Researchers test inhalable measles vaccine

Dry powder vaccine could improve vaccine delivery in developing countries

Sustained high vaccination coverage is key to preventing deaths from measles. Despite the availability of a vaccine, measles remains an important killer of children worldwide, particularly in less-developed regions where vaccination coverage is limited. A team of researchers, led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Colorado, developed and successfully tested a dry powder, live-attenuated measles vaccine that can be inhaled. The novel vaccine was studied in rhesus macaques. Results of the study are published in the January 31 edition of the journal PNAS.

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Therapeutic AIDS vaccine designed by HIVACAT reduces the viral load in the majority of AIDS patients

Although the decrease is not sufficient, the first therapeutic vaccine, designed from the dendritic cells of the actual patient by the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona-IDIBAPS has achieved a significant response in the majority of patients

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Taking unpleasant surprises out of cosmetic surgery

Tel Aviv University researcher develops a 3-D ‘before-and-after’ tool for plastic surgeons

For some plastic surgery patients, expectations are unrealistically high. Basing their hopes on the before-and-after albums offered in surgeons’ offices, they expect to achieve a perfect body or to look just like a favorite celeb. But those albums only show how someone else’s liposuction, breast augmentation, or Beyonce bum enhancement turned out.

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Transplanted human placenta-derived stem cells show therapeutic potential in stroke models

Study suggests human amniotic cells ‘cross talk’ with melatonin receptor MT1

Human amniotic epithelial cells, stem cells derived from human placenta left over from live births and generally discarded, proliferated and differentiated when they interacted with one kind of melatonin receptor, MT1. This potentially therapeutic response occurred when the stem cells were transplanted into laboratory test tube and animal models of stroke. The same cells did not perform similarly when interacting with melatonin receptor MT2.

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Research uncovers key to understanding cause of lupus

Potentially impacting future diagnosis and treatment of lupus, an immune illness affecting more than 5 million people worldwide, researchers at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech have likely uncovered where the breakdown in the body’s lymphocyte molecular regulatory machinery is occurring.

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A possible cause of Parkinson’s disease discovered

“Nucleolus”, or small nucleus, is the term coined by early biologists for the tiny structure within the nucleus which they saw under the microscope. In this structure within the nucleus, RNA molecules and proteins are assembled to form ribosomes, the true protein factories of cells.

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Early tests find nanoshell therapy effective against brain cancer

Rice bioengineers, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s physician-scientists zap tumors with light-activated nanoparticles

HOUSTON — (Feb. 1, 2011) — Rice University bioengineers and physician-scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital have successfully destroyed tumors of human brain cancer cells in the first animal tests of a minimally invasive treatment that zaps glioma tumors with heat. The tests involved nanoshells, light-activated nanoparticles that are designed to destroy tumors with heat and avoid the unwanted side effects of drug and radiation therapies.

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Engineered cells could usher in programmable cell therapies

Researchers at BWH have engineered cells that could solve one of the key challenges associated with the procedure: Control of the cells and their microenvironment following transplantation

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Scientists make key step in the development of a norovirus treatment

With the number of norovirus infection cases rising across the country, scientists from the University of Southampton have successfully crystallised a key norovirus enzyme, which could help in the development of a norovirus treatment.

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A diagnostic marker in hepatocellular carcinoma

E2F5 is a member of the E2F transcription factor family, and plays a key role in cell growth and proliferation. Overexpression of E2F5 has been reported in various human cancers, but not in liver cancer, and its biological implication is largely unknown. It is not known whether E2F5 plays a tumor suppressor role or an oncogenic role. Furthermore, there has been no report on the expression profile of E2F5 in HCC and its biological implications on hepatocarcinogenesis.

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