in blocking...
