Archive for the 'Technology' Category
April 22nd, 2011 by admin
Research by Swiss and British scientists has shown that targeted photodynamic therapy has the potential to completely eradicate some models of cancer. The team – consisting of researchers from the University of Hull and ETH Zurich – combined light-sensitive molecules with antibodies that specifically target tumor blood vessels. When irradiated with light, the molecules produce particles known as reactive oxygen species, which in high numbers cause irreparable damage to cells.
Continue reading ‘Targeted Photodynamic Therapy for Treating Skin Cancer’
April 21st, 2011 by admin
The standard fecal coliform test that is used for monitoring the quality of water is being questioned by a latest research study that has identified sources of Escherichia coli bacteria that may not indicate an environmental hazard.
Continue reading ‘New Classification for E. Coli Bacteria’
April 20th, 2011 by admin
A research team from the Harvard University has harnessed the ability of fast-replicating bacterial viruses, also known as phages, to accelerate the evolution of biomolecules in the laboratory. This latest research has the potential to ultimately allow the tailoring of custom pharmaceuticals and research tools from lab-grown proteins, nucleic acids, and other such compounds.
Continue reading ‘New Generation of Medicines with Evolution of Biomolecules’
April 19th, 2011 by admin
Researchers from Johns Hopkins have produced a simplified, cheaper, all-purpose produces they say can be utilized by scientists around the world to more safely turn blood cells into heart cells. The procedure developed by them is virus-free and produces heart cells that beat with nearly 100 percent efficiency.
Continue reading ‘Turning Blood Cells into ‘Beating’ Heart Cells’
April 18th, 2011 by admin
Even one minute alteration one of the thousands of DNA codes that constitute each gene in the human genome can lead to severe diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy or Huntington’s Disease. A similarly miniscule alteration in the DNA of a virus or bacteria can lead to drug resistant strains that are difficult for doctors to treat with generalized drug therapies. For these reasons, scientists have been searching for methods for studying the impact genetic mutations can have on an organism but have been restricted in these efforts by an inability to easily and efficiently produce and analyze the thousands of potential changes possible in even one small gene.
Continue reading ‘Diagnosing Genetic Mutations with the Help of New Technology’
March 18th, 2011 by admin
Researchers have been long trying to figure out the basics of the very feeling of fear. Now, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that stimulation of a distinct brain circuit that lies within a brain structure generally linked with fearfulness produces the opposite effect: Its activity, instead of triggering or increasing anxiety, counters it.
Continue reading ‘Seat of Fear Discovered in the Brain’
March 17th, 2011 by admin
In a revolutionary development, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a leading biotechnology company applying cellular technology in the field of regenerative medicine, has announced that it has gotten the go ahead for developing its single-blastomere technique. The company has been issued a patent for its single-blastomere technology that provides an alternative manner of deriving human embryonic stem cells (hESC), without actually destroying the embryo.
Continue reading ‘ACT Inc Receives Patent for Generating Embryonic Stem Cells minus Embryo Destruction’
March 3rd, 2011 by admin
U.S. medical researchers are using modified printers to produce skin for burn victims, the project’s leader says. “We started out by taking a typical desktop inkjet cartridge. Instead of ink we use cells, which are placed in the cartridge,” Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., told CNN.
Continue reading ‘Printers Used to Produce Human Skin?’
February 23rd, 2011 by admin
Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have shown that they can deliver the cancer drug cisplatin much more effectively and safely in a form that has been encapsulated in a nanoparticle targeted to prostate tumor cells and is activated once it reaches its target. Using the new particles, the researchers were able to successfully shrink tumors in mice, using only one-third the amount of conventional cisplatin needed to achieve the same effect. That could help reduce cisplatin’s potentially severe side effects, which include kidney damage and nerve damage.
Continue reading ‘Delivering a Potent Cancer Drug with Nanoparticles can Lessen Side Effects’
February 22nd, 2011 by admin
Exocytosis, the fundamental process by which cells secrete hormones such as insulin and other useful biological substances, is regulated far differently in life than in laboratory tissue cultures and explanted organs, according to research presented at the American Society of Cell Biology’s 50th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The unexpected findings that exocytosis regulation “in vivo” is not the same as the process long studied “in vitro” is a reminder of the gap between laboratory glassware experiments and the cell biology of living animals ⎯ and humans, said Roberto Weigert, Ph.D., of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).
Continue reading ‘Small Details between ‘In Vivo’ and ‘In Vitro’ Studies Make for Big Differences’
