AstraZeneca Plc has signed a research agreement with the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts to use stem cells to generate new research tools for investigating the causes of Type 2 diabetes.
A public-private consortium that is investigating biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease said data from a just-completed proteomics study which used plasma samples from a neuroimaging project is now available to download from a public website.
Imperial Innovations Group Plc is proposing to raise £140 million in a rights and convertible share issue in order to invest in companies founded by, or based on, the technology of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and University College London.
Scientists at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts have reported being able to promote optic nerve regeneration in an animal by activating two molecular pathways synergistically. Separately, the pathways have a less pronounced effect.
A group of US researchers has reported that breast cancer stem cells, which are thought to be resistant to current anti-cancer therapies, are stimulated by estrogen through a pathway that mirrors normal stem-cell development.
The Roche Group plans to discontinue research and early development of potential RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics as part of a portfolio review designed to reduce costs. Its partner, Alnylam, said the decision wouldn’t impact its future plans.
A spin-out from Leicester University in the UK has received institutional and venture capital funding to develop a haemostat, a product that stops bleeding. The project is being supported by the Wellcome Trust.
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development has launched a clinical trial to test a novel three-drug regime for tuberculosis which, it says, shows promise for treating both drug-sensitive and multidrug-resistant forms of the disease.
Researchers funded by the UK Medical Research Council have reported that the human body has a system of intracellular immunity by which antibodies can fight viruses from within infected cells.
The UK government has launched two new life science clusters that will bring experts from industry, the academic community and the National Health Service together to do early-stage drug development.