Research identifies mutations underlying human hereditary hearing loss
16 January, 2012Hereditary hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in humans. A German research team led by Ingo Kurth from the Institute of Human Genetics at the University Hospital Jena, Germany, used a number of different methods, including Roche’s NimbleGen Custom Sequence Capture 385K array, to identify the gene mutated in the disease locus of the X-chromosome of a Spanish family with hereditary hearing loss.
Educating stem cells reverses Type 1 diabetes
13 January, 2012Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body’s own immune system attacking its pancreatic islet beta cells and requires daily injections of insulin to regulate the patient’s blood glucose levels. A new method described in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Medicine uses stem cells from cord blood to re-educate a diabetic’s own T cells and consequently restart pancreatic function reducing the need for insulin.
JW - bold in para 1 - sense? DB Award for Gamma Knife brain treatment
02 November, 2011A major award to research a treatment for a dangerous and silent brain abnormality has been received.
Possible link between bacterium and colon cancer
21 October, 2011Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute have found strikingly high levels of a bacterium in colorectal cancers, a sign that it might contribute to the disease and potentially be a key to diagnosing, preventing and treating it.
Hypertension may be misdiagnosed
20 October, 201170,000 Australians may have undetected high blood pressure because of sphygmomanometer errors, according to new study.
New way to screen for brain cancer discovered
18 October, 2011Researchers have developed a new way to screen for brain cancer stem cell killers.
Researchers reconstruct genome of the 'Black Death'
18 October, 2011An international research team based in Germany has sequenced the entire genome of the 'Black Death'.
Patent improves speed of DNA analysis
18 October, 2011A US researcher has patented a process that reduces the time it takes to perform DNA analysis from hours to minutes.
Discovery of insulin switches in pancreas could lead to new diabetes drugs
30 September, 2011Scientists have discovered how a hormone turns on a series of molecular switches inside the pancreas that increases production of insulin.
Thermo Fisher Scientific opens biomarker translational centre
08 September, 2011Thermo Fisher Scientific has established a new biomarker translational centre in Cambridge Massachusetts. Their goal is to accelerate mass spectrometry-based biomarker discovery and its translation into the development of routine clinical assays for the clinical diagnostics market.
Cancers - parasites or newly evolved species?
05 September, 2011 byCancer patients may view their tumours as parasites taking over their bodies, but this is more than a metaphor for Peter Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
QIAGEN and Pfizer partner to help beat lung cancer
22 August, 2011QIAGEN and Pfizer partner to develop companion diagnostic for novel compound in global clinical trials for lung cancer.
Scientists open new 'window' into the brain
16 August, 2011A new finding into the human brain may help scientists understand states such as sleep, epilepsy and anaesthesia.
Cell-based alternative to animal testing
15 August, 2011An alternative to animal testing, laboratory-grown human cells may be used to classify chemicals as sensitising, or non-sensitising, and can even predict the strength of allergic response.
Blood antibody test not accurate for active TB diagnosis
11 August, 2011The World Health Organization has recommended against the use of commercial serology tests in the diagnosis of active TB after reports that they are neither accurate nor cost-effective.
