Press monitoring
Ebola vaccine success highlights dilemma of testing on captive chimps to save wild apes
27.5.2014 | Press monitoring
A new study illustrates high conservation potential of vaccines for endangered wild primates devastated by viral disease, but highlights need for access to captive chimpanzees so vaccines can be trialled before being administered in the wild. The first conservation-specific vaccine trial on captive chimpanzees has proved a vaccine against Ebola...
DNA nanotechnology places enzyme catalysis within an arm\'s length
26.5.2014 | Press monitoring
Using molecules of DNA like an architectural scaffold, Arizona State University scientists, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Michigan, have developed a 3-D artificial enzyme cascade that mimics an important biochemical pathway that could prove important for future biomedical and energy applications. The findings were...
Human heart beats using nearly billion-year-old molecular mechanism
23.5.2014 | Press monitoring
We humans have been around for about 2.5 million years, but the beating of our hearts is controlled by something much older than Homo sapiens. It is an ancient molecular pathway that, according to Huck Institutes faculty researcher Tim Jegla, may be on the order of 700 million to a billion years old. The Jegla Lab studies the evolution of the...
Fungi clean oil-polluted soil, study shows
22.5.2014 | Press monitoring
Fungi can be harnessed to clean polluted soil which cannot be cleaned using traditional composting. This has been found by a researcher at Aalto University in Finland. "Soil that has been polluted by organic pollutants such as oil can be treated by composting. However it is not effective against many other organic pollutants such as polyaromatic...
Stem cells as future source for eco-friendly meat
21.5.2014 | Press monitoring
The scientific progress that has made it possible to dream of a future in which faulty organs could be regrown from stem cells also holds potential as an ethical and greener source for meat. So say scientists who suggest in journal Trends in Biotechnology that every town or village could one day have its very own small-scale, cultured meat...
Ultra-sensitive nano-chip capable of detecting cancer at early stages developed
20.5.2014 | Press monitoring
Today, the majority of cancers are detected on the macroscopic level, when the tumor is already composed of millions of cancer cells and the disease is starting to advance into a more mature phase. But what if we could diagnose cancer before it took hold- while it was still only affecting a few localized cells? It would be like putting a fire out...
Ground breaking hip and stem cell surgery completed using 3D-printed implant
19.5.2014 | Press monitoring
Doctors and scientists in Southampton have completed their first hip surgery with a 3D printed implant and bone stem cell graft. The 3D printed hip, made from titanium, was designed using the patient's CT scan and CAD CAM (computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing) technology, meaning it was designed to the patient's exact...
Immune-boosting drug shows promise against lung cancer
16.5.2014 | Press monitoring
Cancer has one less place to hide. A drug that stops tumours camouflaging themselves from the immune system appears to significantly boost survival rates in people with a form of lung cancer that is almost incurable unless removed surgically before it spreads. Some people who received the drug have seen their tumours disappear completely. Lung...
Protein Data Bank: 100,000 structures
15.5.2014 | Press monitoring
Spanning the globe from the US, UK, and Japan, the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB) organization announces that the Protein Data Bank archive now contains more than 100,000 entries. Established in 1971, this central, public archive of experimentally-determined protein and nucleic acid structures has reached a critical milestone thanks to the...
MEMS nanoinjector for genetic modification of cells
14.5.2014 | Press monitoring
The ability to transfer a gene or DNA sequence from one animal into the genome of another plays a critical role in a wide range of medical research—including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes. But the traditional method of transferring genetic material into a new cell, called "microinjection," has a serious downside. It involves using...
