Advocates of stem-cell research have applauded the recent report that US scientists have successfully reprogrammed human skin cells to become embryonic stem cells capable of transforming into any other cell type in the body.
Researchers at Harvard University have reported the discovery of a hormone, betatrophin, that appears to control the proliferation of beta cells, which are essential in the storage and release of insulin in the human body.
A rare genetic mutation that confers a high risk for osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related traits has been reported by investigators in Iceland. The finding, which was reported on 5 May in Nature, relates to a nonsense mutation of the gene LGR4.
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California have discovered an antibody that can trigger the transformation of bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells – something that reportedly has not been done before.
A revolutionary T-cell immunotherapy developed by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania in the US has demonstrated a positive result in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), an aggressive form of childhood cancer. The results of the treatment, which was administered to two patients aged seven and 10, are scheduled to appear in the 18 April 2013 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine. A summary of the study was released early on 25 March.
The management of large pharmaceutical companies often struggle in deciding which products to bring forward into the expensive final stage of development. However, two venture capital companies have developed a way of ‘underwriting’ so that pharma can have more choices.
In a bid to speed up the translation of medical ideas into new products, six technology transfer organisations from Europe and North America have formed an alliance to share best practice and collaborate on drug discovery and development.
Researchers from International Business Machines Corp (IBM) have developed a new antimicrobial hydrogel which, the company says, could be used to treat antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
AstraZeneca Plc has entered a research collaboration with Vanderbilt University of the US to identify allosteric modulators that could be used to treat psychosis and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.
Researchers at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium have joined forces with two French pharmaceutical companies to discover new compounds targeting the LRRK2 gene in Parkinson’s disease.