Press monitoring
Trojan horse gold nanoparticles treatment could beat brain tumors
19.8.2014 | Press monitoring
A "Trojan horse" treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer, which involves using tiny nanoparticles of gold to kill tumour cells, has been successfully tested by scientists. The ground-breaking technique could eventually be used to treat glioblastoma multiforme, which is the most common and aggressive brain tumour in adults, and...
Injected bacteria shrink tumors in rats, dogs and humans
18.8.2014 | Press monitoring
A modified version of the Clostridium novyi (C. novyi-NT) bacterium can produce a strong and precisely targeted anti-tumor response in rats, dogs and now humans, according to a new report from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers. In its natural form, C. novyi is found in the soil and, in certain cases, can cause tissue-damaging...
Organic synthesis: The robo-chemist
15.8.2014 | Press monitoring
The race is on to build a machine that can synthesize any organic compound. It could transform chemistry. Growing band of chemists is now trying to free the field from its artisanal roots by creating a device with the ability to fabricate any organic molecule automatically. “I would consider it entirely feasible to build a synthesis machine which...
Mouth bacteria can change its diet, supercomputers reveal
14.8.2014 | Press monitoring
Bacteria inside your mouth drastically change how they act when you're diseased, according to research using supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Scientists say these surprising findings might lead to better ways to prevent or even reverse the gum disease periodontitis, diabetes, and Crohn's disease. Marvin Whiteley,...
Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue
13.8.2014 | Press monitoring
Bioengineers have created three-dimensional brain-like tissue that functions like and has structural features similar to tissue in the rat brain and that can be kept alive in the lab for more than two months. As a first demonstration of its potential, researchers used the brain-like tissue to study chemical and electrical changes that occur...
Worm pill could ease autoimmune disease symptoms
12.8.2014 | Press monitoring
Experts believe a molecule in parasitic worms could help explain why worm infections can effectively treat a range of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The Monash University study, published in the FASEB Journal, successfully identified peptides from parasitic worms that suppress the...
Artificial retina: Physicists develop an interface to the optical nerve
11.8.2014 | Press monitoring
Physicists at Technische Universitat Munchen (TUM) are using the special properties of graphene to produce key elements of an artificial retina. With their research program the researchers were admitted to the heavily funded 'Graphene' Flagship Program of the European Union. Graphene is viewed as a kind of "miracle solution": It is thin,...
Boeing’s Figuring Out How to Make Jet Fuel From Tobacco
8.8.2014 | Press monitoring
You can’t use tobacco while flying, but your plane can. Boeing is working with South African Airways to power the carrier’s planes with biofuel derived from a new breed of tobacco plant. Biofuels work just like fossil fuels, but they are made from renewable sources like algae, wood, agricultural waste, and camelina and jatropha plants. Finding...
Ebola Serum Turns Out to Be an Antibody Cocktail
7.8.2014 | Press monitoring
The “secret serum” being used to treat the two Americans infected with Ebola virus is a humanized, three-monoclonal-antibody experimental cocktail provided by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, a small San Diego-based biotech company. Known as ZMapp™, the product is the result of a collaboration between Mapp, LeafBio, Toronto-based Defyrus, the U.S....
Seamless gene correction of beta-thalassemia mutations in patient-specific cells
6.8.2014 | Press monitoring
A major hurdle in gene therapy is the efficient integration of a corrected gene into a patient's genome without mutating off-target sites. In a paper published today in Genome Research, scientists have used CRISPR/Cas genome editing technology to seamlessly and efficiently correct disease-causing mutations in cells from patients with...
