Biotechnology news

• Walnuts’ Appetite-Control Mechanism Visualized in Brain

  17-08-2017 16:18
  Dieting is the bane of many individuals trying to control their weight for either health or aesthetics reasons. A common theme among dieters—especially those that fail—is that calorie restriction leads to bouts of hunger, which often causes binge-eating episodes or complete abandonment of a diet regimen. Subsequently, there is no shortage of appetite suppressant strategies, ranging from drugs to protein bars, to increased fiber intake. While the results for many of these approaches a
  
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• At CRISPRcon, Debating the Promise and Perils of Gene Editing

  17-08-2017 16:16
  CRISPRcon: Science, Society, and the Future of Gene Editing, a timely two-day conference attracting hundreds of attendees to the University of California, Berkeley campus, kicked off yesterday, August 16, 2017, with a keynote from CRISPR pioneer and hometown hero, Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D.Aside from being one of the key developers of CRISPR gene-editing technology, Doudna, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UC Berkeley, has played a leading role in demanding a broader public discussi
  
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• Checkpoint Protein Propped Up by Cell-Surface Sidekick

  17-08-2017 16:15
  Many cancer cells duck the immune system’s T cells by displaying programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), a cell-surface protein that engages programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), another cell-surface protein, this one displayed by T cells, and thereby signals T cells to stand down. Although the PD-L1/PD-1 connection is well studied and is the inspiration behind a new class of anticancer drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, it isn’t as well understood as scientists would like. Outstanding
  
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• Genomic Therapy Offers Hope in Treatment of Lung Cancer

  17-08-2017 14:13
  Norton Thoracic Institute researchers believe they have discovered a new approach to treating an aggressive and difficult-to-treat type of lung cancer. They published their study ("WEE1 Kinase Inhibitor AZD1775 Has Pre-clinical Efficacy in LKB1-Deficient Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer") in  Cancer Research . The team found that lung cancer patients whose tumors harbor specific genomic mutations are more likely to benefit from a novel drug, AZD1775, an inhibitor against the G2/M
  
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• Helix, Illumina Partner to Support Startups for DNA-Driven Consumer Products

  17-08-2017 14:00
  Personal genomics company Helix and Illumina are partnering to support consumer genomics startups. Helix is teaming up with Illumina Accelerator to provide resources and support for innovative entrepreneurs developing DNA-driven products for the consumer market. The partners are calling for startups to submit an application to Illumina Accelerator’s seventh round of funding by September 1 2017.Illumina Accelerator claims to be the world’s first business accelerator focused on support
  
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• U.S. DOD to Start New Trial with Pluristem's PLX-R18 Cell Therapy Against ARS

  17-08-2017 11:57
  The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) is to undertake a pilot study in non-human primates (NHP) evaluating Pluristem Therapeutics’ PLX-R18 as a treatment for acute radiation syndrome (ARS) prior to and within the first 24 hours of radiation exposure. The AFRRI is part of the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USU).Pluristem’s PLX-R18 is an off-the-shelf placental expanded (PLX) cell therapy product generated f
  
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• J&J Partners with India's IMTECH to Develop New Treatments for TB

  17-08-2017 11:27
  Johnson & Johnson (J&J) scientists are partnering with researchers at India’s Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), part of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to discover and develop new treatments for tuberculosis (TB).The two organizations have inked a Memorandum of Understanding, under which J&J’s global public heath team scientists will work with the CSIR-IMTECH in Chandigarh, India, to develop new drug compounds against TB, and to devise
  
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