Protein Protects Embryonic Stem Cells' Versatility And Self-renewal
ScienceDaily (2008-03-24) -- The protein REST protects the pluripotentiality and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells by suppressing a specific microRNA. The basic finding has implications for regenerative medicine. The new research builds on earlier work connecting the protein to medulloblastoma -- an aggressive childhood brain cancer.
St. Mary's hospital in Saginaw debuts $4 million cancer-fighting machine
by Jill Armentrout | The Saginaw News
Friday March 14, 2008, 8:15 AM
New cancer-fighting technology at St. Mary's of Michigan hospital in Saginaw allows radiation beams to hit tumors with less than a millimeter precision, sparing surrounding healthy tissue.
Brain map project set to revolutionise neuroscience
- 12:07 13 March 2008
- NewScientist.com news service
- Peter Aldhous
Take the most complex organ in the human body, superimpose the legacy of biology’s biggest research project, and what have you got? An unprecedented brain map that is set to transform studies of neuroscience and brain disease.
The Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, Washington, US, is today launching a four-year, $55-million effort to build a three-dimensional map documenting the levels of activity of some 20,000 different genes across the human brain.
“The Human Genome Project was the ‘what’, and our project is the ‘where’,” says Allan Jones, the institute’s chief scientific officer.
World-First Stem Cell Screening Facility To Target Brain Tumours, Australia
"This is the first time researchers will be able to isolate, enumerate and purify tumour stem cells with such high levels of efficiency," Professor Bartlett said.
Excerpt: A Viral Attack against Brain Tumors
A viral view: Researchers at Yale University have genetically engineered a virus (green) that specifically attacks brain tumors in mice (red). The virus kills the primary tumor masses (B) and migrating tumor cells (E), while leaving healthy tissue intact.
Credit: Van den Pol/Yale University
Now researchers at Yale University have found that a virus that's in the same family as rabies effectively kills an aggressive form of human brain cancer in mice. Using time-lapse laser imaging, the team watched vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) rapidly home in on brain tumors, selectively killing cancerous cells in its path, while leaving healthy tissue intact. What's more, Anthony Van den Pol, lead researcher and professor of neurosurgery and neurobiology at Yale, says that VSV is able to self-replicate and produce secondary lines of defense.
Measles Virotherapy
The concept of virotherapy is actively being researched in clinical trials for various forms of cancer, one of which is brain cancer.
Excerpt:
In pre-clinical trials, the genetically engineered measles virus (measles virotherapy) was highly effective. Then, after federal and institutional committees reviewed the research to ensure that the patient and community safety were fully addressed, clinical trials began. These trials, involving patients with ovarian cancer, brain cancer and multiple myeloma, are showing early promise and more are planned. Our hope is that, in the near future, measles virotherapy will prove to be an additional weapon in the fight against cancer. -- Stephen Russell, M.D., Ph.D., Molecular Medicine Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester.
Recurrent Brain Cancer Responds To New Treatment
ScienceDaily (2008-02-29) -- One of the toughest cancers to treat effectively is glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common form of primary brain cancer. Patients who have a recurrence of this cancer have had no effective therapy -- until now. Researchers have discovered that a compound has shown the ability to effectively treat GBM in some patients.
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