NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 7th August 2008 05:11 PM GMT] With the help of a new mouse model for HIV infection, scientists have shown that gene silencing with RNA interference (RNAi) may be effective in preventing viral entry and replication in T-cells, according to a study published online today (August 7th) in Cell.
Past studies have used RNAi to suppress HIV infection in cultured cells, but researchers did not have a good animal model in which to test the approach. Another challenge has been targeting the... Click to continue
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 7th August 2008 05:00 PM GMT] Researchers have created 20 disease-specific pluripotent cell lines by reprogramming skin and bone marrow cells from patients with genetic disorders, they report in a paper to be published tomorrow in Cell.
"These cells will be an incredible resource for those interested in studying the root causes of these diseases," wrote Kevin Eggan, Harvard researcher who was not involved in the study, in an Email to The Scientist.
The... Click to continue
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 6th August 2008 06:00 PM GMT] Researchers have discovered the first virus to infect another virus, according to a study appearing tomorrow in Nature. The new virus was found living inside a new strain of the viral giant, mimivirus.
"This is one parasite living on another parasite, which is really fascinating," Michael Rossman, microbiologist at Purdue University, who was not involved in the study, told The Scientist.
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 5th August 2008 10:27 PM GMT] The Food and Drug Administration unveiled new, tougher conflict of interest rules yesterday (Aug 4). Key among the regulations was one that prohibits physicians or researchers who have more than $50,000 worth of financial interests in pharmaceutical or medical device companies from... Click to continue
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 5th August 2008 04:13 PM GMT] A graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University studying the psychology of decision-making falsified data in four studies funded by National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Mental Health grants, according to a notice published by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), the misconduct watchdog of the Public Health Service, on July 23.
Roxana Gonzalez, at the time an advanced doctoral student in the ... Click to continue
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 5th August 2008 02:45 PM GMT] The British High Court's rejection last week of a biotech company's patent on the genetic sequence coding for a therapeutically important protein may be a warning for other biotechs who hold patents on portions of the human genome.
The court ruled last week that a patent held by Human Genome Sciences since the mid 1990s was invalid because at the time the company applied for the patent they hadn't demonstrated a practical use. The patent... Click to continue
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 4th August 2008 03:44 PM GMT] A house and car belonging to two University of California, Santa Cruz researchers were firebombed in the wee hours of Saturday (Aug 2) morning. The attacks occurred after anti-animal research pamphlets listing the names and personal information of several UCSC researchers were discovered in a Santa Cruz coffee shop last week.
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 1st August 2008 08:33 PM GMT] Yesterday the British High Court overturned a UK genome patent owned by biotech Human Genome Sciences. The patent covered the inflammation-linked protein neutrokine-alpha which is part of the tumor necrosis factor family of cytokines.
The court overturned the patent, ruling that at the time its application was filed there was no practical application, the Financial Times reported.
Human Genome... Click to continue
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 1st August 2008 05:51 PM GMT] Biomedical researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz have again been targeted by animal rights activists opposed to their use of experimental laboratory animals. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, nearly a dozen threatening pamphlets containing the names, home addresses, phone numbers, and photos of several scientists turned up in a coffee shop in the seaside town on Tuesday (July 29) night.
The pamphlets read, in part:... Click to continue
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NewsBlog: [Entry posted at 1st August 2008 04:54 PM GMT] A biodefense researcher committed suicide this week, just as the US government was about to indict him for the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people and caused a national panic.
The microbiologist, Bruce E. Ivins, whose death was first reported today (August 1) in the Los Angeles Times, was a top scientist at a US Army biodefense research facility in Fort Detrick, Md., where... Click to continue
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